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Fen line
Railway line in East Anglia, UK

The Fen Line is a 41-mile railway in the east of England connecting Cambridge to King's Lynn. Passing through Cambridgeshire and Norfolk, its name reflects the surrounding Fens region, which also includes parts of Lincolnshire. The line has eight stations and forms part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5. It’s primarily classified as a secondary line but serves as a London and South East commuter route between Cambridge and Ely.

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History

The line was completed in sections in the 1840s, and previously extended north to the seaside town of Hunstanton.

Services

Great Northern

Great Northern operate through services to London King's Cross (via the Cambridge line). These services operate non-stop between London and Cambridge for most of the day, as part of the half-hourly "Cambridge Express" service. One train an hour is extended beyond Cambridge to serve all stations to King's Lynn, whilst the alternative services run to Ely.

These services are mostly operated by Class 387 and Class 700 electric multiple units. Before May 2017, Class 365s were the principal units.

Greater Anglia

Greater Anglia regularly runs services between Stansted Airport and Norwich on an hourly basis via the Breckland line, running non-stop between Ely and Cambridge North. Class 755 units are used for this service.

Until the timetable change in May 2023, Greater Anglia ran a few direct services between London Liverpool Street and King's Lynn or Ely (via the West Anglia Main Line). These services operated only during the morning and evening peaks. After the alterations, these services only run to and from Ely, and King's Lynn no longer has any direct services to London Liverpool Street.2

CrossCountry

The section between Cambridge and Ely is also used non-stop by CrossCountry services from Stansted Airport (and onward to Birmingham New Street via Peterborough and Leicester). Class 170 units are used for this service.

Signalling

The line is double tracked except between Littleport and Downham Market and between Watlington and King's Lynn where it is bi-directionally signalled single track. In the Down direction, the entrance to the single line sections is protected additionally by SPAD indicators.

Signal boxes controlling the line are;

  • Cambridge power box
  • Littleport
  • Downham Market
  • Magdalen Road (Watlington)
  • King's Lynn

The signalling system is Track circuit block with multiple aspect colour light signals- with the exception of:

In 2020, the Department of Transport announced funding to renew the signalling on the Fen Line to ETCS cab signalling.4

Infrastructure

Traction current for electric trains is provided by 25 kV AC OHLE controlled by Romford Electrical Control Room.5 There are Neutral Sections at Shepreth Branch junction, Milton Fen and just north of Littleport bypass. The line has a loading gauge of W8 except for the section connecting the Ipswich–Ely line to the Ely–Peterborough line, which is W10.6

Passenger volume

These are the statistics of the numbers of passengers on the line from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2017. Comparing each station between the first and last years (14 years total), King's Lynn has increased by 68%, Watlington by 133%, Downham Market by 111%, Littleport by 157%, Ely by 113%, Waterbeach by 149% and Cambridge by 109%.7 Cambridge North was not open at the time of the publication of these figures.

Station usage
Station name2002–032004–052005–062006–072007–082008–092009–102010–112011–122012–132013–142014–152015–162016–172017–182018–192019–202020–212021–222022–232023–24
King's Lynn593,675641,668622,034656,624680,230739,282750,738821,772869,006879,836913,460970,890973,660998,316998,4988991,252931,394240,162683,706757,034
Watlington64,09185,23185,42391,250100,665111,612107,956113,898129,146137,874131,742143,904148,928144,114146,0149153,782138,36639,078105,886107,724
Downham Market248,368277,744276,900307,013361,433365,612360,032406,690432,014452,674460,060491,744500,442523,846533,42610549,562512,772129,058341,550386,270
Littleport94,363119,198122,655146,218148,836156,124149,428178,254199,804206,596225,024238,062229,628242,814248,78611248,808238,48860,976153,660186,752
Ely1,038,7081,255,3621,278,7241,420,7341,505,7301,583,2461,579,9481,731,9561,824,0361,878,4261,976,1502,068,2402,131,8182,209,3502,281,710122,386,7442,363,818577,4601,634,5481,894,014
Waterbeach176,639197,594213,500227,281250,039277,470266,020301,376312,216335,660344,726381,202420,730440,142430,05013407,650377,660100,176265,180309,130
Cambridge North——————————————488,87814812,972949,550220,958733,6121,074,602
Cambridge5,478,1126,060,4756,137,4236,522,3096,997,8877,571,8387,661,1468,245,4168,823,2369,168,9389,824,91010,420,17810,954,21211,424,90211,530,2381511,983,32011,599,8142,300,5286,952,7809,341,600
The annual passenger usage is based on sales of tickets in stated financial years from Office of Rail and Road estimates of station usage. The statistics are for passengers arriving and departing from each station and cover twelve-month periods that start in April. Methodology may vary year on year. Usage since the period 2019–20 have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially the period 2020–23.

Further reading

  • Perren, Brian (19 October – 1 November 1989). "Electrification to King's Lynn". RAIL. No. 107. EMAP National Publications. pp. 40–43. ISSN 0953-4563. OCLC 49953699.
  • Adderson & Kenworthy (December 2008). Eastern Main Lines – Ely to King's Lynn. Middleton Press. ISBN 9781901706536.

Media related to Fen Line at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. "Route 5 – West Anglia" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607104701/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/StrategicBusinessPlan/RoutePlans/2009/Route%205%20-%20West%20Anglia.pdf ↩

  2. "Extra trains to run from King's Lynn into London King's Cross in timetable update". Lynn News. 11 May 2023. Retrieved 23 May 2023. https://www.lynnnews.co.uk/news/towns-train-station-will-see-half-hourly-departures-during-p-9312087/ ↩

  3. Network Rail (August 2006). East Anglia Route Sectional Appendix. Vol. Module EA. p. 110 LOR EA1270 Seq001. NR30018/02. /wiki/Network_Rail ↩

  4. "New rail tech roll-out set to bring more reliable journeys and boost jobs". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 November 2020. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-rail-tech-roll-out-set-to-bring-more-reliable-journeys-and-boost-jobs ↩

  5. Network Rail (August 2006). East Anglia Route Sectional Appendix. Vol. Module EA. p. 110 LOR EA1161 Seq008. NR30018/02. /wiki/Network_Rail ↩

  6. "Route 5 – West Anglia" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607104701/http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse%20documents/StrategicBusinessPlan/RoutePlans/2009/Route%205%20-%20West%20Anglia.pdf ↩

  7. "Station Usage". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://web.archive.org/web/20070705115621/http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529 ↩

  8. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩

  9. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩

  10. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩

  11. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩

  12. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩

  13. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩

  14. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩

  15. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/1220/table-1410-estimates-of-station-usage-2017-18.ods ↩