Шығыс Англиядағы «Мэйфлауэр» теміржол тармағы

Railway branch line in Essex, England

The Mayflower line is a railway branch line in the east of England that links , on the Great Eastern Main Line, to During peak times, many services connect to or from the main line and its London terminus at The Mayflower line has six stations, including the two termini, and is situated within the county of Essex. The route is 11 mile (18 km) in length from where it branches off the main line west of the town of Manningtree to its eastern terminus in Harwich. It is part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.07, and is classified as a London and South East commuter line. The Engineer's Line Reference for the line is MAH. As of December 2016, passenger services on the Mayflower line are operated by Greater Anglia, which also manages all of the stations. The typical service frequency is one train per hour in each direction. The timetabled journey time between Manningtree and Harwich Town is 22 minutes. The Mayflower line takes its name from the Pilgrim ship Mayflower, which is believed to have been built in Harwich in the 16th century. Harwich was also home to the ship's captain and part owner, Christopher Jones.

The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) had originally proposed plans to extend what is now the Great Eastern Main Line from Colchester to Harwich, although this was a cause for concern to the town of Ipswich, which was a rival port. In 1846 a railway line from Manningtree to Harwich proposed by the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) was approved by the Railway Commissioners. In 1853 an agreement was reached between the companies, with the ECR taking over the working of the EUR from 1 January 1854. The single line branch opened on 15 August 1854. There was a relatively extensive system of sidings fed from a spur on the "down" (Harwich bound) side which was controlled by a signal box which was in use from 1918 until 1966. Use of the halt was confined to Admiralty employees only during various periods. The War Department also had a munitions dump in Copperas Woods between Wrabness and Parkeston served by a spur which was situated on the north (river) side of the line just west of the point where the original alignment of the track to and Harwich Town had been changed when Parkeston was built. This spur was controlled by a signal box, named Primrose Box, reflecting the profusion of primroses which grew lineside in the area. In 1982 British Railways sectorised their operations and the branch fell under the London & South East (later renamed Network SouthEast in 1986). On 14 April 1985 the first electric train consisting of two Class 308 electric multiple units (EMU) worked the line although the previous year another member of the class had been dragged from Ipswich to Parkeston and used for crew training. The following day a Class 86 locomotive visited the branch to test various sidings and crossings on the line. The full electric service was introduced on 12 May 1985 with InterCity Class 86s working the Liverpool Street boat trains and EMUs working local services. The line was given the marketing name the "Mayflower line" in September 1997, with a ceremony held at in the presence of local MP Ivan Henderson.

The line diverges from the Great Eastern Main Line at and is double track for passenger services as far as , where connecting ferry services are available to Hook of Holland on Stena Line. Until 2014, Esbjerg was connected by DFDS which is now closed. Beyond Harwich International, the original second track remains in place as a through siding, but only the "up" (Manningtree bound) line was electrified and that section to the eastern terminus Harwich Town is bidirectional. Network Rail refer to this prototype model and its possible future descendants as Independently Powered Electric Multiple Units (IPEMU).