East Suffolk line

The East Suffolk line is an un-electrified 49-mile secondary railway line running between Ipswich and Lowestoft in Suffolk, England. The traffic along the route consists of passenger services operated by Greater Anglia, while nuclear flask trains for the Sizewell nuclear power stations are operated by Direct Rail Services.

The Halesworth, Beccles and Haddiscoe Railway opened between those points in 1854, and the East Suffolk Railway took over and extended southwards to Ipswich and north and east to Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, opening in 1859, and forming a more direct route to London from the coastal towns. There were branches to Framlingham, Snape Bridge and in 1860 to Aldeburgh. In 1862 the East Suffolk Railway company was folded into the new Great Eastern Railway.

The GER operated a successful passenger and goods train service, and with the development of seaside holidays in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and further in the twentieth, the seasonal passenger traffic increased considerably; goods traffic was limited by the predominantly rural and agricultural topography, with some notable pockets of industry, and considerable fishery traffic.

After 1945 use of the line declined and costs escalated sharply, and it appeared likely that the network would be closed, but the East Suffolk Railway main line was reprieved in 1966. Pioneering cost reduction measures were implemented from that time and in later years, and through express trains were moved to other routes. Sizewell nuclear power stations brought construction traffic to the line, and nuclear flasks are still handled at intervals. At present the line carries an hourly passenger service, consisting of British Rail class 755 bi-mode multiple units.

The Lowestoft and Beccles Railway, and the Lowestoft and Haddiscoe Railway were incorporated into the East Suffolk Railway in 1858. The combined network opened a year later. It later became part of the Great Eastern Railway. A branch to Southwold operated between 1879 and 1929.

In the 1950s and 1960s, the Snape and Beccles branches closed and the line was rationalised under the Beeching Axe. From the 1960s onwards, construction trains and later atomic flask trains ran on a branch from Saxmundham to Sizewell nuclear power station.

Until October 2012, the section from Westerfield to Oulton Broad was signalled using Radio Electronic Token Block controlled from Saxmundham. However, due to radio frequency licensing issues, and the imminent beginning of an hourly train service on the line, which would have been beyond the capacity of RETB, Track Circuit Block signalling (using AzLM axle counters) has replaced the RETB system, after the last train on 19 October 2012. The new signalling came into operation on 23 October 2012, controlled from the existing signal box at Saxmundham. On 10 December 2012 a new passing loop and reinstated second platform opened at Beccles.

In December 2010 through trains from Lowestoft to London via the East Suffolk Line were terminated. From December 2012 an hourly service over the East Suffolk line was introduced following the completion of the passing loop at Beccles.