Great Eastern Main Line


The Great Eastern Main Line is a major railway line on the British railway system which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and the East of England, including,,, and. Its numerous branches also connect the main line to,,, Harwich and a number of coastal towns including Southend-on-Sea,, and.
Its main users are commuters travelling to and from London, particularly the City of London, which is served by Liverpool Street, and areas in east London, including the Docklands financial district via the London Underground and Docklands Light Railway connections at Stratford. The line is also heavily used by leisure travellers, as it and its branches serve a number of seaside resorts, shopping areas and countryside destinations. The route also provides the main artery for substantial freight traffic to and from and Harwich, via their respective branch lines. Trains from also run into London via the GEML.

History

Eastern Counties and Eastern Union Railways (1839–1862)

The first section of the line, built by the Eastern Counties Railway, opened in June 1839 between a short-lived temporary terminus at in the East End of London and, then in the Havering Liberty in Essex. The London terminus was moved in July 1840 to Shoreditch, after 1900 in the Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green, and at the eastern end the line was extended out to in the same year. A further of track was added out to by 1843. The original gauge for the line was, but this was converted to in 1844.
The section of line between Colchester and was built by the Eastern Union Railway to standard gauge and opened to passenger traffic in June 1846. Its sister company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway, built a line to and this was completed in November 1846. Both companies shared the same office, many directors and key staff, and started operating as a unified company with the EUR name from 1 January 1847. An extension from a new junction at to opened in December 1849, although the position of the latter station was poor and a spur to allow some trains to operate into station was opened to regular traffic in November 1851.
In the late 19th century the double-track main line was expanded with additional tracks being added to cope with more traffic. In 1854 a third track was added between Bow Junction and to help accommodate London, Tilbury and Southend Railway services which at that time were operating via Stratford.
Until 1860 trains serving the town of Ipswich used a station called which was located south of the Stoke tunnel. The town's current station is located to the north of the tunnel.
The ECR had leased the EUR from 1854 but by the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway was formed out of the consolidation.

Great Eastern Railway (1862–1922)

From November 1872 became a temporary terminus to relieve the main high level Bishopsgate station while the GER was building its new permanent terminus at. The latter opened in stages from February 1874, beginning with the first four platforms, until it was fully open from November 1875. At that time the original 1840 Bishopsgate station closed to passengers and was converted into a goods yard.
By the 1870s suburbia in the Forest Gate area was developing quickly and in 1872 suburban trains terminated at a bay platform at. These were followed by trains from Fenchurch Street in 1877. By 1882 these services had been extended and were terminating at Ilford, Romford or Brentwood.
In 1877 a fourth track was added between Bow Junction and Stratford and two goods-only tracks were added between Stratford and Maryland Point. The four-track Bow Junction to Stratford section was extended back to James Street Junction in 1884 but Bethnal Green to James Street did not follow until 1891. It was also in this year that two extra tracks were added between Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street which were for the use of West Anglia Main Line services. These tracks were built through the basement warehousing associated with Bishopsgate station located above.
The line was quadrupled to Ilford in 1895 and in 1899 out to.
In 1902 the quadruple track was extended from Seven Kings to Romford, but it wasn't until 1913 that four-tracking out to was suggested and the First World War caused delay to this plan. In 1903 the Fairlop Loop opened and a number of services that had previously terminated at Ilford were extended onto it. These services generally looped round and back to the GEML at Stratford.

London and North Eastern Railway (1923–1947)

The GER was grouped in 1923 into the London and North Eastern Railway. In 1931/32 the LNER quadrupled the tracks to Shenfield which became the terminus for inner-suburban operation.
In the 1930s a flyover was constructed just west of to switch the main and electric lines over, to enable main line trains to utilise Liverpool Street's longer west side platforms without having to cross east side suburban traffic in the station throat. The new arrangement also facilitated cross-platform interchange with the Central line at, with services commencing in 1946. Either side of the Ilford flyover there are single-track connections between each pair of lines, with the westbound track extending to and just beyond. The eastbound track extends as far as Ilford station. It was also envisaged that a flyover would be built at the country-end of the carriage sidings at to allow trains bound for the Southend line to change from the main line to the electric line, instead of at the London-end of as they do now.
Plans were drawn up in the 1930s to electrify the suburban lines from Liverpool Street to Shenfield at 1,500 V DC and work was started on implementing this. However, the outbreak of the Second World War brought the project to a temporary halt and it was not until 1949 that the scheme was completed with electrification being extended to in 1956.
During World War 2 the long-distance named trains were withdrawn, and these returned after the war with the reintroduction of the "Hook Continental" and "Scandanavian" boat trains to Harwich Parkeston Quay in 1945. The East Anglian was restored in October 1946 and in 1947 the "Day Continental" which pre-war had operated as the "Flushing Continental", recommenced operation.

