| Hereward line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 National Express East Anglia Class 170Turbostar near Turves in 2010 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Owner | Network Rail | ||
| Locale | Cambridgeshire, England | ||
| Termini | |||
| Stations | 3 not counting Ely and Peterborough | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Heavy rail | ||
| System | National Rail | ||
| Operator(s) | CrossCountry East Midlands Railway Abellio Greater Anglia | ||
| Rolling stock | Class 755, Class 170, Class 15x, Class 66 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Number of tracks | Two | ||
| Character | Secondary[1] | ||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge | ||
| Operating speed | 75 mph maximum | ||
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TheEly–Peterborough line (also known as theHereward Line[2]) is a railway line in England, linkingEast Anglia to theMidlands. It is a part of theNetwork Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.07 and is classified as a secondary line.[1] 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 busyEast 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 included 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.[3]
The line was originally opened by theEastern Counties Railway company in 1847, linking the ECR mainline from London viaCambridge and Ely toBrandon andNorwich with Peterborough.[4] Trains initially terminated and started fromPeterborough East, though a link to theGreat Northern Railway's station was subsequently built to allow through running to theMidland Railway line toLeicester and the GNR main line to the north. Onward travel was also possible over twoLondon and North Western Railway lines from Peterborough, toRugby andNorthampton whilst March would soon become a very busy junction with the opening of branches toKing's Lynn viaWisbech and Cambridge viaSt Ives (both by the ECR) in 1847–48 and the GNR route toSpalding in 1867. The latter two were subsequently jointly vested in the GER and GNR in 1879.
Many of the branches fell victim to theBeeching Axe in the early to mid 1960s, as did Peterborough East and several of the intermediate stations.[5] The March–Spalding line also closed in 1982 with the rundown of the marshalling yard at Whitemoor, leaving only the original main line in operation.
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Passenger services are provided byCrossCountry,East Midlands Railway andGreater Anglia. To the west most trains continue beyond Peterborough to either Leicester andBirmingham New Street (via theBirmingham–Peterborough line), or toNottingham,Sheffield,Manchester Piccadilly andLiverpool Lime Street. To the east most trains continue beyond Ely toNorwich (via theBreckland Line),Ipswich (via theIpswich–Ely line), or toCambridge orStansted Airport (via theFen line). Connections are available for stations toKing's Lynn at Ely. Services used to run between London and Peterborough until 2010.
The line is used extensively by freight trains from thePort of Felixstowe to the West Midlands, North West and Scotland, as it forms part of theFelixstowe toNuneaton rail freight corridor that is being upgraded byNetwork Rail to allow more railborne freight from the port to be diverted away from London.[6]
The line is double track throughout, has aloading gauge of W10 and a line speed of 40–75 mph (64–121 km/h). Apart from short stretches at each end, the line is notelectrified.[1]
