Tuesday 25 Aug 2020
Public consultation announced for increasing Ely rail capacity
- Region & Route:
- Eastern: Anglia
Network Rail is announcing the first phase of public consultation for proposals to upgrade the railway in and around Ely which opens on 21 September and will run for six weeks.
The Ely area capacity enhancement (EACE) programme is a proposal to upgrade the railway to allow more trains to run through Ely. The aim is to improve connectivity and reliability for passenger services and meet the demand for more rail freight between the Port of Felixstowe the West Midlands and the north to support sustainable, long-term economic growth.
Residents and businesses in and around Ely are being invited learn more about the programme as it will be an opportunity for communities around Ely to understand:
- what the benefits are
- the challenges that will have to be addressed to increase capacity
- current funding position of the EACE programme
- how the public will be consulted as options are progressed
Future rounds of public consultation are being planned for 2021 to present options being considered to help inform the design work as it progresses. Future dates will be announced in due course.
How the public can have their say
Owing to the current Coronavirus situation and following Government guidance, we are conducting this first phase of public consultation remotely to maintain the safety of the public and our staff.
The consultation will be run through an online web-portal which will be live for six weeks from 21 September until 1 November. There will also be opportunities to speak to project representatives via webchats at specific times throughout the consultation period as well as by phone.
Ellie Burrows, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia said: “It is important that we provide opportunities to engage with the communities that are impacted by our work as it develops.
"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.”
More information about the consultation will be available via:
- our online webpage networkrail.co.uk/ely
- flyers at local stations
- our Twitter feed @networkrailLST using the hashtag #ElyRail
Hardcopies of our consultation material can be requested (available from 21 September) by contacting 03457 11 41 41 or emailing ElyAreaCapcityEnhancements@networkrail.co.uk
Notes to Editors
- The first phase of public consultation will open Monday 21 September and close on Monday 1 November
- The aspiration of the EACE programme is to increase capacity through Ely for up to 11 train paths per hour (in each direction) to be used by up to 10 train services, with the existing Norwich-Liverpool services using two paths, as it arrives and departs Ely over the same section of track.
- Network Rail has secured £13.1m funding from the Department for Transport and £9.3m funding from the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority, New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the Strategic Freight Network to understand the scale of the challenge to increase capacity through Ely.
- Future stages of the EACE programme including public consultation activities later in 2021 and submission of consents is subject to securing additional funding from the Department for Transport following their Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) process.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail Anglia Press Desk - Stephen Deaville
Senior Communications Manager
Network Rail
0330 8577 132
AngliaPressDesk@networkrail.co.uk
About Network Rail
We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.
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