We seek to maximise the use of the existing network for both people and goods movement
Shorter-Term Rail Opportunities in the East
East West Rail: Eastern Section
The Case for Capacity Upgrades at Ely and Haughley
Documents
The Future of Rail in the East - Roundtable Report: Attendees from our event shared how they would like the region's rail to develop in the future.
Shorter-Term Rail Opportunities in the Transport East Region: Full Report: An investigation into the short-term priorities across each of the East’s core rail corridors.
Shorter-Term Rail Opportunities in the Transport East Region: Summary
Colchester - Clacton Route: Short-Term Opportunities: Following a review of rail corridors, Colchester–Clacton-on-Sea corridor has potential to secure enhanced rail services in the short term.
Ipswich - Peterborough and Cambridge Route: Short-Term Opportunities Following a review of rail corridors, Transport East identified that the Ipswich–Cambridge/Peterborough corridor has potential to secure enhanced rail services in the short term.
Thameside Taskforce: A Rail-led vision for South Essex’s growth: The Thameside Taskforce unites key stakeholders and political representatives to unlock the
full potential of the Thameside rail corridor.
East West Rail – East: The Case for Investment in the Eastern Section of the East West Railway: Presents an economic narrative to promote investment in infrastructure that unlocks the enormous potential of the East of England.
State of Rail: Full Report: Analysis of the current strengths and weaknesses of the rail network across the East. First phase of our integrated rail plan.
Keeping Trade on Track: The Case for Ely Upgrade: A joint report with England's Economic Heartland on the benefits of improving rail capacity at Ely Junction.
External Resources
Investment in rail is vital for connecting and growing the region
Rail travel has an important role in connecting our bigger communities and for longer-distance journeys. While there has been changes to the travel patterns of rail users following the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains an important mode for many journeys across the East.
Rail is also a much lower-carbon travel choice so helping more people and goods travel by train will reduce carbon emissions and congestion, helping the region grow sustainably.
Frequency of passenger services and the movement of freight is affected by constrained capacity on our rail lines across the region and at pinch-points close to our boundaries. This is made worse by a significant number of level crossings and a need to expand digital signalling.
Investment to maintain and improve the rail is important to keep journeys reliable and attractive.
By its nature, rail is a regional transport issue. We will be undertaking further work, with government and the industry, to determine the short, medium and long-term investment needed to create a rail network fit for the future of the region.
Shorter-Term Rail Opportunities in the Transport East Region
We have collaborated with Network Rail, train operators and local transport authorities to identify a pipeline of smaller-scale and lower-cost projects to be progressed within the next 5-years.
We assessed each rail line in the region, looking at the key factors that will increase the attractiveness of rail services to passengers and facilitate more rail freight movements.
Some of these interventions are well-developed and, in our view, could be delivered within the next few years. Others need more development work first but identifying them here helps the region create that stable pipeline of priorities that can move forward when funding becomes available.
These opportunities can be broadly grouped into one of three types:
- Small, targeted infrastructure enhancements and renewals: Working with Network Rail to make the case for delivering incremental improvements which reduce journey times and improve the reliability of service for customers.
- Service enhancements delivered within the existing infrastructure, timetable, and train operator resources available to better meet the needs of existing customers and attract new customers by providing more flexibility and choice.
- Supporting interventions across the region to improve customers’ end-to-end journey experience. Including accessibility improvements at stations and better integration of rail with bus services, walking, wheeling and cycling networks, and taxis.
We will work with government, Network Rail, the new DFTO, operators, local authorities, parliamentarians and forthcoming Mayoral authorities to progress these interventions, while continuing to engage with organisations across the East – including ports, airports, business groups and developers – who share a clear interest in improving the rail network.
Following a review of rail corridors, Transport East identified that the Ipswich–Cambridge/Peterborough corridor and the Clacton-on-Sea to Colchester corridor have the potential to secure enhanced rail services in the short term. These documents summarise how these incremental enhancements address our strategic priorities.
