UK: Next month Network Rail is to launch the first phase of public consultation on the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement proposal to add capacity on the five lines radiating from the city.
Encompassing the area around Ely as far as Cambridge, Peterborough and King’s Lynn, the EACE programme aims to improve the reliability of passenger services, and meet the demand for more freight capacity between the port of Felixstowe, the Midlands and northern England
The aspiration is to increase capacity through Ely from six or seven to 11 train paths per direction per hour. Up to 10 train paths per hour would be used, with Norwich – Liverpool services using two paths, as they arrive and depart from Ely over the same section of track.
Development of the programme is currently at a very stage, and the specific engineering works which would be required have not yet been defined, Network Rail told Rail Business UK on August 25.
The infrastructure manager has secured £13·1m of funding for development of the plans from the Department for Transport, and £9·3m from the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership and the Strategic Freight Network.
The six-week consultation starting on September 21 will focus on the long-term benefits and the challenges that will need to be addressed. Future rounds of public consultation are being planned for 2021 and would present various options to meet the objectives, with targeted consultation on engineering proposals.
Network Rail plans to submit a business case for including EACE in DfT’sRail Network Enhancements Pipeline in 2022. An application for a Transport & Works Act order granting legal powers for the works would then be submitted in 2023 for approval the following year, allowing works to get underway for completion in the early 2030s.
‘It is important that we provide opportunities to engage with the communities that are impacted by our work as it develops’, said Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s Route Director for Anglia, when the consultation was announced. ‘It is even more important that we listen to people and gather their views to help inform our development and design process. By starting these discussions early, we hope to embark on this journey with the community and progress these proposals together, finding the right solution for the railway and for Ely.’
