Ipswich railway station serves the town of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England. It lies on the Great Eastern Main Line, down the main line from ; it is situated between to the south and to the north. Ipswich is also the terminus of the East Suffolk Line to , a branch line to , and a regional cross-country route to and . The station is managed by Greater Anglia, which also operates all trains serving it, as part of the East Anglia franchise.
History
The Eastern Union Railway (EUR) opened its first terminus in the town at in 1846 on Station Road; it was sited at the other end of the current tunnel, close to the old quay for the steamboats and the aptly named Steamboat Tavern. The Ipswich Steam Navigation Company had been formed in 1824/25, during a period of "steamship mania" and briefly offered services from the quay between Ipswich and London, calling at .
The current station is just to the north of Stoke tunnel, which was constructed by the Ipswich & Bury Railway as part of the Ipswich to Ely Line opening as far as Bury St. Edmunds in late 1846.
The station was resited to its present location in 1860. Some sources suggest that the main building was thought to be principally the work of Peter Bruff, who had certainly started the structure.
Architect Sancton Wood (18161886) won a competition to design the new station and it may have been his design. However, the architectural series started by Nikolaus Pevsner states:
As built in 1860, the station had a single main through platform, with some shorter bay platforms at the north end. When the new station was completed, a new road (Princes Street) linking the station to the town was also opened.
By the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR). Although they wished to amalgamate formally, they could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the Great Eastern Railway (GER) was formed by the amalgamation. The island platform at Ipswich was added by the GER in 1883.
In 1883, an island platform was openedThis is today's platforms 3 and 4. to improve operations at the station. Many of the original platform buildings are still extant today and close inspection reveals the heads of what are believed to be Greek Gods incorporated into the design.
Ipswich engine shedIt later had the shed code 32B. opened in 1846 and was at the south end of Stoke tunnel. It was the third-largest shed in the Great Eastern area during the steam era, after those at Stratford and Cambridge.
At the beginning of World War I, soldiers of the Norfolk Yeomanry regiment were deployed to Ipswich to guard key railway bridges in the area. They were relieved by the ninth field company Royal Engineers.
In 1923, the GER amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). On 30 April 1932, the LNER arranged an exhibition of railway stock at Ipswich. The show was opened by Sir Arthur Churchman, of tobacco family fame, and over 16,000 visited the show. The proceeds were divided between the Ipswich and East Suffolk Hospital and railway charities. The exhibits were:Arranged by class / wheel arrangement / number / name. 'Hush Hush' W1 class 4-6-4 No. 10000; A1 Class 4-6-2 no. 4476 Royal Lancer with corridor tender and Flying Scotsman headboard; Class D49 4-4-0 no. 201 "The Braham Moor". This last locomotive was brand new and had not been in service.
The show also included a sleeping car and a new composite corridor coach.
In 1948, following nationalisation of the railways, Ipswich became part of British Railways' Eastern Region.
By the late 1970s, the costs of running the dated mechanical signalling systems north of was recognised and, in 1978, a scheme for track rationalisation and resignalling was duly submitted to the Department for Transport. This was followed by a proposal to electrify the remainder of the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) to Ipswich and in 1980.
The early 1980s saw track rationalisation signalling work and route electrification carried out in the Ipswich area; on 9 April 1985, the first electric train consisting of two electric multiple units (EMUs) pulled 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 EMUs, which ran on 17 April 1985. From 13 May 1985, InterCity trains from Liverpool Street were hauled by electric locomotives which, until the line to Norwich was electrified, would be replaced by s at Ipswich to continue the journey. During 1985–87, the line to Norwich was electrified and through electric working commenced in May 1987.
The station's original lifts were removed in 1983, when the line was electrified.
Following the privatisation of British Rail, services from Ipswich were operated by Anglia Railways from 1997 until 2004, after which the franchise was won by National Express East Anglia, operating under the One brandThis new franchise merged the previous Great Eastern and Anglia operations together. until February 2008.
In the five years between 2004–05 and 2008–09, patronage rose by 50% from two to three million per year. Ticket barriers were installed in the station building in 2009 and the exit gate on platform 2 was closed permanently.
New lifts, which had been promised for many years since they were removed in 1983, were opened in June 2011.
In October 2011, the Department for Transport awarded the new franchise to Abellio; the services formerly operated by National Express transferring to Greater Anglia in February 2012. Abellio then became responsible for the operation of Ipswich station.
The station won the Large Station of the Year award at the National Rail Awards in 2018.
Historic services Passenger train services to and from Ipswich have always been dominated by the main line to London Liverpool Street, but traffic to the north also served lines to , Norwich,Stopping trains, using the main line. and the East Suffolk Line to and later to Lowestoft. Through-trains to Lowestoft operated until the 1980s and were briefly revived in the early part of the 21st century, although the need for more commuter seats south of Colchester saw these terminating at Ipswich, with two daily services extended to ).
