Transport in East Anglia consists of extensive road and rail networks as well as one of England's key regional airports and the country's busiest container port. Despite having very little motorway within their borders, the counties of

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

have modern transport links with the rest of the country.

Airports

Norwich Airport Norwich Airport is an international airport in Norfolk, England, north of the city of Norwich. In 2023, Norwich Airport was the 25th busiest airport in the UK and busiest in East Anglia. Norwich Airport has a Civil Aviation Authority (CAA ...

is the major passenger airport within

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

. In 2011 it was the 25th busiest airport in the United Kingdom and deals with over 400,000 passengers a year.Airport will benefit from extra Amsterdam flights
, ''Eastern Daily Press'', 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2013-02-12. Airlines operating from the airport include KLM,

Loganair Loganair is a Scottish regional airline headquartered at Glasgow Airport in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. The airline primarily operates domestic flights within the United Kingdom. It is the largest regional airline in Scotland by passenger ...

and

TUI Airways TUI Airways Limited (formerly Thomson Airways Limited) is the British arm of the TUI Airline group, which is owned and operated by the TUI Group. They offer scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in E ...

. Destinations served by the airport include

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport (, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands, and is one of the major hubs for the SkyTeam airline alliance. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipal ...

, a major European and world hub airport, and domestic locations such as

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

and

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

as well as locations in countries such as Spain, Turkey and Greece. There are a number of other private airfields in the region, including heliports servicing the North Sea oil and gas industry such as at Great Yarmouth – North Denes Airport and at Norwich Airport. Regular flights from Cambridge Airport operated to destinations such as

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

with occasional flights to other European destinations.Cambridge Airport reinstates scheduled flights
BBC news website, 2012-05-12. Retrieved 2013-05-20.Cambridge Airport Europe business routes announced
BBC news website, 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2013-05-20.Darwin's Cambridge international flights halted 'temporarily'
BBC news website, 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
''Cambridge News'', 2014-03-12. Retrieved 2014-03-29. All scheduled and charter flights were halted at the end of January 2016 due to a lack of passenger numbers.
''

Cambridge News The ''Cambridge News'' (formerly the ''Cambridge Evening News'') is a British daily newspaper. Published each weekday and on Saturdays, it is distributed from its Milton base. In the period December 2010 – June 2011 it had an average daily c ...

'', 2015-12-02. Retrieved 2016-02-02.

Stansted Airport Stansted Airport is an international airport serving London, the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Uttlesford, Essex, northeast of Central London. As London's third-busiest airport, Stan ...

is located just outside the region in north-west Essex. This is the third busiest airport in the UK and the closest major airport to East Anglia.

Rail

The

East Coast Main Line The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a electrified railway between its northern terminus at and southern terminus at . The key towns and cities of , , , , and are on the line. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Grea ...

passes through the region with some express trains stopping at

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. Local services on this line also stop at

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

and

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

. The other Inter City route in the region is the

Great Eastern Main Line 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 which connects Liverpool Street station in central London with destinations in east London and t ...

which has

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

as its terminus. Major stations in the region on this route include

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...

and Diss. Major commuter lines in the region include the

West Anglia Main Line The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main line railways that operate out of (the other being the Great Eastern Main Line to Ipswich and Norwich). It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and ...

which connects

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

with London Liverpool Street and the Cambridge Line which connects the city with London King's Cross. These routes all run north-south and connect the region with London and, in the case of the East Coast Main Line, with cities in the north of Britain. Routes running east-west in the region include connections between Ipswich and Cambridge and onward towards Birmingham New Street and the line connecting Norwich and

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station complex located on Lime Street, Liverpool, Lime Street in Liverpool city centre. Although publicly a single, unified station, it is operationally divided into two official railway stations: Liv ...

via the Midlands. More local routes include the East Suffolk Line, the

Wherry Lines The Wherry Lines are railway branch lines in the East of England, linking with and . There are 14 stations on the lines, including the three termini. They form part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.11 and are classified as a rural ...

and

Bittern Line The Bittern Line is a railway branch line in Norfolk, England, that links to . It passes through the Broads on its route to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty on the north Norfolk coast. It is named after the Eurasian bittern, bittern, a r ...

around Norwich, the Felixstowe Branch Line and the Fen Line connecting Cambridge with

Kings Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

. The majority of services in the region are operated by

Abellio Greater Anglia Greater Anglia (legal name Transport UK East Anglia Limited) is a British train operating company owned as a joint venture by Transport UK Group and Mitsui & Co. It operates the East Anglia franchise, providing the commuter and inter-city se ...

, including all services from London to Norwich.

London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway (LNER) is a British train operating company which operates most services on the East Coast Main Line. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Department for Transport (DfT). The company's name echoes that of the Londo ...

operates services on the East Coast Main Line and Great Northern operates local services on this line and some services through Cambridge.

