East of England leaders welcome funding for railway upgrades at Ely and Haughley
It's hoped the work will remove two key bottlenecks on East Anglia's railways
Leaders from across the East of England have welcomed confirmation that the government will fund upgrades at two key railway junctions.
The Ely North and Haughley junctions are currently considered to be bottlenecks for the network in the East, restricting the number of services that can run into Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.
Following the scrapping of the northern-western leg of HS2 yesterday, the government has confirmed our region will get a share of £6.5bn in funding to pay for the work.
It's not yet known when the work will take place, however its hoped once completed more passrnger services will be also to run to destinations including Ipswich, Norwich, King's Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough.
The change will also allow more freight services to run to the UK's busiest container port at Felixstowe, something which could cut the number of lorries forced to use the A12 and A14.
Reacting to the announcement, Suffolk County Council cabinet member Richard Smith said:
“This is really excellent news for Suffolk. The infrastructure at these junctions currently lacks capacity for the demand from freight and passenger traffic.
"This investment will reduce those constraints and allow more trains to run through Ely and Haughley, including freight on rail out of Felixstowe and more passenger services between Ipswich and Peterborough.
“This will ease congestion on our roads, help us on our journey towards net zero by reducing carbon emissions and provide a significant boost to the local economy.”
The Eastern Powerhouse group, which advocates for economic growth across the East, also welcomed the news.
In a statement, the group wrote: "Following our letters to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak MP and to Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper MP, which were backed by many Eastern Region MPs, the Eastern Powerhouse met with Mark Harper on 5th September and discussed the importance of Ely and Haughley to both the regional and national economy."
"Clearly Mr Harper was listening as just under a month later, government have changed policy and funded these key projects.
"The Eastern Powerhouse would like to thank the Department for Transport and The Rt Hon Mark Harper MP for listening to our concerns, and for helping to remove these terrible constraints on growth in the East."
Conservative West Suffolk MP Matt Hancock, the former Health Secretary, said: "I am absolutely thrilled with the Government's confirmation of funding for the Ely and Haughley rail junction upgrades."
"These projects are crucial to the rail accessibility for my constituents in West Suffolk. The investment for the Ely and Haughley junctions will not only improve the lives of people and businesses in the local area but also an important step forward to having half-hourly trains in Newmarket."