02.10.17
DfT approves £60m upgrade to Felixstowe branch line
A scheme worth £60.4m to increase freight services and create a more reliable railway for passengers travelling between Ipswich and Felixstowe has been approved by the transport secretary.
The work on the Felixstowe branch line will see a second track installed between Trimley station and the Grimston Lane foot crossing.
It will mean that up to 47 freight trains can run per day, which is 14 more than can currently travel along the line. Each train can carry around 60 lorry loads, meaning the construction will lead to less congestion on busy roads like the A14.
Network Rail is delivering the project to ensure more goods are transported by rail in the UK, and in the next few months engineers will work to clear vegetation for the works.
“We’re improving the Felixstowe branch line to provide a step change for rail freight in Suffolk and beyond as part of our Railway Upgrade Plan. We’re supporting the growth of the UK economy by enabling more goods to be transported on the railway and reducing the number of lorries on the road,” said Meliha Duymaz, Network Rail’s route managing director for Anglia.
“The work will also create a safer and more reliable railway for passengers travelling between Ipswich and Felixstowe.”
It is hoped that the project, which will be funded through the Strategic Freight Network, will also pave the way for potential improvements to the cross-country line.
Campaign for Better Transport have also conducted research into the route, finding that the work will benefit passengers and freight services on the line.
“These additional rail freight services can be filled almost immediately as shippers have been demanding additional rail services on the parallel rail route to the A14 corridor for years," said Philippa Edmunds, freight on rail manager at the organisation.
"Increasing long-distance consumer rail freight will reduce road congestion, road crashes 1 and pollution as well as making road freight more reliable.
"Research carried out earlier this year for Freight on Rail, sponsored by the Department for Transport (DfT), showed that the A14 corridor from Felixstowe had up to 6,500 of the largest HGVs, (5 & 6 axle articulated lorries) on the corridor each day which represented between 10 and 17 per cent of all traffic 2," she continued.
"These additional rail services will remove another 840 large HGVs each day off the route which is the equivalent of around 3360 average cars. 3
“We urge the government to prioritize further work on this key corridor, as part of its industrial and emissions strategies, to improve productivity and reduce air and CO2 emissions.”
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