West Anglia Main Line

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West Anglia Main Line
OHLE
Operating speed80 mph (130 km/h) maximum
Route map

(Click to expand)
For details on the routes in the London area, see Lea Valley lines.

The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of

Stansted Airport. The line runs along the boundary between Hertfordshire and Essex
for much of its length.

In the early years, the line was the main route from London to Cambridge. Following the opening of the

Rye House Power Station, along with a Network Rail base at Broxbourne
.

History

The first section was built for the

Bishops Stortford, and in the following year the Northern and Eastern Railway was leased by the Eastern Counties Railway. It was this railway company opened the section from Bishops Stortford to Cambridge as part of its extension to Ely and Brandon
in 1845.

By the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble, and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway. Although they wished to amalgamate formally, they could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by amalgamation.[1]

The opening of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway in 1882 saw the Great Eastern open up a direct link with coal-producing areas in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire joining the line north of Cambridge at Chesterton Junction, generally routed to the large marshalling yards at Temple Mills.

Following the grouping in 1923 the line became part of the

London & North Eastern Railway
.

In 1948 following nationalisation the line passed to British Railways Eastern Region.

In 1952 the branch from Elsenham to Thaxted (known as the "Gin & Toffee Line") closed to passengers, and goods services were withdrawn a year later. The Saffron Walden line closed to passengers on 7 September 1964 and to freight three months later.

Electrification first came in the early 1960s under British Rail in sections. Electrification to Chingford included the Stratford – Lea Bridge – Hall Farm Junction section (although this was never completed), and the line from Liverpool Street to Broxbourne via Seven Sisters and the Southbury Loop was electrified. The route via Tottenham Hale was still operated by diesel traction, the British Rail Class 125 'Lea Valley' DMUs.[2]

The line from Clapton Junction (on the Chingford line) through Tottenham Hale to Cheshunt and from Broxbourne to Bishops Stortford was electrified on 9 March 1969[3] and from there to Cambridge in 1987. Stratford to Coppermill Junction was electrified in 1989. The power supply is 25 kV AC overhead line.

In 1991, a single-track branch line to Stansted Airport was opened, and services to London Liverpool Street commenced.

In early 2011, ticket barriers were installed at Bishop's Stortford, Harlow Town, Broxbourne, Cheshunt and Hackney Downs, some of the busiest stations on the line, to reduce the need for ticket inspectors on the Stansted Express service and reduce fare evasion.

In May 2015, services from

North London Line
.

In September 2019, the Lea Valley Rail Project was completed between Lea Bridge, and the new station at

Tottenham Hale
, along with a third track.

As a result of the new

selective door opening
, allowing for some platforms not having to be extended.

Services

Services from Liverpool Street to Cambridge, Hertford East and Stansted Airport are operated by

Greater Anglia
.

Express services from Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport are operated by Stansted Express, a sub-brand of Greater Anglia.

Services from Stansted Airport to Cambridge (and onward to Birmingham New Street via Peterborough) are operated by CrossCountry.

The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, which comprises SRS 05.01 and part of 05.05. It is classified as a London and South East commuter line.[4]

In London, the line forms the Tottenham Hale branch of the

Lea Valley Lines
.

Infrastructure

The line was initially

standard gauge
.

Currently, the line has double track for most of its length, with two exceptions at Stansted Airport Tunnel and at

25 kV AC and has a loading gauge of W8 except for the Stansted branch, which is W6.[4]

Line-side train monitoring equipment includes hot axle box detectors (HABD) on the up main south of Newport (39 miles 48 chains from Liverpool Street) and on the down main north of Shepreth Branch Junction (53 miles 10 chains). There are no wheel impact load detectors (WILD) ‘Wheelchex’ on the line.[5][6]

Tunnels and viaducts

Major civil engineering structures on the West Anglia Main Line include the following.[5]

