The Great Eastern Main Line (GEML, sometimes referred to as the East Anglia Main Line) is a major railway line on the

British railway system The railway system in Great Britain is the oldest railway system in the world. The first locomotive-hauled public railway opened in 1825, which was followed by an era of rapid expansion. Most of the track is managed by Network Rail, which in ...

which connects

Liverpool Street station Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the ...

in central London with destinations in east London and the

East of England The East of England is one of the nine official regions of England. This region was created in 1994 and was adopted for statistics purposes from 1999. It includes the ceremonial counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire ...

, including , , , and . Its numerous branches also connect the main line to , , ,

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton- ...

and a number of coastal towns including

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...

, , and .National Rail, ''Rail Services Around London & the South East'', (2006) Its main users are commuters travelling to and from London, particularly the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

, which is served by Liverpool Street, and areas in east London, including the

Docklands Dockland or Docklands are areas occupied by, or in the neighbourhood of maritime docks, sometimes described as a Sailortown (dockland). The term is more common in Britain and British Commonwealth. Specifically the term may refer to: * Aarhus Dock ...

financial district via the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...

and

Docklands Light Railway The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of L ...

connections at

Stratford Stratford may refer to: Places Australia * Stratford, Queensland, a suburb of Cairns * Stratford, Victoria, a town in the state district of Gippsland East ** Stratford railway station, Victoria, a railway station on the Bairnsdale railway line in ...

. The line is also heavily used by leisure travellers, as it and its branches serve a number of seaside resorts, shopping areas and countryside destinations. The route also provides the main artery for substantial freight traffic to and from and

, via their respective branch lines. Trains from also run into London via the GEML.Network Rail
- Route 7 - Great Eastern (PDF) The Elizabeth line which fully opened in November 2022, operate services from

Shenfield Shenfield is a commuter suburb of Brentwood, in the borough of Brentwood, Essex, England. In 2020, the suburb was estimated to have a population of 5,396. History The old village (now town), by the church and Green Dragon pub, lies along the ...

London Paddington Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a Central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of services provided by the Great W ...

via Liverpool Street, connecting Essex to alternative areas in Central London.

History

Eastern Counties and Eastern Union Railways (1839–1862)

The first section of the line, built by the

Eastern Counties Railway The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth. Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...

(ECR), opened in June 1839 between a short-lived temporary terminus at in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have un ...

and , then in the

Havering Liberty Havering, also known as Havering-atte-Bower, was a royal manor and ancient liberty whose area now forms part of, and gives its name to, the London Borough of Havering in Greater London. The manor was in the possession of the Crown from the 11th t ...

in Essex. The London terminus was moved in July 1840 to

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

(later renamed Bishopsgate), after 1900 in the

Metropolitan Borough of Bethnal Green Bethnal Green was a civil parish and a metropolitan borough in the East End of London, England. It was formed as a civil parish in 1743 from the Bethnal Green hamlet in Stepney ancient parish, and the church of St Matthew, Bethnal Green, was dedi ...

, and at the eastern end the line was extended out to in the same year. A further of track was added out to by 1843. The original gauge for the line was , but this was converted to in 1844. The section of line between Colchester and was built by the

Eastern Union Railway The Eastern Union Railway (EUR) was an English railway company, at first built from Colchester to Ipswich; it opened in 1846. It was proposed when the earlier Eastern Counties Railway failed to make its promised line from Colchester to Norwich. T ...

(EUR) to standard gauge and opened to passenger traffic in June 1846. Its sister company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway, built a line to and this was completed in November 1846. Both companies shared the same office, many directors and key staff, and started operating as a unified company with the EUR name from 1 January 1847. An extension from a new junction at to opened in December 1849, although the position of the latter station was poor and a spur to allow some trains to operate into (Thorpe) station was opened to regular traffic in November 1851. In the late 19th century the double-track main line was expanded with additional tracks being added to cope with more traffic. In 1854 a third track was added between Bow Junction and to help accommodate

London, Tilbury and Southend Railway The London, Tilbury and Southend Railway (LT&SR), was a British railway company, whose network connected Fenchurch Street station, in central London, with destinations in east London and Essex, including , , , Tilbury, Southend and . The company ...

services which at that time were operating via Stratford. Until 1860 trains serving the town of Ipswich used a station called which was located south of the Stoke tunnel. The town's current station is located to the north of the tunnel. The ECR had leased the EUR from 1854 but by the 1860s the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the

Great Eastern Railway The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...