British Railways (1948–1994)

After nationalisation in 1948, the GEML formed part of the Eastern Region of British Railways.
The Summer 1950 timetable saw the introduction of a regular interval service between Liverpool Street and Clacton, which left Liverpool Street on the half-hour and Clacton on the hour. Summer Saturdays in 1950 also saw the introduction of the "Holiday Camps Express" workings to Gorleston, near Lowestoft. The latter half of 1950 and early 1951 saw the testing of new EM1 electric locomotives for use over the Woodhead Line between Manchester and Sheffield.
January 1951 saw the introduction of the Britannia class 4-6-2 express locomotives and saw a speeding up of services on the GEML. However, not every one was a fan; British Railways chairman Sir Michael Barrington Ward exclaimed "What? Send the first British Railways standard engines to that tramline? No!"
23 Britannias were allocated to the GE section and, in summer 1951, the Liverpool Street–Norwich service went over to an hourly clockface interval service.
The British Railways 1955 Modernisation Plan called for overhead line systems in Great Britain to be standardised at 25 kV AC. However, due to low clearances under bridges, the route was electrified at 6.25 kV AC. The section between Liverpool Street and was completed in November 1960. Extensive testing showed that smaller electrical clearances could be tolerated for the 25 kV system than originally thought necessary. As a result, it was now possible to increase the voltage without having to either raise bridges or lower the tracks along the route to obtain larger clearances. The route between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria was converted to 25 kV AC between 1976 and 1980.
By the late 1970s, the costs of running the dated mechanical signalling systems north of Colchester was recognised and, in 1978, a scheme for track rationalisation and re-signalling was duly submitted to the Department of Transport. This was followed by a proposal, in 1980, to electrify the Great Eastern Main Line.
The early 1980s saw track rationalisation and signalling work carried out in the Ipswich area and, on 9 April 1985, the first electric train consisting of two Class 305 electric multiple units worked into Ipswich station. The previous year, another member of the class had been dragged to Ipswich by a diesel locomotive and was used for crew training. The first passenger carrying train was formed of British Rail Class 309 EMUs, which ran on 17 April 1985. The plan was for Inter-City trains to be hauled by British Rail Class 86 locomotives which, until the line beyond Ipswich to Norwich was electrified, would changeover with the Class 47s at Ipswich; this arrangement commenced from 1 May 1985.
During 1985-87, the line to Norwich was electrified and through electric working commenced in May 1987.
In 1986, the line as far as became part of Network SouthEast, although some NSE services actually terminated at Ipswich, whilst longer-distance Norwich services were operated by InterCity. Local services operating from the Ipswich and Norwich areas were operated by Regional Railways.

The privatisation era (1994 onwards)

Between 1997 and 2004, services into Essex and some into Suffolk were operated by First Great Eastern, whilst services into Norfolk and other Suffolk services were operated by Anglia Railways. Between 2004 and 2012, services out of Liverpool Street, except for a limited number of c2c trains, were all operated by National Express East Anglia. Since 2012, the franchise has been operated by Abellio Greater Anglia; in May 2015, the Shenfield "metro" stopping service transferred to TfL Rail, as a precursor to Crossrail.
Liverpool Street IECC replaced signal boxes at Bethnal Green, Bow, Stratford, Ilford, Romford, Gidea Park, Shenfield and Chelmsford. The system uses BR Mark 3 solid state interlockings, predominantly four-aspect signals and a combination of Smiths clamp-lock and GEC-Alsthom HW2000 point machines.
The first signal box to be closed and transferred to Liverpool Street IECC was Shenfield in 1992, which had only opened 10 years earlier. The last boxes to be transferred were at Romford and Gidea Park in 1998; these were the oldest of those being transferred, having been opened under the GER/LNER 1924 resignalling scheme.

