European Funding Delivers Railfreight Boost for East of England Transport

24 Apr 2014

On 24th March the transport company GB Railfreight successfully completed tests of some short stretches of new track and a re-modelled railway junction in Ipswich by actually running a freight train along the new sections. It is officially known as the "Ipswich Chord", but unofficially as the "Bacon Factory Curve" because it passes over the site of an old Walls bacon factory.

The original link was a victim of the old Beeching cuts and its absence became a serious obstacle to the re-development of railfreight in the East of England region. Without it, trains from Felixstowe Docks en route to the Midlands and the North-West had to make expensive and time-consuming reversal manoeuvres in Ipswich. Now they can just carry straight on without interruption.

This GB Railfreight test run was the first freight train to operate on the new 1km link, which now restores a direct link from the Great Eastern main line to the East Suffolk line and beyond.

This project cost £59m and was co-financed by the European Trans European Transport Network (TEN-T) programme. Hertfordshire residents will also benefit since it now will enables freight services to avoid London, removing slow freight trains from the crowded West Coast main line and avoiding conflict with the important suburban and commuter services.

The Ipswich Chord is part of a larger series of upgrades to the Felixtowe/Peterborough/Nuneaton route, which include more new track near Ely, signalling upgrades at Bury St Edmunds. Loading gauge enhancements between Peterborough and Nuneaton, which enable the new larger shipping containers to be carried by rail, were completed in 2011. Altogether these improvements will increase freight capacity between Ipswich and Peterborough from 10 to 24 container freight trains per day and also enable longer trains to be run.

The Ipswich Chord is an important part of Network Rail's strategic freight network investment programme and has benefitted from significant funding from the European Community to enable railfreight capacity in Britain to get a much needed and overdue boost and help us get more heavy freight off the roads.

Based on a recent news release from GB Railfreight.

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