Железная дорога Ипсвич — Илли: История и развитие

English railway line

The Ipswich–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. The line has previously been part of the Great Eastern Main Line.

The Eastern Union Railway (EUR) had built a line from Colchester to Ipswich and a number of directors from the EUR formed a new company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway, chaired by John Chevallier Cobbold to build a line from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds which was known as the "Bury extension". It was granted parliamentary approval on 21 July 1845 and the first train ran on 26 November 1846. The stations at Bramford, Claydon, Needham, Stowmarket, Haughley Road, Elmswell and Thurston all opened on this date. Bury St Edmunds was served by a temporary station east of the current site, with the main station opening in November 1847. The Ipswich and Bury Railway was formally merged with the Eastern Union Railway on 9 July 1847. The Newmarket Railway was built by the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway with the first section from Newmarket to meet the West Anglia Main Line at Great Chesterford opened in 1848. The intermediate stations at Six Mile Bottom and Dullingham opened at this time. In addition to the new line from Chesterford, the Newmarket Railway started constructing a line from Cambridge to Newmarket. The original route diverged from the main platform at Cambridge on a sharp curve and was the cause of operational difficulties for many years. In July 1849 the Eastern Union Railway's extension to Norwich opened and a new station called Haughley was opened located just east of the junction. Haughley Road closed the same week. The Newmarket Railway then intended building extensions through to Bury St Edmunds, Ely and Thetford and an act of Parliament of 1847 gave approval for this. The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR), who ran the competing (and longer) route via Cambridge, Ely and Thetford, opposed this fearing a loss of Norwich traffic to this more direct route. The ECR also operated the London Liverpool Street to Cambridge route at this time and were in a position to make things difficult for the Newmarket Railway which ceased operations in June 1850. However, under the leadership of bankruptcy commissioner Cecil Fane, the company was re established in September of the same year and instead the line from Six Mile Bottom to Cambridge was completed using the track from the Chesterford–Six Mile Bottom section. This line then opened on 9 September 1850 and the Chesterford route closed. Generally it is assumed the new stations at Fulbourne and Cherryhinton opened on the same date but Robertson, Wislon and Harley suggest that because they did not appear in the Bradshaws until the following August, that might be the correct date for those stations opening. The Newmarket Railway then set its sights on building a line to Bury to link onto the EUR line (although the original plan was for a separate station) although the powers granted by the original act lapsed. The Newmarket Railway was in financial trouble and in 1852 the ECR was granted parliamentary permission to buy the Newmarket Railway. It completed this in 1854, the same year it also took over operation of the EUR. Such was the enthusiasm for the railway, that the first sod was cut by the Newmarket Railway with great ceremony on 16 June 1852 before the necessary parliamentary powers had been granted. The line was completed early in 1854 and opened to traffic on 15 March of that year. As well as new stations at Higham, Saxby & Risby and Kennett, a tunnel was required through Warren Hill at Newmarket and the engine shed at Bury that originally stood at the west end of the branch from Ipswich, was resited to allow the opening of the new line. At Newmarket, trains from Cambridge arrived into the original 1848 terminus and would then reverse out before continuing the journey towards Bury St Edmunds (and they had to do the same in the opposite direction). 1854 also saw the closure of Cherryhinton station on 1 May.

By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by amalgamation. Thus the Ipswich to Cambridge line was operated by the GER from 1862. In 1874 two rival schemes were put before Parliament. The Ely and Newmarket Railway (ENR) scheme was backed by the GER, whilst the other scheme – the Ely and Bury Light Railway – was to run via Soham and Mildenhall. Parliament approved the ENR scheme and granted running powers to the Ely and Bury Light Railway from Ely to Soham which was covered by the ENR proposal and their route could then be constructed from there to Bury St Edmunds. In the event nothing more came of this second scheme. The line between Cambridge and Newmarket was doubled in 1875. The ENR act was passed in 1875 and construction began soon after, under the guidance of engineer George Hopkins and contractor John Waddell. Although an inaugural train carrying various GER officers ran on 6 June 1879, the line failed to pass the mandatory government inspection and it was not until 1 September that the line opened. The opening day was not auspicious, as a locomotive was derailed near Soham, without casualties. One of the first trains to use the new link was a train carrying racehorses from Newmarket to Doncaster. From the outset the single track line was operated by the GER, and Fordham and Soham stations (both equipped with goods yards) all opened on 1 September 1879. At the same time as the ENR line opened, a new low level island platform was provided at Newmarket to remove the need for trains to reverse into and out of the old terminal station. This station then primarily became a goods station, although it was used by passenger services on race days, and was linked to the new platform by a footbridge. Provision for passengers on the new platform was not overgenerous at first, leading to a number of complaints in the local newspapers. The GER provided a waiting room in 1881. There was still no direct line between Bury St Edmunds and Ely, so trains had to reverse in the Newmarket area. A link was provided with a new line between Chippenham Junction (west of Kennett) station and Snailwell Junction on the ENR opened on 1 September 1880. The GER built four cottages at Snailwell Junction in 1882 for local staff. The GER started operating the "North Country Continental" train over the route between Parkeston and Manchester in 1883. On 2 June 1884 Fordham became a railway junction when the first section of the Mildenhall branch opened. The line through to Mildenhall opened on 1 April 1885. A new station to cater for racegoers was opened at Newmarket Warren Hill (just north of the tunnel) on 4 April 1885. This was primarily for people attending race meetings at Newmarket arriving from the north and east with those from the south using the original terminal station. Warren Hill was not a through station but a two platformed terminus station with some associated carriage sidings. On 4 January 1887 the ENR was leased to the GER and in 1898 was fully vested. A new junction at Coldham Junction Cambridge was opened and the approach to Cambridge improved with the new arrangements coming into force on 17 May 1896.

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 Soham 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 It has a loading gauge of W10 between Ipswich and Ely with the Cambridge branch being W8. In January 2013, Network Rail released a five year upgrade plan, which included reopening Soham station as part of improvements to the Ipswich–Ely line. This station was approved in 2020, and opened on 13 December 2021. It has long been envisaged that the Ipswich to Cambridge route would become part of the east–west rail scheme but it is unclear whether this will see double track laid throughout and through services from stations in the west of England such as Oxford operating. Reopening of Cherry Hinton and Fulbourn stations was proposed by Cambridgeshire County Council in May 2013 as part of an infrastructure plan to deal with projected population growth up to 2050.

On 4 October 1850 the locomotive due to work the 8:00 am departure from Bury had to be withdrawn from service due to a technical failure. The stationmaster at Bury knew an engine would be sent from Ipswich to investigate the situation (this being normal practice in the days before telegraph communication between stations). To save time four horses were connected to the two coach train to pull it along the line to meet the loco coming from Ipswich. To enable them to see the relief train at the earliest opportunity Bury Stationmaster Hartwell and a porter William Baldwin climbed on to the roof of the first carriage and they were joined at Thurston by stationmaster James Wolton. Just east of Thurston station the horse drawn train met the relief engine and the horses were removed. The three men remained sitting on the carriage roof and a little further east the two stationmasters who had been facing Bury were hit by the bridge as the train passed under it. Wolton and Hartwell were killed whilst Baldwin survived.

On 22 September 1936 an aeroplane made a forced landing on the railway line between Fulbourn and Six Mile Bottom. The Fulbourn signalman was instrumental in saving the life of the pilot. The Soham rail disaster where an ammunition train exploded during World War II occurred on 2 June 1944. On 17 May 1973 two Class 31 locomotives struck a track machine killing the operator near Dullingham. 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)