(GER) was formed out of the consolidation.

Great Eastern Railway (1862–1922)

From November 1872 became a temporary terminus to relieve the main high level Bishopsgate station while the GER was building its new permanent terminus at . The latter opened in stages from February 1874, beginning with the first four platforms, until it was fully open from November 1875. At that time the original 1840 Bishopsgate station closed to passengers and was converted into a goods yard. By the 1870s suburbia in the Forest Gate area was developing quickly and in 1872 suburban trains (this was the first distinctive suburban service on the main line as previously main line trains had performed this duty) terminated at a

bay platform In the United Kingdom and in Australia, a bay platform is a dead-end railway platform at a railway station that has through lines. It is normal for bay platforms to be shorter than their associated through platforms. Overview Bay and isla ...

at . These were followed by trains from Fenchurch StreetFenchurch Street was served by GER and LTSR services at this time and GER services were routed via Bow Road in 1877. By 1882 these services had been extended and were terminating at Ilford, Romford or Brentwood. In 1877 a fourth track was added between Bow Junction and Stratford and two goods-only tracks were added between Stratford and Maryland Point. The four-track Bow Junction to Stratford section was extended back to James Street Junction (near Globe Road station which opened the same year) in 1884 but Bethnal Green to James Street did not follow until 1891. It was also in this year that two extra tracks were added between Bethnal Green and Liverpool Street which were for the use of

West Anglia Main Line The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, ...

services. These tracks were built through the basement warehousing associated with Bishopsgate station located above. The line was quadrupled to Ilford in 1895 and in 1899 out to . In 1902 the quadruple track was extended from Seven Kings to Romford, but it wasn't until 1913 that four-tracking out to was suggested and the First World War caused delay to this plan. In 1903 the

Fairlop Loop The Hainault Loop was originally opened as the Fairlop Loop, a branch line of the Great Eastern Railway (GER). It once connected Woodford on the Ongar (now Epping) branch to Ilford on the Main Line, with an eastward connection for goods, ...

opened and a number of services that had previously terminated at Ilford were extended onto it. These services generally looped round and back to the GEML at Stratford (on the Cambridge line platforms).

London and North Eastern Railway (1923–1947)

The GER was grouped in 1923 into the

London and North Eastern Railway The London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) was the second largest (after LMS) of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain. It operated from 1 January 1923 until nationalisation on 1 January 1948. At tha ...

(LNER). In 1931/32 the LNER quadrupled the tracks to Shenfield which became the terminus for inner-suburban operation. In the 1930s a flyover was constructed just west of to switch the main and electric lines over, to enable main line trains to utilise Liverpool Street's longer west side platforms without having to cross east side suburban traffic in the station throat. The new arrangement also facilitated

cross-platform interchange A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines at a metro (or other railway) station. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the U ...

with the Central line at , with services commencing in 1946. Either side of the Ilford flyover there are single-track connections between each pair of lines, with the westbound track extending to and just beyond. The eastbound track extends as far as Ilford station. It was also envisaged that a flyover would be built at the country-end of the carriage sidings at to allow trains bound for the Southend line to change from the main line to the electric line, instead of at the London-end of as they do now. Plans were drawn up in the 1930s to electrify the suburban lines from Liverpool Street to Shenfield at 1,500 V DC and work was started on implementing this. However, the outbreak of the Second World War brought the project to a temporary halt and it was not until 1949 that the scheme was completed with electrification being extended to in 1956. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

the long-distance named trains were withdrawn, and these returned after the war with the reintroduction of the "Hook Continental" and "Scandinavian" boat trains to Harwich Parkeston Quay in 1945. The East Anglian (Liverpool Street – Norwich) was restored in October 1946 and in 1947 the "Day Continental" which pre-war had operated as the "Flushing Continental", recommenced operation.