Accidents and incidents

A number of fatal accidents have occurred on the line throughout its history:
The line is owned and maintained by Network Rail. It is part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7, which is composed of SRSs 07.01, 07.02 and 07.03, and is classified as a primary line. The GEML has a loading gauge of W10 between Liverpool Street and Haughley Junction and from there is W9 to Norwich. The maximum line speed is.
The main line is electrified at 25 kV AC using overhead wires and comes under the control of Romford Electrical Control Room. The branches to,,,,, and are also electrified.
Between and, there is a Network Rail maintenance depot adjacent to the Jutsums Lane overbridge. In addition, at the London-end of the depot, is Network Rail's Electrical Control Room that controls the supply and switching of the overhead line system for the whole of the former Anglia Region.
Signalling is controlled by two main signalling centres: Liverpool Street IECC and Colchester PSB. Liverpool Street IECC controls signalling up to, where it fringes with Colchester PSB, which has control to. There are also several small signal boxes that control local infrastructure, such as Ingatestone box, which has jurisdiction over several local level crossings.
Line-side train monitoring equipment includes hot axle box detectors on the down main and down electric lines near Brentwood and on the up main near Margaretting. Other equipment includes wheel impact load detectors ‘Wheelchex’ on the down main and up main west of Church Lane level crossing.

Track layout

On leaving Liverpool Street, the route comprises two pairs of tracks, known as the mains and the electrics, with a further pair of tracks, the suburbans, which carry the West Anglia Main Line alongside the GEML to.
From Bethnal Green, the GEML has four lines to Bow junction, where there is a complex set of switches and crossings. A line from the LTS route joins the "up" electric and there are a further two lines, the "up" and "down" Temple Mills, giving access to the North London Line and Temple Mills. The GEML has six tracks up to the London-end of and the junction to Temple Mills; there are five lines through the station, dropping to four at the country end.
At, the line to diverges and the main line route drops from four lines to two; this arrangement continues for the vast majority of the way to Norwich. There are several locations where the route has more than two lines, predominantly through stations such as Colchester and Ipswich, along with goods loops, such as at the London end of.

Tunnel and viaducts

Major civil engineering structures on the Great Eastern Main Line include the following:
Railway StructureLengthDistance from London Liverpool Street StationLocation
Trowse Swing Bridge 123 miles 37 chains Norwich
Lakenham Viaduct 8 chains 112 miles 33 chains – 112 miles 25 chains Between Norwich and Diss stations
Thraston Viaduct 105 miles 62 chains Between Norwich and Diss stations
River Waveney Viaduct94 miles 54 chains South of Diss station
Badley Viaduct 2 chains 79 miles 09 chains – 79 miles 07 chains Between Stowmarket and Needham Market stations
Ipswich or Stoke Tunnel 361 yards 68 miles 47 chains – 68 miles 31 chainsSouth of Ipswich station
Cattawade Viaduct4 chains 60 miles 10 chains – 60 miles 06 chainsEast of Manningtree station
River Stour Viaduct4 chains 59 miles 75 chains – 59 miles 71 chainsEast of Manningtree station
Lexden Viaduct 6 chains 49 miles 69 chains – 49 miles 63 chainsWest of Colchester station
River Ter Viaduct35 miles 22 chainsBetween Hatfield Peverel and Chelmsford stations
Boreham Viaduct3 chains 32 miles 72 chains – 32 miles 69 chainsBetween Hatfield Peverel and Chelmsford stations
River Chelmer Viaduct30 miles 25 chainsEast of Chelmsford station
Chelmsford Viaduct24 chains 29 miles 64 chains – 29 miles 40 chainsWest of Chelmsford station
River Can Viaduct3 chains 29 miles 36 chains – 29 miles 26 chainsWest of Chelmsford station
Ilford or Aldersbrook Flyover6 miles 78 chainsWest of Ilford station
Bethnal Green Viaduct1 mile 6 chains 1 miles 58 chains – 0 mile 52 chainsBethnal Green

Stoke tunnel

The only tunnel on the line is just south of. The long tunnel was built by Peter Bruff as part of the Ipswich & Bury Railway. It was completed in 1846 and it is thought to be the earliest driven on a sharp continuous curve. During the excavation of the tunnel, many important fossils were discovered, including rhinoceros, lion and mammoth; the site was known as the "Stoke Bone Beds". The finds are considered important in understanding climate change during the Ice Age. This tunnel had the trackbed lowered so the line could accommodate taller freight trains.

