Breckland Line
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| Cambridge-Norwich "Breckland" Line |
Principal stations (from south to north)
Shippea Hill (closed Sundays) |
The Breckland Line runs from Cambridge in Cambridgeshire to Norwich in Norfolk, in East Anglia, England. It is so called because it runs through the Breckland region of Norfolk. The line also passes through Thetford Forest. Some of the stations it serves see just one stopping train in each direction per day, mostly in the Norwich direction in the morning and from Norwich in the evening. With its well preserved stations, semaphore signaling and lineside telegraph poles, along with sections of jointed rail on wooden sleepers (gradually being replaced) the line has a very historical feel to it, although many sections are cleared for 90mph running, with 100mph being feasible.
The towns and villages served by the route are listed below (Ordnance Survey grid references for stations):
Passenger services are operated by several operators.
- 'one' operate an hourly between Cambridge and Norwich using modern Turbostar units.
- Central Trains operate services between Ely and Norwich, as part of their long-distance "City-Link" Liverpool-Norwich route. Central Trains also operate services on the Ely-Cambridge route as part of their Birmingham New Street-Stansted Airport service. Services are operated by Class 158, Class 170 and occasionally Class 156 diesel multiple units.
- First Capital Connect operate services between Cambridge and Ely as part of their Fen Line service to King's Lynn. Services are usually operated by Class 365 electrical multiple units.
The line between Cambridge and Ely, part of the Fen Line to King's Lynn, is electrified at 25 kV AC, using overhead wires. The rest of the route between Ely and Norwich is not electrified, other than the final section into Norwich station, after joining with the electrified line from London.
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