90sWereBetter
Member
Having enjoyed several incredibly busy Greater Anglia trains between Cambridge and Norwich recently, it got me thinking about the future of this service. It's always been busy and I remember it being nightmarish in the days when it was operated by 170s (even worse when 156s or 153s ended up on them!). The 755s have been brilliant in this regard, however the extension to Stansted and the huge growth around Cambridge seems to have already absorbed the extra capacity the new trains had. The opening of Cambridge South is likely to add to the pressure.
Currently the service is hourly, but I imagine it's impossible to increase the service to 2tph the entire way unless Ely North junction is ever upgraded AND the entire Stansted branch is rebuilt with a twin-track tunnel and about double the amount of platforms it currently has. I know the Ely North upgrade has been touted for a while but has anything been mooted about upgrades to the Stansted branch?
If infrastructure upgrades are out of the question, given the relative slack with Greater Anglia's 755 fleet and eventually more 745/1s moving to Norwich-London services (which I assume will eliminate the triple 755 sets), could there be any possibility of extra capacity by running pairs of 755s on Norwich-Cambridge-Stansted services?
Currently the service is hourly, but I imagine it's impossible to increase the service to 2tph the entire way unless Ely North junction is ever upgraded AND the entire Stansted branch is rebuilt with a twin-track tunnel and about double the amount of platforms it currently has. I know the Ely North upgrade has been touted for a while but has anything been mooted about upgrades to the Stansted branch?
If infrastructure upgrades are out of the question, given the relative slack with Greater Anglia's 755 fleet and eventually more 745/1s moving to Norwich-London services (which I assume will eliminate the triple 755 sets), could there be any possibility of extra capacity by running pairs of 755s on Norwich-Cambridge-Stansted services?