The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main line railways that operate out of ; the other is the Great Eastern Main Line to Ipswich and Norwich. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and (near Saffron Walden) to Cambridge, with branches between serving Stratford, Hertford and Stansted Airport. The line runs along the boundary between Hertfordshire and Essex for much of its length.
For many years, the line was the main route from London to Cambridge, Ely and Kings Lynn. Following the 1988 electrification of the Cambridge Line, between and , the West Anglia Main Line is now primarily a commuter route for stations between Cambridge and London; it also took on a new role as the route for express trains to Stansted Airport.
It was an important goods route for many years as the southern end of a route from coalfields in Yorkshire, and there are still freight trains which run occasionally to Harlow and Rye House Power Station, along with a Network Rail base at Broxbourne.
History
The first section was built for the Northern and Eastern Railway from to ; it opened in 1840. It was extended northwards in stages, reaching Spellbrook, short of Bishops Stortford, in 1842. In 1843, the line reached and, in the following year, the Northern and Eastern Railway was leased by the Eastern Counties Railway. It was this railway company that opened the section from Bishops Stortford to , as part of its extension to and in 1845.
By the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway. Although they wished to amalgamate formally, they could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by amalgamation.
The opening of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway in 1882 saw the Great Eastern open up a direct link with coal-producing areas in Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire, joining the line north of Cambridge at Chesterton Junction, generally routed to the large marshalling yards at Temple Mills.
Following Grouping in 1923, the line became part of the London & North Eastern Railway. In 1948, following nationalisation, the line passed to British Railways' Eastern Region.
In 1952, the branch from Elsenham to Thaxted (known as the Gin & Toffee Line) was closed to passengers and goods services were withdrawn a year later. The branch line to closed to passengers on 7 September 1964 and to freight three months later.
Electrification came in sections; in the early 1960s under British Rail, the line to Chingford included the Stratford – – Hall Farm Junction section (although this was never completed), the line from Liverpool Street to Broxbourne via Seven Sisters, and the Southbury Loop was electrified. The route via Tottenham Hale was still operated by diesel traction, the Lea Valley diesel multiple units (DMUs).
The line from Clapton Junction, on the Chingford branch line through to and from to was electrified on 9 March 1969
In London, the line forms the Tottenham Hale branch of the Lea Valley Lines.
Infrastructure
The line was initially gauge, but, between 5 September and 7 October 1844, it was converted to .
Currently, the line is double tracked for most of its length, with two exceptions at Stansted Airport Tunnel and at . There is also a short section of quadruple track between Hackney Downs and Bethnal Green, from which the West Anglia Main Line runs alongside the Great Eastern Main Line to London Liverpool Street as two of six tracks into the terminus. The line is electrified at 25 kV AC and has a loading gauge of W8, except for the Stansted branch which is W6.
Tunnels and viaducts
Major civil engineering structures on the West Anglia Main Line include the following:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Tunnels and viaducts on the West Anglia Main Line
!Railway structure
!Length
!Distance from London Liverpool Street
!ELR
!Location
|-
|Littlebury Tunnel
|407 yards (372 metres)
|43 miles 46 chains – 43 miles 27 chains
| rowspan="4" |BGK
| rowspan="2" |Between and Audley End
|-
|Audley End Tunnel
|456 yards (417 metres)
|43 miles 11 chains – 42 miles 70 chains
|-
|Audley End Viaduct
|
|41 miles 43 chains
|South of Audley End
|-
|Newport Viaduct
|
|40 miles 36 chains
|North of
|-
|Stansted Airport Tunnel
|1 mile 184 yards (1778 metres)
|36 miles 23 chains – 35 miles 15 chains
|TLA
|Stansted Airport branch
|-
|Long Bridge Viaduct (river Stort)
|
|19 miles 16 chains (via Clapton)
|BGK
|South of
|-
|Hoe Street Tunnel
|71 yards (65 metres)
|6 miles 52 chains – 6 miles 49 chains
|CJC
|Chingford branch, between and
|-
|Clapton arches (River Lea)
|6 chains (c. 120 metres)
|4 miles 35 chains – 4 miles 29 chains
| rowspan="3" |BGK
|Clapton line, north of
|-
|Clapton Tunnel
|284 yards (260 metres)
|3 miles 66 chains – 3 miles 53 chains
| rowspan="2" |Clapton line, between Clapton and Hackney Downs
|-
|Hackney Downs or Queens Road Tunnel
|445 yards (407 metres)
|3 miles 39 chains – 3 miles 19 chains
|-
|Theobalds Grove arches
|10 chains (c. 200 metres)
|13 miles 51 chains – 13 miles 41 chains
| rowspan="3" |HDT
|Stoke Newington line,
|-
|White Hart Lane arches
|10 chains (c. 200 metres)
|7 miles 03 chains – 6 miles 73 chains
|Stoke Newington line, south of
|-
|Stoke Newington Tunnel
|60 yards (55 metres)
|4 miles 22 chains – 4 miles 19 chains
|Stoke Newington line, north of
|-
|Bethnal Green – Hackney viaducts
|c. 2.5 miles (3900 metres)
|3 miles 43 chains – 1 miles 10 chains
|BGK
|
|-
|Bishopsgate Tunnel
|627 yards (573 metres)
|0 miles 56 chains – 0 miles 27 chains
|LTN
|
|}
Locomotives and rolling stock
Throughout the steam era trains were predominantly hauled by Great Eastern Railway (or its constituent companies') locomotives. When steam ended in East Anglia in the 1960s, some of these locomotives were still operated. After the Grouping of 1923, LNER-designed locomotives were used with the B17 4-6-0 class working many main line services. Following nationalisation in 1948, British Railways introduced the Britannia 4-6-2 class on some main line services, until they were succeeded by diesel locomotives in the late 1950s.
East Anglia was the first area to be worked completely by diesel-hauled trains with s taking over some express workings. These were succeeded by more powerful Classes 37 and , until full electrification to in 1987 when electric locomotives took over.
Suburban services from about 1958 were operated by Class 125 DMUs and, following the 1969 electrification, Classes 305 and electric multiple units. Other units from the Great Eastern section, such as Classes 302 and , also operated services during this period, with full fleet replacement on this route completed in August 2022.
Future developments
It seems likely that two tracks will be built alongside the line to Cheshunt as part of Crossrail 2. Intermediate stations from Tottenham Hale will transfer to Crossrail 2, releasing capacity on the main line for additional trains. In August 2019, it was announced that funding had been approved for four-tracking and related platform construction work between Tottenham Hale and Meridian Water to enable up to eight trains per hour to make local stops in this section at peak times.
East West Rail are also proposing to add two additional tracks next to the West Anglia Main Line between the Shepreth Branch Junction and Cambridge.