Tunnels and viaducts on the West Anglia Main Line
Railway structure Length Distance from London Liverpool Street ELR Location
Littlebury Tunnel 407 yards (372 metres) 43 miles 46 chains – 43 miles 27 chains BGK Between Great Chesterford and Audley End stations
Audley End Tunnel 456 yards (417 metres) 43 miles 11 chains – 42 miles 70 chains
Audley End Viaduct 41 miles 43 chains South of Audley End station
Newport Viaduct 40 miles 36 chains North of Newport station
Stansted Airport Tunnel 1 mile 184 yards (1778 metres) 36 miles 23 chains – 35 miles 15 chains TLA Stansted Airport branch
Long Bridge Viaduct (River Stort) 19 miles 16 chains (via Clapton) BGK South of Roydon station
Hoe Street Tunnel 71 yards (65 metres) 6 miles 52 chains – 6 miles 49 chains CJC Chingford branch, between Wood Street and Walthamstow Central stations
Clapton arches (River Lea) 6 chains (c. 120 metres) 4 miles 35 chains – 4 miles 29 chains BGK Clapton line, north of Clapton station
Clapton Tunnel 284 yards (260 metres) 3 miles 66 chains – 3 miles 53 chains Clapton line, between Clapton and Hackney Downs stations
Hackney Downs or Queens Road Tunnel 445 yards (407 metres) 3 miles 39 chains – 3 miles 19 chains
Theobalds Grove arches 10 chains (c. 200 metres) 13 miles 51 chains – 13 miles 41 chains HDT Stoke Newington line, Theobalds Grove station
White Hart Lane arches 10 chains (c. 200 metres) 7 miles 03 chains – 6 miles 73 chains Stoke Newington line, south of White Hart Lane station
Stoke Newington Tunnel 60 yards (55 metres) 4 miles 22 chains – 4 miles 19 chains Stoke Newington line, north of Stoke Newington station
Bethnal Green – Hackney viaducts c. 2.5 miles (3900 metres) 3 miles 43 chains – 1 miles 10 chains BGK
Bishopsgate Tunnel 627 yards (573 metres) 0 miles 56 chains – 0 miles 27 chains LTN

Locomotives and rolling stock

Throughout the steam era trains were predominantly hauled by Great Eastern Railway (or its constituent companies') locomotives: when steam ended in East Anglia in the 1960s some of these locomotives were still operated – see Stratford TMD and Great Eastern Railway. After the grouping of 1923 LNER-designed locomotives were used with the B17 4-6-0 class working many main line services. Following nationalisation in 1948 British Railways introduced the Britannia 4-6-2 class on some main line services until succeeded by diesels in the late 1950s.

East Anglia was the first area to be worked completely by diesel trains with Class 31s taking over some express workings. These were succeeded by more powerful Class 37 and Class 47 until full electrification to King's Lynn in the 1980s when Class 86 locomotives took over.

Suburban services from about 1958 were operated by

units
.

In 2011, new Bombardier

Stansted Airport north through Cambridge to Birmingham on CrossCountry
services.

In 2020, new Class 745s were introduced on Stansted Express services, cascading the Class 379s to other WAML services. The delayed Class 720s began to replace both class 317s & class 379s on the route on 25 August 2021,[8][9] with full fleet replacement on this route completed in August 2022.[10]

Future developments

It seems likely that two tracks will be built alongside the line to

Tottenham Hale will transfer to Crossrail 2 releasing capacity on the mainline for additional trains.[11] In August 2019, it was announced that funding had been approved for four-tracking and related platform construction work between Tottenham Hale and Meridian Water to enable up to 8 trains per hour to make local stops in this section at peak times.[12]

References

  1. ISBN 0-7195-5150-1
    .
  2. ISBN 978-1-908174-53-6
    .
  3. ISBN 978-1-908174-53-6
    .
  4. ^ a b "Route 5 – West Anglia" (PDF). Network Rail. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-0-9549866-8-1
    .
  6. ^ "Railway Codes: HABD and WILD devices".
  7. ISBN 978-1-908174-53-6
    .
  8. ^ "More passengers in Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire enjoy new trains". Greater Anglia. 25 August 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  9. ^ "Greater Anglia: Passengers welcome brand-new electric commuter trains". Rail Technology Magazine. 27 August 2021. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  10. ^ "New trains now operating all Greater Anglia's West Anglia services". Greater Anglia. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  11. ^ "The Transport Committee: Crossrail and the Overground Talk Shop". London Reconnections. 7 March 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
  12. ^ Enfield regeneration scheme gets £156m funding boost Enfield Independent: 19 August 2019
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