Ely and Haughley rail junctions benefit from scrapped HS2 funds

Ely serves rail freight from the UK's busiest container port at Felixstowe in Suffolk

Funding for upgrades to two major rail junctions will come from money earmarked for the now partially axed HS2 high-speed rail line.

Ely junction in Cambridgeshire and Haughley in Suffolk will get an undisclosed share of £6.5bn in funding.

Planned improvements will create additional freight and passenger services.

Local politicians and business leaders have welcomed the improvements which currently have no start date.

Rishi Sunak announced funding for local projects after axing part of the HS2 rail line.

Rail lines from Peterborough, Kings Lynn, March, Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich all converge on Ely, causing bottlenecks which had made it impossible to run more services.

The Haughley junction would cost £20m to upgade

The Haughley Junction, north of Stowmarket, connects the London to Norwich line with the branch line, which runs to Newmarket, Peterborough and the Midlands.

James Palmer of the Eastern Powerhouse business group, which lobbied for improvements said:" If you are a rail passenger you can look forward to faster and more regular services.

"And by putting more freight on the rails, this will save 150,000 lorry journeys a year on the A14".

The transport body England's Economic Heartland, which co-authored a report citing the need for improvements, said it was "delighted" by the news.

A spokesperson said: "Investment in Ely and Haughley Junctions will change the lives of so many people and businesses. It will reduce congestion, boost trade, level up communities right across the UK, increase passenger services and cut carbon emissions."

Analysis

Andrew Sinclair, BBC East political editor

The government says that improvements to Ely north junction in Cambridgeshire and Haughley junction near Stowmarket in Suffolk can now go ahead following the decision to scrap HS2.

For the last decade there has been an intensive campaign to upgrade the two junctions.

Rail lines from Peterborough, Kings Lynn, March, Cambridge, Ipswich and Norwich all converge on Ely, causing bottlenecks and making it impossible to run any more services.

While the small junction at Haughley needs to be made bigger to enable more freight trains to run from Felixstowe to the Midlands.

But despite frequent lobbying both schemes have failed to attract funding.

I understand the Department for Transport recognised the case for improving the junctions but the Treasury was worried about the cost.

Ending the funding for HS2 has now made both schemes possible.

The work at Haughley is estimated to cost around £20m , while the Ely upgrade could cost as much as £50m.

A start date will be announced later but it is likely to be five years off or longer.

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority Labour Mayor, Dr Nik Johnson, said it was good news but he was "terribly conflicted by the way the announcement has been made".

He said the authority and its partners were "obviously delighted" to hear Ely junction will go ahead but he felt for his peers in the north of England.

The upgrade to the Ely North junction was supposed to start in 2017

Peter Aldous, Conservative MP for Waveney in Suffolk, said: "These two junctions were a log jam and now that we've removed them a lot of other benefits will come cascading out."

He also said he hoped it would allow for future freight services from Lowestoft.

The Department for Transport has announced several projects across the east of England:

• Ely Junction to be transformed, providing an extra six freight trains per day with access to the Port of Felixstowe, removing thousands of HGVs from East Anglia's roads

• Remodelling of the Ely North and Haughley Junctions

• Doubling train passenger services on the Ely to King's Lynn and Ipswich to Peterborough routes

• £610m to fund road schemes, ensuring the delivery of 39 road schemes across East Anglia, including the A10 between Ely and Cambridge

• Access to a £2.8 bn roads resurfacing fund to combat potholes

• £2 bus fare extended until the end of December 2024, instead of rising to £2.50 as planned