Many minor local stations closed during the 1960s, as did branch lines to and . Services on the Felixstowe branch have, with the exception of the first few years of that line's existence, started from Ipswich as have local stopping services on the East Suffolk, Norwich and Cambridge lines. One interesting working in the 1920s and 1930s was a service that operated from , via , , and to Felixstowe during the summer months.
By far the most interesting working was the boat train, which operated between Harwich Parkeston Quay and various destinations until the 1990s. The privatisation of British Rail in the 1990s saw this service terminated at . Another long-distance working was from Colchester to , via , which ran for several years.
Throughout the steam era, trains were predominantly hauled by Great Eastern Railway locomotives and, indeed, when steam ended in Suffolk in 1960, some of these locomotives were still operated. After the grouping of 1923, LNER-designed locomotives were also employed in the area, with the B17 4-6-0 class working many main line services. After nationalisation in 1948, British Railways introduced the Britannia class 4-6-2 class, which worked main line services until they were succeeded by diesel locomotives in the late 1950s.
East Anglia was the first region to be worked completely by diesel trains with s taking over main line express workings. The first one of these ran in June 1958, complete with a headboard with the wording "First diesel-hauled train on the GE in public service." These were succeeded by s and Class 40s up until electrification in the mid-1980s; from 1985, Class 86s electric locomotives took over, with s from 2003.
Local services in this era were worked by diesel multiple units (DMUs), although smaller locomotives such as s, hauled trains to and Cambridge during the 1980s.
Former train operating company Anglia Railways ran services, known as London Crosslink, from Norwich to , via and the North London Line. This service started in 2000, using DMUs, and ended in 2002.
In January 2020, the Class 745 FLIRT multiple units began entering service to replace the Class 90 hauled sets.Abellio wins East Anglian rail franchise for nine years in £1.4bn deal East Anglian Daily Times 10 August 2016 Following the introduction of these units, the locomotive-hauled sets were withdrawn from service, with the last Class 90 running passenger services on 24 March 2020. The Class 90s operate Freightliner services along with and s diesels, and formerly Class 86s, which were withdrawn in March 2021.
Layout and facilities
The platforms are currently utilised as follows: is a bay platform for trains to/from and , as well as some and services is used for inter-city to London from , as well as most Felixstowe services is used for inter-city to Norwich from London, as well as some Cambridge services (4A, 4B and 4C) is used for services to Cambridge, Lowestoft and Peterborough, along with stopping services to London.
There is an avoiding line between the lines that serves the main through platforms 2 and 3.
Prior to electrification, there were two short sidings at the London end of the up platform, which were used for locomotive changes on up trains when required.
Platforms 3 and 4 can be accessed via the footbridge or lift.
Opposite platform 4 is a stabling point used by Freightliner diesel and electric locomotives. Classes 66, 70 and 90 are the most common, although locomotives of other companies have been known to use the point. In July 2019, Freightliner was granted planning permission to build a maintenance depot within the yard.
The station has extensive facilities, including self-service ticket machines, ticket counters, a convenience store, two cafés, a multi-storey car park, taxi rank, bus station and ATMs. The whole stations is now fully accessible, with lifts having been installed in 2011.
The entrance to the station was remodelled during 2015 in a £1 million scheme.
Services
The following off-peak services typically call at Ipswich on weekdays:
Operator Route Rolling stock Frequency Greater Anglia London Liverpool Street - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich - Diss - Norwich Class 745 1x per hour London Liverpool Street - Stratford - Chelmsford - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich - Stowmarket - Diss - Norwich 1x per hour London Liverpool Street - Stratford - Shenfield - Chelmsford - - Hatfield Peverel - Witham - Kelvedon - Marks Tey - Colchester - Manningtree - Ipswich Class 720 1x per hour Ipswich - Stowmarket - Bury St. Edmunds - Soham - Ely - March - Manea - Whittlesea - Peterborough Class 755 Every 2 hours (Harwich International -) Ipswich - Needham Market - Stowmarket - Elmswell - Thurston - Bury St. Edmunds - Kennett - Newmarket - Dullingham - Cambridge 1x per hour (Harwich International -) Ipswich - Woodbridge - Melton - Wickham Market - Saxmundham - Darsham - Halesworth - Brampton - Beccles - Oulton Broad South - Lowestoft 1x per hour Ipswich - Westerfield - Derby Road - Trimley - Felixstowe 1x per hour
Goods facilities Ipswich had a number of goods facilities and a myriad of private sidings, as well as extensive railways in the docks. In 2021, only the Upper Yard is open.
Upper Yard
This is located between Ipswich and East Suffolk Junction on the east side of the line. The yard ws still active in 2018, with Freightliner container trains recessing or running round before running to/from the docks at Felixstowe.