Ipswich to Ely Line

The Ipswich to Ely Line is a railway line linking East Anglia to the English Midlands via Ely. There is also a branch line to Cambridge. Passenger services are operated by Greater Anglia. It is a part of Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.07, 05.08 and part of SRS 07.03.

History
The Eastern Union Railway had built a line from Colchester to Ipswich and they formed a new company, Ipswich and Bury Railway Company, chaired by John Chevallier Cobbold to build an extension from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds which was known as the "Bury extension". It was granted parliamentary approval by Royal Assent on 21 July 1845 and the first train ran on ran on 26 November 1846. The Ipswich and Bury Railway Company was formally merged with the Eastern Union Railway Company on 9 July 1847.

The 'Newmarket Railway' was built by the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway with the first section from Newmarket to Six Mile Bottom (and on to meet the West Anglia Main Line at Great Chesterford) opened in 1848, followed by a section from Six Mile Bottom to Cambridge in 1851.

The Great Eastern Railway was formed in 1862 acquiring both the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway and the Eastern Union Railway. They opened the final section of the route from Newmarket to Ely and also to Bury St Edmunds in 1879.

Infrastructure
The line shares the route between Ipswich and Haughley junction with the Great Eastern Main Line which is classified as primary line. The section between Haughley junction and Ely is classified as secondary line with the Cambridge branch being classified as rural.

The line from Ipswich to part way between Kennett and Ely is double track with the remainder, plus the Cambridge branch, being single track (with a passing loop at Dullingham). Where the line is separate from the Great Eastern Main Line it is not electrified and has a line speed of between 40-75 mph. It has a loading gauge of W10 between Ipswich and Ely with the Cambridge branch being W8.

Track dualing between Kennett and Ely
The line between Kennett and Ely will dualed by 2014 as part of the Felixstowe and Nuneaton freight capacity scheme.

Freight train derailment June 2007
All traffic on the line was suspended for six months following a freight train derailed on the bridge over the River Great Ouse between Ely and Soham on 22 June 2007. The bridge was severely damaged and closed to all traffic while it was rebuilt. Rail replacement buses operated between Bury St Edmunds, Ely, March, Whittlesey and Peterborough for the duration until the section of line re-opened on 21 December 2007. (See also Railways in Ely)