East Midlands Railway East Midlands Railway (EMR; legally Transport UK East Midlands Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Transport UK Group, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. Originally owned by Abellio (transport compan ...

operates services from Norwich to Liverpool and

CrossCountry CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the current CrossCountry franchise. The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) in 2006, ...

runs trains west from the Cambridge area. The Dutchflyer service runs from Cambridge and

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

to the port of Harwich to link with the

Stena Line Stena Line is a Swedish Shipping line, shipping line company and one of the world's largest ferry operators. It services Denmark, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Finland and Sweden. Stena Line is a ...

ferry service to

Hook of Holland Hook of Holland (, ) is a coastal village in the southwestern corner of Holland, hence the name; ''hoek'' means "corner" and was in use before the word ''wikt:kaap#Dutch, kaap'' – "cape". The English translation using Hook is a false cognate of t ...

. A variety of rail freight services run throughout the region. The

Port of Felixstowe The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk, is the United Kingdom's largest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with a ha ...

is a major focus for these with around 830,000 containers travelling by rail in 2013.Ipswich Chord rail link opens for Felixstowe freight
BBC news, 2014-03-29. Retrieved 2014-03-29. This equates to over a quarter of all container traffic leaving the port as of early 2013. in June 2013 a new nine track container terminal opened, expanding the number of lines available to 20.Felixstowe port opens new £40m rail terminal
BBC Suffolk news website, 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2013-06-06. The new terminal is the third at the port and the first in the country to be capable of handling 30-wagon trains.Felixstowe: New rail terminal at port officially opened by Duke
''East Anglian Daily Times'', 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-26. Freightliner have a depot at Ipswich station. The Ipswich Railway Chord opened in March 2014. This links the East Suffolk Line with the Great Eastern Main Line at Ipswich, allowing easier access to the national rail network for rail freight from Felixstowe.Ipswich: Work progresses on new freight chord
''Ipswich Star'', 2013-04-02. Retrieved 2013-06-08.Felixstowe rail link gets green light
Railway Strategies, 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2013-06-08.Felixstowe: Work starts on new rail line to take containers off the A14
''East Anglian Daily Times'', 2012-08-29. Retrieved 2013-06-08.

Road

Two small stretches of motorway run through East Anglia, with the end of the M11 south of

and sections of the A1 in

and around

being classed as motorway. Main trunk routes maintained by

National Highways National Highways (NH), formerly Highways England and before that the Highways Agency, is a State-owned enterprise, government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving Roads in England, motorways and major A roads in Eng ...

in the region include the A1, A11, A12, A14 and A47. A variety of other major roads run through the region, maintained by county councils. The A14 is particularly significant as an east-west route, linking the

with the Midlands and the national motorway network through Cambridgeshire.Scheme to improve the A14 is confirmed
BBC news website, 2011-11-11. Retrieved 2013-06-12.A14 Cambridgeshire: lower toll favoured by study
BBC news website, 2012-11-12. It has been described as "one of most important and clogged up arteries in Great Britain" and as a key route with "strategic national importance".A14 toll road between Huntingdon and Cambridge gets government backing
BBC new website, 2013-06-27. Retrieved 2013-06-27. Proposals to upgrade the route were put forward in 2012 and received government backing in June 2013.A14 toll in Cambridgeshire proposed by government
BBC news website, 2012-07-18. Retrieved 2013-06-12.A14 upgrade to be toll road paid for by motorists
BBC news website, 2012-07-19. Retrieved 2013-06-12. The project was originally planned to include a toll section between Cambridge and the A1. Local authorities and businesses pledged to contribute at least £100 million towards the improved route,A14 upgrade: Meeting discusses "innovative" funding
BBC news website, 2013-02-08. Retrieved 2013-06-27.A14 upgrade: Treasury to announce decision on Thursday
BBC news website, 2013-06-26. Retrieved 2013-06-27.A14 toll road could be bad for ports, businesses say
BBC news website, 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2013-06-28. although concerns were raised that the toll would discourage haulage companies off using the route and isolate ports on the Suffolk coast.A14 toll road would 'uniquely affect' Suffolk
BBC news website, 2013-07-02. Retrieved 2013-07-03. In December 2013 the plan to fund the road through tolls was dropped with the developments to be funded from general taxation.Plan to use tolls to fund A14 improvements abandoned
BBC news website, 2014-12-13. Retrieved 2014-03-29.A14 toll charge plan rejection 'victory for common sense'
BBC news website, 2014-12-03. Retrieved 2014-03-29.Plans for A14 toll road in East Anglia 'to be dropped'
''The Guardian'', 2013-12-03. Retrieved 2014-03-29. Work on the project is expected to begin in 2016 and cost £1.5 billion.

Bus services

Bus services in East Anglia are run by a number of operators. First Eastern Counties is the main operator in Suffolk and Norfolk, while Stagecoach East are the main operator in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

coach services run from London to major cities in the region including Norwich, Great Yarmouth and Cambridge. A large number of other bus companies run local services throughout the region. The

Cambridgeshire Guided Busway The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway is a guided busway and Bus rapid transit that connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives, Cambridgeshire, St Ives in Cambridgeshire, England. It has the longest guided busway in the world, surpassing the O-Bahn B ...

opened in August 2011 as a dedicated bus route linking the centre of Cambridge with

Cambridge Science Park The Cambridge Science Park, founded by Trinity College, Cambridge, Trinity College in 1970, is the oldest science park in the United Kingdom. It is a concentration of science and technology related businesses, and has strong links with the nea ...

