Ely railway station

Infobox UK station
name = Ely
code = ELY
manager = National Express East Anglia
gridref = SS740947
start = ?
platforms = 3
usage0405 = 1.255
usage0506 = 1.279
usage0607 = 1.421
locale = Ely
borough = East Cambridgeshire, Cambridgeshire

Ely railway station serves the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. The station lies on Fen Line from Cambridge to King's Lynn, which is electrified at 25 kV AC overhead. It is a busy station served by trains running to a variety of destinations. The station itself was modified substantially in the early 1990s, at the time that electrification was taking place.

Three other non-electrified lines meet at Ely:
*The Breckland Line to Thetford and Norwich diverges from the Fen Line to the north of Ely.
*The line to March and Peterborough also diverges to the north.
*The line from Ipswich joins to the south of Ely station.

Ely station won first prize in the station of the year competition 1987 (medium sized category).

Services

The station is served by four operators:
*First Capital Connect 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. Most services are operated by Class 365 electrical multiple units though Class 317 electrical multiple units are used occasionally.
*National Express East Anglia serves the station with three routes:
**An hourly service between Cambridge and Norwich via the Breckland Line. These services use Class 170 Turbostar units.
**The Ipswich-Ely-Peterborough service which operates at two-hourly intervals. (Most of these services actually originate at London Liverpool Street prior to Ipswich but through journeys are not necessarily advertised since the route is very indirect.) These services use Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units.
**On weekdays there are several services that operate between King's Lynn and London Liverpool Street via Cambridge in the morning peak with several return services in the evening peak. On Saturday there is one early morning journey from London Liverpool Street to Ely with an almost immediate return journey. There is no service on Sunday. These services use Class 317 electrical multiple units.
*East Midlands Trains provides an (approximately) hourly service from Norwich to Liverpool via Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Peterborough. Services are operated using Class 158 diesel multiple units which change direction at Ely. Some early morning services commence at Cambridge and some late evening services terminate at Cambridge. At other times passengers must change at Ely for a connection to Cambridge.
*CrossCountry trains provides an hourly service from Birmingham New Street to Stansted Airport. This service is routed via Leicester, Peterborough and Cambridge and uses Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units.

Derailment near Ely on 22 June 2007

On Friday 22 June 2007 a goods train derailed at Newmarket Bridge south-east of Ely station, at the point where the Ipswich line crosses the Great Ouse. 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. [cite web|url=http://www.onerailway.com/latest_information/news/ipswich_peterborough_train_services_resume_21st_december|title=Ipswich – Peterborough Train Services Resume 21st December|date=19 December 2007|publisher=One Railway]

Notes

External links

* [http://jfbell20.fotopages.com/?entry=1204526 Photographs of Derailment on Newmarket Bridge]