Fen line

The Fen Line is a railway line in the east of England that links Cambridge in the south to King's Lynn in the north. The line runs through Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and the name of the line refers to the Fens which cover parts of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Lincolnshire. It is 41 miles 47 chains (66.9 km) in length and has eight stations.

Fen Line
First Capital Connect Class 365 Networker Express passing through Runcton Holme in 2012
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	East of England
Termini	Cambridge King's Lynn
Stations	8
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Great Northern Greater Anglia CrossCountry
Rolling stock	Class 170 "Turbostar"[1] Class 387 "Electrostar" Class 720 "Aventra" Class 755 "FLIRT"
Technical
Line length	41 miles 47 chains (66.9 km)
Number of tracks	1-2
Character	Secondary\London & South-East[1]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV AC OHLE
Operating speed	90 mph (145 km/h) maximum[2]
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Fen line
Legend
King's Lynn 96 mi 75 ch 156.01 km to Hunstanton to Middleton Towers to King's Lynn Harbour Harbour Junction Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway to Sutton Bridge & Melton Constable St Germain's Watlington 90 mi 70 ch 146.25 km to Wisbech East Holme Stow Bardolph Downham Market 86 mi 8 ch 138.56 km Denver Downham & Stoke Ferry Railway to Stoke Ferry Cut-off Channel River Wissey River Little Ouse Ouse Bridge Hilgay Littleport 76 mi 0 ch 122.31 km Breckland line to Norwich Ely–Peterborough line to Peterborough Queen Adelaide loop River Great Ouse Ely 70 mi 30 ch 113.26 km Ipswich–Ely line Waterbeach 61 mi 1 ch 98.19 km Cambridge North Cambridge & St Ives branch line to St Ives River Cam Cambridge–Mildenhall line Ipswich–Ely line Cambridge 55 mi 52 ch 89.56 km Varsity Line Cambridge South (opening in 2025) Shepreth Branch Junction Cambridge line to Hitchin West Anglia Main Line to London Liverpool Street
Mileage from London Liverpool Street

The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5 and comprises SRS 05.06 and part of 05.05. It is classified as a secondary line except between Cambridge and Ely where it is classified as a London and South East commuter line.^[1]

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 electric multiple units. Before May 2017, Class 365s were the principal units.

Three Class 365 EMUs received names associated with the line:

• The Fenman (365518)^[3] – previously a "named train" that used to operate on this line, consisting of locomotive-hauled InterCity (British Rail) trains;
• Robert Stripe Passengers' Champion (365527)^[4] was named on 10 March 2006, after the 21st Anniversary of the Fen Line Users Association;
• Nelson's County (365531) had a special livery applied to the outside which shows various scenes of West Norfolk however this was removed when Great Northern took over First Capital Connect.

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.^[5]

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:

• one semaphore signal at King's Lynn^[6] which controls entry to the One Train In Section freight-only line from King's Lynn to Middleton Towers
• two semaphore shunt signals at Downham Market station

In 2020, the Department of Transport announced funding to renew the signalling on the Fen Line to ETCS cab signalling.^[7]

Infrastructure

Traction current for electric trains is provided by 25 kV AC OHLE controlled by Romford Electrical Control Room.^[8] 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.^[1]

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%.^[9] Cambridge North was not open at the time of the publication of these figures.

Station usage
Station name	2002–03	2004–05	2005–06	2006–07	2007–08	2008–09	2009–10	2010–11	2011–12	2012–13	2013–14	2014–15	2015–16	2016–17	2017–18	2018–19	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23
King's Lynn	593,675	641,668	622,034	656,624	680,230	739,282	750,738	821,772	869,006	879,836	913,460	970,890	973,660	998,316	998,498[10]	991,252	931,394	240,162	683,706	757,034
Watlington	64,091	85,231	85,423	91,250	100,665	111,612	107,956	113,898	129,146	137,874	131,742	143,904	148,928	144,114	146,014[10]	153,782	138,366	39,078	105,886	107,724
Downham Market	248,368	277,744	276,900	307,013	361,433	365,612	360,032	406,690	432,014	452,674	460,060	491,744	500,442	523,846	533,426[10]	549,562	512,772	129,058	341,550	386,270
Littleport	94,363	119,198	122,655	146,218	148,836	156,124	149,428	178,254	199,804	206,596	225,024	238,062	229,628	242,814	248,786[10]	248,808	238,488	60,976	153,660	186,752
Ely	1,038,708	1,255,362	1,278,724	1,420,734	1,505,730	1,583,246	1,579,948	1,731,956	1,824,036	1,878,426	1,976,150	2,068,240	2,131,818	2,209,350	2,281,710[10]	2,386,744	2,363,818	577,460	1,634,548	1,894,014
Waterbeach	176,639	197,594	213,500	227,281	250,039	277,470	266,020	301,376	312,216	335,660	344,726	381,202	420,730	440,142	430,050[10]	407,650	377,660	100,176	265,180	309,130
Cambridge North	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	488,878[10]	812,972	949,550	220,958	733,612	1,074,602
Cambridge	5,478,112	6,060,475	6,137,423	6,522,309	6,997,887	7,571,838	7,661,146	8,245,416	8,823,236	9,168,938	9,824,910	10,420,178	10,954,212	11,424,902	11,530,238[10]	11,983,320	11,599,814	2,300,528	6,952,780	9,341,600
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 from the periods 2019-20 and especially 2020-21 onwards have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic

References

1. "Route 5 – West Anglia" (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
2. Network Rail (August 2006). East Anglia Route Sectional Appendix. Vol. Module EA. p. 109 LOR EA1162 Seq007. NR30018/02.
3. The Fenman EXTRA
   Newsletter of the Fen Line Users Association (PDF). Fen Line Users Association. November 2006. p. 1. Archived from the original on 27 May 2011.
4. The Fenman EXTRA
   Newsletter of the Fen Line Users Association (PDF). Fen Line Users Association. February 2007. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 May 2011.
5. "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.
6. Network Rail (August 2006). East Anglia Route Sectional Appendix. Vol. Module EA. p. 110 LOR EA1270 Seq001. NR30018/02.
7. "New rail tech roll-out set to bring more reliable journeys and boost jobs". GOV.UK. Retrieved 19 November 2020.
8. Network Rail (August 2006). East Anglia Route Sectional Appendix. Vol. Module EA. p. 110 LOR EA1161 Seq008. NR30018/02.
9. "Station Usage". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Archived from the original on 5 July 2007. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
10. "Station usage, April 2017 to March 2018 data". Rail Statistics. Office of Rail Regulation. Retrieved 2 September 2015.

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.

External links

Media related to Fen Line at Wikimedia Commons

• Fen Line Users Association (FLUA)
• Norfolk Railway Society