, St Ives and

.Cambridgeshire guided busway opens to passengers
BBC Cambridgeshire news website, 2011-08-07. Retrieved 2013-02-12. The route is believed to be the longest guided busway in the world.

Cycle routes

East Anglia is well suited to cycling with a generally flat landscape. A number of

National Cycle Network The National Cycle Network (NCN) was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout the United Kingdom, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the charity Sustrans who were aided by a £42.5 million N ...

routes run through the region, including

National Cycle Route 1 The cycle-path is located in the United Kingdom. Route Dover to Canterbury Dover , Deal, Kent, Deal , Sandwich, Kent, Sandwich , Canterbury Links with National Cycle Route 2, RCR 16, Kent, Regional route 16, and RCR 17, Kent, Regional r ...

. Provision for cyclists is good in some of the major towns within the region with

having the highest level of cycle use in the UK with between 18% and 25% of residents travelling to work by bicycleCambridge announced as national cycling town
, Press release, Cambridgeshire County Council, 2008-06-19. Retrieved 2013-02-12.Cambridge 'barometer' could count city's bike journeys
BBC Cambridgeshire news website, 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2013-06-17. and nearly 50% of residents cycling at least once a week - the highest figure of any town or city in the UK - in a Sport England survey published in 2012.Cambridge beats Oxford in DfT cycling survey
BBC news website, 2013-04-17. Retrieved 2013-06-17.

Ports

Aerial view of the dock at the Port of Felixstowe

The

is the busiest container port in the United Kingdom and is a key gateway for container traffic into the country dealing with over 40% of container traffic.Felixstowe plays down London Gateway threat
''Daily Telegraph'', 2012-10-21. Retrieved 2013-06-26. The port is operated by Hutchison Ports, a subsidiary of

Hutchison Whampoa Hutchison Whampoa Limited (HWL) was an investment holding company based in Hong Kong. It was a Fortune Global 500 company and one of the largest companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. HWL was an international corporation with a dive ...

, and employs over 2500 people as of 2013.Port of Felixstowe
, ''Eastern Daily Press''. Retrieved 2013-06-26. A £300 million expansion to the port was completed in 2011 and a new rail terminal opened in June 2013.The Port of Felixstowe is getting a £300m extension
BBC Suffolk news website, 2010-03-11. Retrieved 2013-06-06.Port of Felixstowe's new crane should ease congestion
BBC Suffolk news website, 2011-01-13. Retrieved 2013-06-06. The A14 provides road links to the port. Other significant ports in the region include

Ipswich dock The Ipswich Docks, Ipswich wet dock, and the wet dock are a series of docks in the Port of Ipswich located at a bend of the River Orwell, which has been used for trade since at least the 8th Century. A wet dock was constructed in 1842, which was ...

s, the Port of Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour, King's Lynn Docks and Wisbech Port. Ipswich deals with more than two million tonnes of cargo a year and has freight rail links on site.ABP short sea ports
Associated British Ports. Retrieved 2013-02-12. King's Lynn and Wisbeach are focussed on dealing with agricultural products from the surrounding farmland, whilst Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth play an important role in servicing the North Sea energy industries, including the growing offshore wind energy industry.Wisbech Port
, Fenland District Council. Retrieved 2013-02-12. A number of smaller ports and leisure harbours, such as at

Wells-next-the-Sea Wells-next-the-Sea is a port town on the north coast of Norfolk, England. The civil parish has an area of and in 2001 had a population of 2,451,Office for National Statistics & Norfolk County Council (2001). Census population and household c ...

and

Southwold Southwold is a seaside town and civil parish on the North Sea, in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It lies at the mouth of the River Blyth, Suffolk, River Blyth in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths ...

operate around the region's coast. The major freight and passenger port of Harwich International Port is located just to the south of Felixstowe in Essex. Ferry services run from here to

Esbjerg Esbjerg (, ) is a seaport city and seat of Esbjerg Municipality on the west coast of the Jutland peninsula in southwest Denmark. By road, it is west of Kolding and southwest of Aarhus. With an urban area, urban population of 71,554 (1 January ...

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

and

. Within the region a number of local vehicle and passenger ferry services remain in service, including the Reedham Ferry across the

River Yare The River Yare is a river in the English county of Norfolk. In its lower reaches it is one of the principal navigable waterways of The Broads and connects with the rest of the network. The river rises south of Dereham to the west to the villag ...

in Norfolk and the King's Lynn passenger ferry across the

River Great Ouse The River Great Ouse ( ) is a river in England, the longest of several British rivers called "Ouse". From Syresham in Northamptonshire, the Great Ouse flows through Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk to drain into the ...

References

{{Reflist, 2 Transport in England by locality East Anglia Transport in the East of England