British Railways (1948–1994)

After nationalisation in 1948, the GEML formed part of the

Eastern Region of British Railways The Eastern Region was a region of British Railways from 1948, whose operating area could be identified from the dark blue signs and colour schemes that adorned its station and other railway buildings. Together with the North Eastern Region ( ...

. The Summer 1950 timetable saw the introduction of a regular interval service between Liverpool Street and Clacton, which left Liverpool Street on the half-hour and Clacton on the hour. Summer Saturdays in 1950 also saw the introduction of the "Holiday Camps Express" workings to Gorleston, near Lowestoft. The latter half of 1950 and early 1951 saw the testing of new EM1 electric locomotives for use over the Woodhead Line between

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

. January 1951 saw the introduction of the

Britannia Britannia () is the national personification of Britain as a helmeted female warrior holding a trident and shield. An image first used in classical antiquity, the Latin ''Britannia'' was the name variously applied to the British Isles, Gr ...

class 4-6-2 express locomotives and a speeding up of services on the GEML. However, not everyone was a fan; British Railways chairman Sir Michael Barrington Ward exclaimed "What? Send the first British Railways standard engines to that tramline? No!" 23 Britannias were allocated to the GE section and, in summer 1951, the Liverpool Street–Norwich service went over to an hourly clockface interval service. The British Railways

1955 Modernisation Plan Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first Nuclear marine propulsion, nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18� ...

called for overhead line systems in Great Britain to be standardised at 25 kV AC. However, due to low clearances under bridges, the route was electrified at 6.25 kV AC. The section between Liverpool Street and was completed in November 1960. Extensive testing showed that smaller electrical clearances could be tolerated for the 25 kV system than originally thought necessary. As a result, it was now possible to increase the voltage without having to either raise bridges or lower the tracks along the route to obtain larger clearances. The route between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria was converted to 25 kV AC between 1976 and 1980. By the late 1970s, the costs of running the dated mechanical signalling systems north of Colchester was recognised and, in 1978, a scheme for track rationalisation and re-signalling was duly submitted to the Department of Transport. This was followed by a proposal, in 1980, to electrify the Great Eastern Main Line. The early 1980s saw track rationalisation and signalling work carried out in the Ipswich area and, on 9 April 1985, the first electric train consisting of two Class 305 electric multiple units (EMU) worked into Ipswich station. The previous year, another member of the class had been dragged to Ipswich by a diesel locomotive and was used for crew training. The first passenger carrying train was formed of

British Rail Class 309 The British Rail Class 309 "Clacton Express" electric multiple units (EMUs) were built by British Rail (BR) York Carriage Works from 1962–1963. They were initially classified as Class AM9 before the introduction of TOPS. These units wer ...

EMUs, which ran on 17 April 1985. The plan was for Inter-City trains to be hauled by

British Rail Class 86 The British Rail Class 86 is a class of electric locomotives built during the 1960s. Developed as a 'standard' electric locomotive from earlier prototype models, one hundred of these locomotives were built from 1965 to 1966 to haul trains on t ...

locomotives which, until the line beyond Ipswich to Norwich was electrified, would changeover with the Class 47s at Ipswich; this arrangement commenced from 1 May 1985. During 1985–87, the line to Norwich was electrified and through electric working commenced in May 1987. In 1986, the line as far as became part of

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the networ ...

, although some NSE services actually terminated at Ipswich, whilst longer-distance Norwich services were operated by

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at ma ...

. Local services operating from the Ipswich and Norwich areas were operated by

Regional Railways Regional Railways was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982 that existed until 1997, two years after privatisation. The sector was originally called ''Provincial''. Regional Railways was the most subsidised (per pas ...

The privatisation era (1994 onwards)

Between 1997 and 2004, services into

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

and some into

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include L ...

were operated by

First Great Eastern First Great Eastern was a train operating company in England owned by FirstGroup that operated the Great Eastern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. Services First Great Eastern operated all stops and limited stops services on the ...

, whilst services into

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

and other

services were operated by

Anglia Railways Anglia Railways was a train operating company in England, owned by GB Railways and later FirstGroup, that operated the Anglia franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. History The InterCity Anglia franchise was awarded by the Director of P ...