Rolling stock

Electric locomotive powered inter-city trains operated the London-Norwich service from electrification of the line in the mid-1980s until March 2020.
Class 86 locomotives powered the service from 1985 until 2004, with rakes of Mark 2 coaches. Push-pull services were introduced during their tenure, initially using a DBSO coach at the Norwich end and latterly with Driving Van Trailers, cascaded from the West Coast Main Line.
From 2004, Class 90 locomotives replaced the ageing Class 86s and rolling stock was updated with refurbished former West Coast Main Line Mark 3 coaches, following the introduction of the Class 390 Pendolino stock on that route.
By March 2020, new EMUs had fully replaced Class 90s and Mark 3 coaches; thereby ending locomotive operation on the inter-city services on the GEML.
Electric multiple units are used for inner and outer suburban passenger trains and diesel multiple units are used on non-electrified branch lines. Electric and diesel hauled freight services also operate on the GEML. The main passenger units utilised are:

Crossrail

In 2015 TfL Rail, the precursor of Crossrail, took over operation of the Shenfield stopping "metro" service and, from 2021, the full Crossrail service will run via a tunnel through central London and link up with the Great Western Main Line to and Heathrow Airport.
The first new rolling stock entered service on the service on 22 June 2017. The new trains, built at Bombardier's Derby factory, provide air conditioned walk-through carriages, intelligent lighting and temperature control, closed-circuit television and passenger information displays showing travel information, including about onward journeys. It is planned that by September 2017, half of the services between Shenfield and Liverpool Street will have switched to the new Class 345 trains. From May 2015, Crossrail services will interchange with existing GEML services at Liverpool Street,, and.

Proposed developments

A new station is planned at Great Blakenham as part of the SnOasis development approximately halfway between and, Another is planned at, 3 miles north-east of Chelmsford entailing a long section of extra tracks on viaduct/bridge.
Crossrail will run to Shenfield from summer 2021.
In November 2013 an upgrade of the GEML to enable London-Norwich express services to achieve an improved journey time of 90 minutes was announced.

Services

The majority of trains are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia, with TfL Rail operating the Liverpool Street to Shenfield stopping "metro" trains. A limited number of weekend c2c services operate on part of the line between Stratford and Liverpool Street.

Main line

Fast and semi-fast services utilise the main line between Liverpool Street and Shenfield. Branch lines diverge at Romford, Shenfield, Witham, Marks Tey, Colchester, Ipswich, Stowmarket and Norwich.
Additionally, a very limited number of main line services call at Ilford, Seven Kings and Gidea Park during early mornings and late nights, often for the convenience of drivers who may be working at these locations.
StationBoroughBranch linesPatronage, 2017/18
London Liverpool StreetCity of London66,966,512
StratfordNewham40,077,086
RomfordHaveringRomford–Upminster line8,702,772
ShenfieldBrentwoodShenfield–Southend line3,872,486
IngatestoneBrentwood875,874
ChelmsfordChelmsford8,619,956
Hatfield PeverelBraintree419,264
WithamBraintreeBraintree branch line2,331,630
KelvedonBraintree844,570
Marks TeyColchesterGainsborough line577,550
ColchesterColchesterSunshine Coast line4,378,758
ManningtreeTendringMayflower line1,078,502
IpswichIpswichFelixstowe branch line3,351,902
Needham Market †Mid Suffolk100,648
StowmarketMid SuffolkIpswich–Ely line935,244
DissSouth Norfolk689,962
NorwichNorwichWherry lines; Bittern line; Breckland line4,156,302

† Needham Market is not served by main line trains.

Electric line

A high-frequency stopping service operates on the line, referred to as the Shenfield Metro, between and ; it serves all stations and is currently operated by TfL Rail. The off-peak service consists of six trains per hour, with some additional services during peak times. During peak times, some trains start or terminate at. The line is mostly within Greater London, with two stations in the Essex borough of Brentwood.
The electric line is also used by limited services extending to and from.
StationTravelcard zoneBoroughPatronage, 2017/18
London Liverpool Street1City of London66,966,512
Stratford2/3Newham40,077,086
Maryland3Newham1,145,882
Forest Gate3Newham2,834,734
Manor Park3/4Newham1,601,080
Ilford4Redbridge7,679,264
Seven Kings4Redbridge2,959,784
Goodmayes4Redbridge3,544,810
Chadwell Heath5Redbridge3,755,174
Romford6Havering8,702,772
Gidea Park6Havering2,711,136
Harold Wood6Havering2,929,720
Brentwood9Brentwood2,992,072
ShenfieldCBrentwood3,872,486

Passenger volume

These are the passenger usage statistics from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2013. Needham Market is the only station on the line that is not served by trains to/from London.