Breckland line

Breckland line
Shippea Hill in the typically flat Fens
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	East of England
Termini	Norwich Cambridge
Stations	12
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Greater Anglia CrossCountry East Midlands Railway Great Northern
Rolling stock	Class 158 Class 170 Class 387 Class 720 Class 755
History
Opened	1845
Technical
Track length	51 miles 8 chains (82.2 km)
Number of tracks	2
Character	Secondary[1]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Loading gauge	W10
Electrification	25 kV AC (between Cambridge and Ely and around Norwich)
Operating speed	75–90 mph
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Breckland line
Legend
Norwich 124¾ Wherry Lines & Bittern Line River Wensum Trowse Norwich Victoria Great Eastern Main Line to London Liverpool Street Hethersett Spinks Lane to Ashwellthorpe Wymondham 114¾ Mid-Norfolk Railway to Dereham Spooner Row (request stop) 111¼ Attleborough 108¼ Eccles Road 104½ River Thet Harling Road 101½ to Holme Hale & Swaffham Roudham Junction Thetford to Bury St Edmunds line to Bury St Edmunds Thetford 93¾ Brandon 86½ River Little Ouse Cut-off channel Lakenheath (request stop) 82½ Shippea Hill (request stop) 77¼ Prickwillow River Lark River Great Ouse Fen line to King's Lynn Ely–Peterborough line Ely 70½ Ipswich–Ely line Ely and St Ives Railway Fen line to Cambridge
Mileage from London Liverpool Street

The Breckland line is a secondary railway line in the east of England that links Cambridge in the west to Norwich in the east. The line runs through three counties: Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. It takes its name from the Breckland region of Norfolk and passes through Thetford Forest.

The line is 51 miles 8 chains (82.2 km) in length, from where it branches off the Fen line north of Ely to where it joins the Great Eastern Main Line south of Norwich. There are 12 stations on the line, including the termini.

The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.09 and part of SRS 05.05. It is classified as a secondary line, except between Cambridge and Ely which is a London and South East commuter line.^[1] Passenger services on the Breckland line are operated by Greater Anglia (which manages all of the stations), CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway and Great Northern.