. Between 2004 and 2012, services out of Liverpool Street, except for a limited number of

c2c Trenitalia c2c Limited,Companies House extract company no 789726 ...

trains, were all operated by

National Express East Anglia National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...

. Since 2012, the franchise has been operated by

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the Ja ...

; in May 2015, the Shenfield "metro" stopping service transferred to

TfL Rail TfL Rail was the concession which operated commuter services on two separate railway lines in London, England and its environs whilst the Crossrail construction project linking these lines was underway. On 24 May 2022, upon the opening of th ...

, as a precursor to

Elizabeth Line The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington to and via Whitechapel t ...

services. Liverpool Street IECC replaced signal boxes at Bethnal Green (closed 1997), Bow (closed 1996), Stratford (GE panel closed 1997), Ilford (closed 1996), Romford (closed 1998), Gidea Park (closed 1998), Shenfield (closed 1992) and Chelmsford (closed 1994). The system uses BR Mark 3 solid state interlockings, predominantly four-aspect signals and a combination of Smiths clamp-lock and GEC-Alsthom HW2000 point machines. The first signal box to be closed and transferred to Liverpool Street IECC was Shenfield in 1992, which had only opened 10 years earlier. The last boxes to be transferred were at Romford and Gidea Park in 1998; these were the oldest of those being transferred, having been opened under the GER/LNER 1924 resignalling scheme.

Accidents and incidents

A number of fatal accidents have occurred on the line throughout its history: * 1840: ; four killed * 1872: ; one killed and 16 injured in a

derailment In rail transport, a derailment occurs when a rail vehicle such as a train comes off its rails. Although many derailments are minor, all result in temporary disruption of the proper operation of the railway system and they are a potentially ...

* 1905:

Witham Witham () is a town in the county of Essex in the East of England, with a population ( 2011 census) of 25,353. It is part of the District of Braintree and is twinned with the town of Waldbröl, Germany. Witham stands between the city of Chelms ...

; 11 killed and 71 injured in a derailment * 1913: ; three killed and 14 injured in a collision and derailment * 1915: Ilford; 10 killed and 500 injured in a collision between two trains * 1941: Brentwood; seven killed in a collision between two trains * 1944: Ilford; nine killed and 38 injured in a collision between two trains * 1944: ; one killed and three injured in a collision between two trains

Infrastructure

The line is owned and maintained by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

. It is part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7, which is composed of SRSs 07.01, 07.02 and 07.03, and is classified as a primary line. The GEML has a

loading gauge A loading gauge is a diagram or physical structure that defines the maximum height and width dimensions in railway vehicles and their loads. Their purpose is to ensure that rail vehicles can pass safely through tunnels and under bridges, and ke ...

of W10 between Liverpool Street and Haughley Junction (approximately 13 miles 63 chains north of Ipswich) and from there is W9 to

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

. The maximum line speed is . The main line is

electrified Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic histor ...

at 25 kV AC using overhead wires and comes under the control of Romford Electrical Control Room. The branches to , , , , , and are also electrified. Between and , there is a Network Rail maintenance depot adjacent to the Jutsums Lane overbridge. In addition, at the London-end of the depot, is Network Rail's Electrical Control Room that controls the supply and switching of the overhead line system for the whole of the former Anglia Region. Signalling is controlled by two main signalling centres: Liverpool Street IECC (opened in 1992) and Colchester PSB (opened in December 1983). Liverpool Street IECC controls signalling up to , where it fringes with Colchester PSB, which has control to . There are also several small signal boxes that control local infrastructure, such as Ingatestone box, which has jurisdiction over several local level crossings. Line-side train monitoring equipment includes hot axle box detectors (HABD) on the down main and down electric lines near Brentwood (17 miles 35 chains from Liverpool Street) and on the up main near Margaretting (25 miles 78 chains). Other equipment includes wheel impact load detectors (WILD) ‘Wheelchex’ on the down main and up main west of Church Lane level crossing (24 miles 75 chains).

