Modern Railways – April 2019

70 Modern Railways April 2019 http://www.modern-railways.com

THEO STEEL reviews growth on the lines from East Anglia into the university city

E

arlier in the year Greater Anglia announced

that over one million passenger journeys

were made on its Norwich to Cambridge

service during 2018, a rise of 3.6% on the

previous year. The direct service was launched

by Anglia Railways in September 2002.

The announcement caused me to look at

the station usage statistics for the route from

the Office of Rail and Road, which are shown

in Table 1. Prior to the service launching, only

Thetford (served by the Norwich to Liverpool

trains) had more than a rudimentary service.

I have excluded Shippea Hill, Lakenheath,

Spooner Row, Harling Road and Eccles Road,

as they collectively accounted for just 7,000

entries/exits in 1997-98 and 8,000 in 2017-18

and have a very limited service.

I have also extended the table to include

Waterbeach and Cambridge to demonstrate that

the opening of Cambridge North has prompted

real growth. GA reports that in calendar year

2018 Cambridge North welcomed 546,717

passengers, a 28% year-on-year increase.

When I did the research for the book The

Regional Railways Story, published in 2015, the

route came over as one of the strongest growing

in percentage terms since privatisation. This is

not surprising, given that Cambridge is one of

the fastest growing economies in the country,

with significant population growth both in the

city and around. Norwich has also grown and

CAMBRIDGE COMMUTERS

TURN TO RAIL

TABLE 1: NORWICH TO CAMBRIDGE STATION USAGE

1997-98 2013-14 2017-18

Norwich 1,927 4,140 4,156

Wymondham 16 178 187

Attleborough 3 154 160

Thetford 81 290 297

Brandon 3 102 116

Ely 571 1,976 2,282

Waterbeach 147 345 430 (1)

Cambridge North (opened 2017) n/a n/a 489

Cambridge 3,909 9,825 11,530 (2)

(1) 440 in 2016-17; (2) 11,430 in 2016-17 Source: Office of Rail and Road. Figures in thousands

Breckland line: Greater Anglia’s No 170203

departs from Wymondham during a snow

shower forming the 09.38 Norwich – Cambridge

service on 17 March 2018. Antony Guppy

070-071_MR_Apr 2019_cambridge.indd 70 11/03/2019 17:26