Thameside Taskforce
The Thameside Taskforce unites key stakeholders and political representatives to unlock the
full potential of the Thameside rail corridor.
The Taskforce's ambitions are to secure strategic investment, drive improvements for both passenger and freight services, and ensure the corridor supports wider economic, social, and environmental goals across South Essex, London and nationally.
East West Rail: Eastern Section
Transport East provides the secretariat for the East West Main Line Eastern Section Board, a group of local authorities advocating for improved rail connections east of Cambridge in the short, medium and long term.
East West Rail (EWR) is planned to serve Oxford-Cambridge by the mid-2030s. Partners across the length of the route have a vision to ensure this new part of the rail network becomes a true coast-to-coast main line serving growing communities, innovation centres and future-focused businesses from Bristol to the East coast. Achieving this would make a huge difference to nationwide rail connectivity and economic growth.
The East West Rail Eastern Section Board is the partnership committed to progressing EWR east of Cambridge, represented by local planning and transport authorities, supporting bodies including the regional Sub-national Transport Bodies, and rail industry experts.
Transport East has prepared a report on behalf of the Board. It presents an economic narrative to promote investment in infrastructure that unlocks the enormous potential of the East of England. While the scope of this work focuses on expanding east-west passenger rail services between the East and the rest of Great Britain, it complements wider efforts to boost connectivity and drive economic growth along major east-west corridors.
Find out more about East West Rail here.
Find out more about the East West Main Line Partnership here.
State of Rail Report
In 2023, Transport East presented a full review of the rail network in the region with our ‘State of Rail’ report. This forms the first phase in developing a comprehensive plan to transform the region’s rail network for both people and goods.
The report sets out the key challenges for the East’s rail network, namely;
- Poor connections East - West particularly between Norwich/Ipswich and Cambridge/Peterborough
- Slow journey times, particularly in comparison to other national main lines
- Poor frequencies, especially on branch lines serving smaller communities and to Stansted
- Restricted capacity for freight trains – increasing the numbers of HGVs on the region’s roads
- Lack of connections between major towns and cities with some growing places not served at all
The Case for Capacity Upgrades at Ely and Haughley
Transport East and England’s Economic Heartland have produced a report outlining eight major benefits of improving rail capacity around Ely Junction.
It demonstrates the huge regional and national economic benefits of the project. Removing constraints around Ely means removing barriers to Britain’s trade with the rest of the world and would allow better connections for freight between the East’s ports and the rest of the UK.
The project has a high business case, as it would unlock economic opportunities for communities across the East and level up regions across the Midlands and the North.
Documents
Documents
Shorter-Term Rail Opportunities in the Transport East Region: Full Report: An investigation into the short-term priorities across each of the East’s core rail corridors.
Shorter-Term Rail Opportunities in the Transport East Region: Summary
Colchester - Clacton Route: Short-Term Opportunities: Following a review of rail corridors, Colchester–Clacton-on-Sea corridor has potential to secure enhanced rail services in the short term.
Ipswich - Peterborough and Cambridge Route: Short-Term Opportunities Following a review of rail corridors, Transport East identified that the Ipswich–Cambridge/Peterborough corridor has potential to secure enhanced rail services in the short term.
Thameside Taskforce: A Rail-led vision for South Essex’s growth: The Thameside Taskforce unites key stakeholders and political representatives to unlock the
full potential of the Thameside rail corridor.
East West Rail – East: The Case for Investment in the Eastern Section of the East West Railway: Presents an economic narrative to promote investment in infrastructure that unlocks the enormous potential of the East of England.
State of Rail: Full Report: Analysis of the current strengths and weaknesses of the rail network across the East. First phase of our integrated rail plan.
Keeping Trade on Track: The Case for Ely Upgrade: A joint report with England's Economic Heartland on the benefits of improving rail capacity at Ely Junction.
External Resources