Could Ely junction upgrade

[evergreenadam]

Moderator note: split from

Labour Spending Review

Some announcements about rail were made in Rachel Reeves' spending review today. Items I noted were: - a 4-year settlement for TfL (content not known) - £3.5bn more for TRU (again, no details). Rachel said "a quarter of the Manchester-York route will be live this year". - £2.5bn extra for East...

www.railforums.co.uk

Nothing for Ely Junction then?

Seems short sighted given how it unblocks freight and caters for growth in the Cambridge area.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Nothing for Ely Junction then? Seems short sighted given how it unblocks freight and caters for growth in the Cambridge area.

Given movement of box traffic from Felixstowe to London Gateway immediate pressure at Ely will have eased. Many projects now seem stalled so NR needs look at how it can best optimise the infrastructure it has.

 

[Class15]

Given movement of box traffic from Felixstowe to London Gateway immediate pressure at Ely will have eased. Many projects now seem stalled so NR needs look at how it can best optimise the infrastructure it has.

Indeed. I think Felixstowe freight traffic will probably build up again (not sure though! Maybe someone is more knowledgeable on this) and the Ely scheme will need to be resurrected.

 

[evergreenadam]

There have been a few articles about it over the last few months, so the need still appears to be there.

Ely and Haughley junction improvements would spark rail revolution

For years the business community and rail operators have been talking about the importance of upgrading Ely and Haughley junctions. But why is that…

www.eadt.co.uk

 

[Magdalia]

The Network Rail website says this about the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement:

We have run several public consultations to seek feedback from the public and stakeholders. They were presented with options where changes to the rail infrastructure would be needed to increase capacity. The consultations were:

• Round 1 consultation 21 September to 1 November 2020
• Round 2 (part 1) consultation 24 May to 4 July 2021
• Round 2 (part 2) consultation 15 October to 28 November 2021

The consultation materials can be provided electronically upon request using the contact details below.

Subject to securing further funding, the results of these consultations are expected to be included as part of a future Round 3 public consultation. This would set out the preferred options selected to take forward to the consent stage.

Any funding for Ely is likely to be for another round of design and consultation. As far as I can tell there is no agreed proposal to apply for a Transport and Works Act Order to actually build anything.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jun 2025 ==

Seems short sighted given how it unblocks freight and caters for growth in the Cambridge area.

The key rail project for growth in the Cambridge area is East West Rail, which got £2.5bn in the spending Review.

Allocating £2.5 billion to progress the delivery of East West Rail, supporting housing developments and unlocking the potential of the Oxford to Cambridge Growth Corridor.

The Government may be holding back on any other Cambridge related investment decisions until after it has received reports from the New Towns Taskforce and the Cambridge Growth Company.

Investment needs to be based on what Cambridge needs in the future, as identified by the New Towns Taskforce and the Cambridge Growth Company, not a project that is based on what were thought to be the requirements many years ago.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Jun 2025 ==

I have now found a reference in the Spending Review document about the New Towns Taskforce and Cambridge. It is in para 5.71 on page 76:

Investing in infrastructure and land remediation to deliver new housing schemes in partnership with the private sector. The government will shortly set out plans for New Towns and Cambridge;

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jun 2025 ==

The BBC News website gives a fairly good summary of the history of the Ely Upgrade here:

Why are Ely North junction improvements taking so long?

There are hopes the long-awaited work could finally find itself on the list for funding.

www.bbc.co.uk

There are dozens of rail schemes waiting for government funding but few have had their hopes raised and then dashed as often as Ely North junction.

For 25 years campaigners have argued that improving it would make it possible to run more freight and passenger services and help grow the local economy.

But despite the project getting the go-ahead from previous governments on at least two occasions, the work is yet to start.

Rising costs, complicated engineering and a slowness to make decisions are being blamed.

With the government about to publish its 10-year infrastructure strategy, there are hopes that the project will make it on to this list for funding. But why is it taking so long?

Possibly linked to a feature on TV Politics East yesterday?