Breckland line

The Breckland line is a secondary railway line in the east of England that links in the west to in the east. The line runs through three counties: Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. It takes its name from the Breckland region of Norfolk, and passes through Thetford Forest. The line is in length from where it branches off the Fen line north of to where it joins the Great Eastern Main Line south of Norwich. There are 12 stations on the line including the termini. The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.09 and part of SRS 05.05. It is classified as a secondary line, except between Cambridge and , which is classified as a London and South East commuter line. Passenger services on the Breckland line are operated by Greater Anglia (which manages all of the stations), CrossCountry, East Midlands Railway, and Great Northern. Following the successful opening of the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway, the Norwich & Brandon Railway was incorporated in 1844 to build a line between those two places. The Eastern Counties Railway was at the same time building a route from Newport in Essex through Cambridge via Ely to . This route would be the first route between Norwich and London. A month before opening the Yarmouth and Norwich Railway and the Norwich & Brandon Railway merged to become the Norfolk Railway. The two lines opened on the same day, 30 July 1845, although the line only opened to a temporary station at Wensum, pending the completion of the Trowse swing bridge which was achieved in December 1845. Through services from Shoreditch (later known as ) to Norwich Thorpe station started on 15 December 1845. Although it was expected that locomotive changes would take place between the two companies at Brandon where an engine house had been built, the Norfolk Railway in fact operated trains to Ely. The ECR and its rival the Eastern Union Railway (EUR) were both sizing up the NR to acquire and expand their railway empire. The ECR trumped the EUR by taking over the NR, and became responsible for operating the services from 8 May 1848.