Ely to Peterborough Line

Ely to Peterborough Line
Legend
Fen Line to Cambridge Ipswich to Ely Line Ely Breckland Line Ely West Curve Fen Line to King's Lynn Chettisham Black Bank Manea (closed Sundays) Stonea to Wimblington and St Ives March Wisbech Line and Gt Northern & Gt Eastern Jt Rly Benwick Goods Railway Eastrea Whittlesea Peterborough East East Coast Main Line southbound Peterborough Birmingham to Peterborough Line East Coast Main Line northbound

The Ely to Peterborough Line is a railway line in England, linking East Anglia to the Midlands. It is a part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.07 and is classified as a secondary line.^[1] It is used by a variety of inter-regional and local passenger services from East Anglia to the West Midlands and North West, as well as freight and infrastructure traffic; it also links with the busy East Coast Main Line at its western end. Fenland District council (the area's primary local authority) put forward their Rail Development Strategy for the route in 2012, which includes infrastructure upgrades for the intermediate stations, improved frequencies for the services using it (e.g. doubling the Birmingham New Street to Stansted Airport service to half-hourly and the Ipswich to Peterborough service to hourly) and establishing a Community Rail Partnership for the line in 2013/14.^[2]

History

The line was originally opened by the Eastern Counties Railway company in 1847, linking the ECR mainline from London via Cambridge and Ely to Brandon and Norwich with Peterborough.^[3] Trains initially terminated and started from Peterborough East, though a link to the Great Northern Railway's station was subsequently built to allow through running to the Midland Railway line to Leicester and the GNR main line to the north. Onward travel was also possible over two London and North Western Railway lines from Peterborough, to Rugby and Northampton whilst March would soon become a very busy junction with the opening of branches to Kings Lynn via Wisbech and Cambridge via St Ives (both by the ECR) in 1847/8 and the GNR route to Spalding in 1867. The latter two were subsequently jointly vested in the GER and GNR in 1879.

Many of the branches fell victim to the Beeching Axe in the early to mid 1960s, as did Peterborough East and several of the intermediate stations.^[4] The March to Spalding line also closed in 1982 with the rundown of the marshalling yard at Whitemoor, leaving only the original main line in operation.

Service

A freight train at March

Passenger services are provided by CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains and Abellio Greater Anglia. To the west most trains continue beyond Peterborough to either Leicester and Birmingham New Street (via the Peterborough-Birmingham line), or to Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street. To the east most trains continue beyond Ely to Norwich or to Cambridge and Stansted Airport (joining in one direction or in the other the Cambridge-Norwich "Breckland" Line) or to Ipswich. Connections are available for stations to Kings Lynn at Ely. Services used to run between London and Peterborough but these services were dropped in 2010.

The line is used extensively by freight trains from the Port of Felixstowe to the West Midlands, North West and Scotland, as it forms part of the Felixstowe to Nuneaton rail freight corridor that is being upgraded by Network Rail to allow more rail-borne freight from the port to be diverted away from the London area.^[5]

Infrastructure

The line is double track throughout, has a loading gauge of W10 and a line speed of between 40-75 mph. Apart from short stretches at each end, the line is not electrified.^[1]

See also

Railways in Ely

References

Railway lines in the East of England
Primary	North–South East Coast Main Line Hertford North Stevenage Peterborough Midland Main Line Luton Airport Parkway Luton Bedford West Coast Main Line Watford Junction London–Norwich Great Eastern Main Line Shenfield Chelmsford Witham Marks Tey Colchester Manningtree Ipswich Norwich
Secondary	Hertford Loop Line Lea Valley Lines London, Tilbury and Southend Line Thameslink Watford DC Line West Anglia Main Line Cambridge
Others	Abbey Line Birmingham to Peterborough Line Bittern Line Braintree Branch Line Breckland Line Crouch Valley Line East Suffolk Line Ely to Peterborough Line Felixstowe Branch Line Fen Line Gainsborough Line Hertford East Branch Line Hitchin–Cambridge Line Ipswich to Ely Line Marston Vale Line Mayflower Line Peterborough to Lincoln Line Shenfield to Southend Line Sunshine Coast Line Wherry Lines
Heritage	Colne Valley Railway Epping Ongar Railway Lincolnshire Wolds Railway Mid-Norfolk Railway North Norfolk Railway Mangapps Farm Railway Mid-Suffolk Light Railway

Coordinates: 52°32′45″N 0°06′40″E / 52.5457°N 0.1111°E / 52.5457; 0.1111