East Suffolk Line: Standards
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of freight operations associated with Sizewell C on (a) passenger capacity, (b) journey times and (c) service frequency on the East Suffolk Line in the long-term.
Answered by Keir Mather
The train operator Greater Anglia is aware that freight traffic in relation to the constructions of Sizewell C is likely to increase in the future. Network Rail will continue to work closely with operators to assess how best to accommodate the additional freight services while protecting current passenger train service levels on the route.
There has been a specific workstream dedicated to operational readiness including timetabling and capacity and Network Rail identified capacity within the timetable to enable four additional Sizewell freight trains to operate some time ago.
Separately, Sizewell has also commissioned Network Rail to do a feasibility study on what would need to be true to improve passenger services on the East Suffolk branch line to support the local area.
The Rail Minister recently met with Jenny Riddell-Carpenter on 24 March to discuss this matter. Greater Anglia has recently confirmed that from the May 2026 timetable change, additional later trains will operate from Lowestoft to Beccles and from Beccles to Lowestoft on Mondays to Saturdays.
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