Track layout

On leaving Liverpool Street, the route comprises two pairs of tracks, known as the mains and the electrics, with a further pair of tracks, the suburbans, which carry the

alongside the GEML to . From Bethnal Green, the GEML has four lines to Bow junction, where there is a complex set of switches and crossings. A line from the LTS (Fenchurch Street) route joins the "up" (London-bound) electric and there are a further two lines, the "up" and "down" Temple Mills, giving access to the

North London Line The North London line (NLL) is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of west, north-west, north, and east London, England between Richmond in the south-west and Stratford in the east, avoiding central London. Its route is a r ...

and Temple Mills. The GEML has six tracks up to the London-end of and the junction to Temple Mills; there are five lines through the station, dropping to four at the country end. At , the line to diverges and the main line route drops from four tracks to two; this arrangement continues for the vast majority of the way to Norwich. There are several locations where the route has more than two tracks, predominantly through stations such as Colchester and Ipswich, along with goods loops, such as at the London end of . There is also a short stretch of single track on approach to Norwich, as the line passes over the

River Wensum The River Wensum is a chalk river in Norfolk, England and a tributary of the River Yare, despite being the larger of the two rivers. The river is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest and Special Area of Conservation. The Wensum ...

on the Trowse Bridge.

Tunnel and viaducts

Major civil engineering structures on the Great Eastern Main Line include the following:

Stoke tunnel

The only tunnel on the line is immediately south of station. The long tunnel was built by

Peter Bruff Peter Schuyler Bruff (23 July 1812 – 24 February 1900) was an English civil engineer'Obituary. Peter Schuyler Bruff, 1812-1900', ''Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers'', Volume 141 Part 3, 1900, (January 1900)pp. 3 ...

as part of the Ipswich & Bury Railway. It was completed in 1846 and it is thought to be the earliest driven on a sharp continuous curve. During the excavation of the tunnel, many important fossils were discovered, including rhinoceros, lion and mammoth; the site was known as the "Stoke Bone Beds". The finds are considered important in understanding

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

during the

Ice Age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gre ...

. This tunnel had the trackbed lowered so the line could accommodate taller freight trains.

Rolling stock

Electric locomotive powered inter-city trains operated the London-Norwich service from electrification of the line in the mid-1980s until March 2020. Class 86 locomotives powered the service from 1985 until 2005, with rakes of

Mark 2 Mark 2 is the second chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. In this chapter, the first arguments between Jesus and other Jewish religious teachers appear. Jesus heals a paralyzed man and forgives his sin ...

coaches. Push-pull services were introduced during their tenure, initially using a

DBSO A Driving Brake Standard Open (DBSO) is a type of railway carriage in Great Britain, converted to operate as a control car; this is not to be confused with DVTs, such as those in InterCity 225 sets. Fourteen such vehicles, numbered 970 ...

coach at the Norwich end and latterly with

Driving Van Trailer A Driving Van Trailer (DVT) is a British purpose-built control car railway vehicle that allows the driver to operate with a locomotive in push-pull formation from the opposite end of a train. A key benefit of operating trains with DVTs is ...

s, cascaded from the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. From 2004, Class 90 locomotives replaced the ageing Class 86s and rolling stock was updated with refurbished former West Coast Main Line

Mark 3 Mark 3 is the third chapter of the Gospel of Mark in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It relates a conflict over healing on the Sabbath, the commissioning of the Twelve Apostles, a conflict with scribes and a meeting of Jesus with ...

coaches, following the introduction of the Class 390 ''Pendolino'' stock on that route. By March 2020, new EMUs had fully replaced Class 90 and Mark 3 coaches; thereby ending locomotive operation on the inter-city services on the Great Eastern Main Line. Class 90s are still operating Freightliner services along with Class 66 and Class 70 diesels and Class 86 electrics. Electric multiple units are used for inner and outer suburban passenger trains and

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are als ...

s are used on non-electrified branch lines. Electric and diesel hauled freight services also operate on the Great Eastern Main Line. The main passenger units utilised are: *: 307 seats across four cars. Maximum speed . ''(Operated by Greater Anglia)'' *: 450 seats across nine cars.Running in reduced seven car formation from 2017-2020. Maximum speed . ''(Operated by Elizabeth Line)'' *: 757 seats across twelve cars. Maximum speed . ''(Operated by Greater Anglia)'' * Class 720: 545 seats across five cars. Maximum speed 100mph (160 km/h). ''(Operated by Greater Anglia)'' *: 167 seats across three cars (class 755/3) or 229 seats across four cars (class 755/4). Maximum speed . ''(Operated by Greater Anglia)'' On weekends and when engineering work occurs, c2c run services into Liverpool Street via Stratford using Class 357

electric multiple units An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...

