Ely railway station

Ely
Location
Place	Ely
Local authority	East Cambridgeshire
Grid reference	TL542793
Operations
Station code	ELY
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13	1.878 million
– Interchange	0.345 million
2013/14	1.976 million
– Interchange	0.341 million
2014/15	2.068 million
– Interchange	0.366 million
2015/16	2.132 million
– Interchange	0.386 million
2016/17	2.209 million
– Interchange	0.404 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1845.[1] (1845.[1])
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Ely from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Ely railway station is on the Fen line in the east of England, serving the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire.

It is 70 miles 30 chains (113.3 km) from London Liverpool Street and is situated between Waterbeach and Littleport stations on the Fen line. It is also the terminus of three other lines: the Breckland line to Norwich, a branch line to Peterborough and a branch line to Ipswich.

Ely is a busy station with trains running to a variety of destinations including Cambridge, King's Lynn, Birmingham, Nottingham, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool. It is managed by Greater Anglia which is also one of four train operators that serve the station, the others being Great Northern, CrossCountry and East Midlands Trains.

The station was opened in 1845 by the Eastern Counties Railway at a cost of £81,500, the land on which it was built being a marshy swamp.^[2] The station was modified substantially in the early 1990s, at the time that electrification of the line was taking place.

Services

The station is served by four operators:

• CrossCountry trains provides an hourly service from Stansted Airport to Birmingham New Street. This service is routed via Cambridge, Peterborough and Leicester, and uses Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units.^[3]
• East Midlands Trains provides an (approximately) hourly service from Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street via Peterborough, Nottingham, Sheffield, and Manchester Piccadilly. Services are operated using Class 158 diesel multiple units (or, occasionally, Class 156 diesel multiple units) which reverse at Ely.^[4]
• Great Northern serve the station as part of their service from London King's Cross to King's Lynn. Outside peak hours the services run non-stop between London and Cambridge as part of the half-hourly "Cambridge Cruiser" service. One train per hour then continues beyond Cambridge, stopping at all stations on the Fen Line to King's Lynn. The journey from King's Cross to Ely is timetabled to take just over an hour on the fastest services. Services are more frequent (up to every half an hour) during peak hours when demand is highest. During peak hours most trains divide (northbound) or couple (southbound) at Cambridge which adds some minutes to the journey time. In addition, during peak hours most services make additional stops between London Kings Cross and Cambridge which contributes further to an extended journey time. During recent years the number of direct services has increased; from the timetable change of December 2013 there are direct services from London every half hour from 16:44 to 23:14. Some off-peak services can take as little as 1 hour and 5 minutes between London and Ely. During peak hours they can take up to 1 hour and 21 minutes. Most services are operated by Class 365 electrical multiple unit. Additional peak services to/from London start or terminate at Ely.^[5]
• Greater Anglia serves the station with three routes:
  • An hourly service between Cambridge and Norwich via the Breckland Line. These services normally use three coach Class 170 Turbostar units. Four units are diagrammed to work the hourly service.^[6]
  • A two hourly service between Ipswich and Peterborough via Bury St Edmunds. These services normally use two coach Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units. Two units are diagrammed to work the two hourly service.^[7]
  • On weekdays there are four services that operate to London Liverpool Street in the morning peak, three of which originate at King's Lynn while one commences at Ely. There are four return journeys in the evening; one terminating at Ely while the other three continue to King's Lynn. There is no service on Saturday or Sunday. These services normally use Class 379 or Class 317 electrical multiple units.^[8]

The Hunstanton portion of the 10.39 service from Liverpool Street at Ely in 1958

Trains in the station platforms

Ely railway station signals

Summary

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Cambridge		CrossCountry Stansted Airport-Birmingham		March
				Manea Limited Service
Thetford		East Midlands Trains Norwich-Liverpool		Peterborough
Brandon Limited Service				March Limited Service
Waterbeach		Great Northern Fen Line		Littleport
Cambridge North		Greater Anglia Breckland Line		Brandon
				Shippea Hill Limited Services
Bury St Edmunds		Greater Anglia Ipswich-Peterborough		Manea
Waterbeach		Greater Anglia Liverpool Street-King's Lynn/Ely Peak only		Littleport
	Future Services
Cambridge Line closed		East West Rail Oxford-Norwich		Norwich Line closed
Historical railways
Soham Line open, station closed		Great Eastern Railway Ely and Newmarket Railway		Terminus
Chettisham Line open, station closed		Great Eastern Railway Ely to Peterborough Line		Terminus
Disused railways
Stretham Line and station closed		Great Eastern Railway Ely and St Ives Railway		Terminus

Retail

There are two branches of Locoespresso^[9] on the station, one on platform 1 and the other on platform 2/3. These serve hot and cold drinks as well as snacks, magazines and newspapers. Platform 1 also includes an L.A. Golden Bean kiosk which sells hot and cold drinks and snacks.

Accidents and incidents

• On 25 August 1866, a passenger train derailed near Ely due to defective track. One person was killed and five were seriously injured.^[10]
• On 1 June 1870, a passenger train was derailed near Ely. Some passengers sustained minor injuries.^[11]
• On 2 April 1874, two freight trains collided at Ely.^[12]
• On 16 January 1890, a train from Newmarket ran into the rear of a freight train near Ely.^[13]
• On 26 September 1905, a freight train derailed at Dock Junction, fouling the adjacent line. A passenger train collided with derailed wagons. Four passengers were injured, one seriously.^[14]
• On 22 June 2007, a goods train derailed at Hawk Bridge which carries the Ipswich line over the River Great Ouse a mile south of Ely. Photographs showed derailed wagons on their side, only prevented from plunging off the embankment by subsidiary structures and their attachment to the rest of the train. As a consequence of the derailment the bridge had to be rebuilt and there were no train services between Ely and Bury St. Edmunds until the works were completed on 21 December 2007.^[15]
• On 14 August 2017, a freight train was derailed at Ely West Junction, near Queen Adelaide. The line between Ely and Peterborough was closed until 21 August.^[16][17]

Low bridge

Immediately north-east of Ely station, the railway lines pass on a bridge^[18] over the A142. The height available for road traffic passing beneath the bridge is only 9.0 feet (2.7 m) which is unusually low for a bridge over an A-road. Despite the various warnings, the limited headroom is a frequent cause of accidents.^[19] High vehicles must use a level crossing next to the bridge.

See also

• Railways in Ely

Notes

External links

Media related to Ely railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Photographs of Derailment on Newmarket Bridge

• Train times and station information for Ely railway station from National Rail

Coordinates: 52°23′25″N 0°15′59″E / 52.39028°N 0.26639°E / 52.39028; 0.26639