Business group claims rail bottleneck blocking growth in East of England
Calls for Government funding to upgrade the junction are being made
A business group in the East of England believes a key rail bottleneck is blocking growth in the region.
No funding to upgrade Ely junction - where lines from King's Lynn, Norwich, Ipswich, Cambridge and Peterborough all meet - has been committed by the Government as part of last week's Spending Review.
There have also been calls to improve Haughley junction in Suffolk.
Improvements to the track and signalling at both Ely and Haughley would increase the number of passenger and freight trains running, which could see more people use the train and more lorries off the road.
'Ashamed'
"I think we should be completely ashamed as a nation that we have a major block to infrastructure," James Palmer, chair of the Eastern Powerhouse, said.
"Nothing does more to grow an economy than high-quality infrastructure and yet somewhere between the fact everyone knows this and whoever is making the end decisions, there's a breakdown on delivering this infrastructure."
Ely junction - which could cost around £500,000 to upgrade - is currently operating at full capacity which limits the opportunity for growth of routes for passenger and cross-country freight services.
Talks between the likes of MPs, councils and ministers to improve the junction have been taking place for more than two decades.
Previous pledge
The previous Conservative Government promised a slice of £6.5 billion for East Anglia - that had been ringfenced for the cancelled second leg of the HS2 rail line - would be used on upgrading the junction.
It's hoped that the junction will be on Labour's list of projects funded through its 10-year infrastructure strategy due to be published.
"The only thing you can do from a lobbying perspective is convince the ministers and shadow ministers that Ely junction needs to be done," Mr Palmer said.
"I think there's wholehearted support from MPs in the East of England that Ely junction needs to be delivered; I've not spoken to a minister who's said 'no'."