(EMU).

Current developments

Crossrail

In 2015

, the precursor of

Crossrail Crossrail is a railway construction project mainly in central London. Its aim is to provide a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system crossing the capital from suburbs on the west to east, by connecting two major railway ...

, took over operation of the Shenfield stopping "metro" service and, from 2022, the full Crossrail service will run via a tunnel through central London and link up with the

Great Western Main Line The Great Western Main Line (GWML) is a main line railway in England that runs westwards from London Paddington to . It connects to other main lines such as those from Reading to Penzance and Swindon to Swansea. Opened in 1841, it was the ...

to and Heathrow Airport. The first new rolling stock entered service on the service on 22 June 2017. The new trains, built at Bombardier's Derby factory, provide air conditioned walk-through carriages, intelligent lighting and temperature control, closed-circuit television and passenger information displays showing travel information, including about onward journeys. It was planned that by September 2017, half of the services between Shenfield and Liverpool Street will have switched to the new Class 345 trains. From May 2015, Crossrail services (re-branded as

) have an interchange with existing GEML services at Liverpool Street (via new underground platforms) as well as , and . In November 2022, Crossrail services began to operate between Shenfield and

via

Farringdon Farringdon may refer to: People * Nicholas de Farndone, 14th century Mayor of London Places London * Farringdon, London, an area of Clerkenwell which takes its name from ''Farringdon Station''. * Farringdon Road, a road in Clerkenwell, London * ...

. However no services operate further than Paddington onto the likes of Heathrow Airport and

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

. Instead, these services start from

Abbey Wood Abbey Wood is an area in south east London, England, straddling the border between the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross. Toponymy The area takes its name from Lesnes Abbey ...

, The Elizabeth line's southeast branch.

Proposed developments

A new station is planned at

Great Blakenham Great Blakenham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England located near the town of Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is ...

as part of the SnOasis development approximately halfway between and , Another is planned at

Beaulieu Beaulieu, from the French for "beautiful place", may refer to: Places Belgium * Beaulieu metro station in Brussels Canada * Beaulieu, or Lougheed House, a mansion in Calgary, Alberta England * Beaulieu, Hampshire, a village in the New Forest * ...

, 3 miles north-east of Chelmsford entailing a long section of extra tracks on viaduct/bridge.

Services

The majority of trains are operated by

, with the

Elizabeth line The Elizabeth line is a high-frequency hybrid urban–suburban rail service in London and its suburbs. It runs services on dedicated infrastructure in central London from the Great Western Main Line west of Paddington to and via Whitechapel t ...

operating the Liverpool Street to Shenfield stopping "metro" trains. A limited number of weekend (and when engineering work is planned)

c2c Trenitalia c2c Limited,Companies House extract company no 789726 ...

services, operate on part of the line between Stratford and Liverpool Street.

Main line

Fast and semi-fast services utilise the main line between Liverpool Street and Shenfield. Branch lines diverge at Romford, Shenfield, Witham, Marks Tey, Colchester, Ipswich, Stowmarket and Norwich. Additionally, a very limited number of main line services call at Ilford, Seven Kings and Gidea Park during early mornings and late nights, often for the convenience of drivers who may be working at these locations. † Needham Market is not served by main line trains.

Electric line

The

is a high-frequency service that operates between

and via

London Liverpool Street Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...

since 2022 and serves all stations. In 2006 the off-peak stopping service on the Great Eastern Main Line consisted of six trains per hour, with some additional services during peak times. During peak times, some trains start or terminate at . The line is mostly within Greater London, with two stations in the Essex borough of Brentwood. The electric line is also used by limited services extending to and from .

Passenger volume

These are the passenger usage statistics from the year beginning April 2002 to the year beginning April 2013. Needham Market is the only station on the line that is not served by trains to/from London.