Ely to Peterborough Line
| Ely–Peterborough line | |
|---|---|
170203 speeds towards Peterborough near Turves
|
|
| Overview | |
| Type | Heavy rail |
| System | National Rail |
| Status | Operational |
| Locale | Cambridgeshire, England |
| Termini | Ely 52°23′28″N 0°15′59″E / 52.3910°N 0.2665°E Peterborough 52°34′29″N 0°15′00″W / 52.5746°N 0.2499°W |
| Stations | 3 not counting Ely and Peterborough. |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator(s) |
CrossCountry East Midlands Trains Abellio Greater Anglia |
| Character | Secondary |
| Rolling stock |
Class 170 "Turbostar" Class 158 "Sprinter" |
| Technical | |
| Number of tracks | Two |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
| Operating speed | 75 mph maximum |
The Ely–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. 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.
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. 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.
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