[1][2][3] The Act authorised construction of a double track railway from Maldon to Braintree by way of Heybridge, Langford, Wickham Bishops, Witham Faulkbourne, White Notley and Bulford.

The ECR allowed planned improvements to the River Blackwater at Maldon, originally intended to sustain the declining harbour against competition from elsewhere, to be dropped.

Accordingly, the ECR altered the proposed route to make it two branch lines joining into Witham station by west-facing connections.

Paye suggests that he appears to have enhanced the specification of the building in order to encourage employment locally,[1][2] but Gairns provides a more prosaic reason, that of appealing to civic pride among the middle classes.

[6] The construction was slow due to exceptionally bad weather, but progress was made and a goods train ran from Maldon to Braintree on 15 August 1848; this usage continued in order to consolidate the track.

Captain George Wynne for the Board of Trade inspected the line on 29 (Paye) or 30 (Swindale) September 1848 and approved it for the running of passenger trains.

A branch from Woodham Ferris to Maldon was opened, as part of the New Essex Lines project, to goods on 19 November 1888 and to passengers on 1 October 1889.

[7][5] The Woodham Ferris to Maldon line was intended to form a through passenger route between Colchester and Southend.

The losses were nevertheless unsustainable and the final passenger service ran from Woodham Ferrers to Maldon on 10 September 1939.

However, that site was rather cramped and it proved impossible to handle the traffic there; Maldon West goods yard was reopened on 31 January 1957.

The light passenger carryings on the Witham to Maldon line and the Braintree branch encouraged consideration of low cost train operation.

A more intensive passenger service was brought in for a time, and in June 1963 diesel multiple unit trains started operating.

[5][10] After 1966 a stub of the branch line at Witham was used to serve an industrial site for delivery of steel by railway; this section finally closed in the early 1980s.

[12] There were six timber trestle viaducts on the line; one near the former Wickham Bishops station (51°46′30″N 0°38′33″E / 51.775°N 0.6426°E / 51.775; 0.6426) still remains, and is a scheduled monument.

[16] In January 2019, Campaign for Better Transport released a report identifying the line between Witham and Maldon was listed as Priority 2 for reopening.