Gainsborough line

Gainsborough line
A section of the line carried by Chappel Viaduct
Overview
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Essex and Suffolk
Service
Type	Community rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Greater Anglia
Rolling stock	Class 755 "FLIRT"
Technical
Line length	11 miles 53 chains (18.77 km)
Number of tracks	1
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Loading gauge	W6
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e Gainsborough line
Legend
Miles from London Liverpool Street Stour Valley Railway 58½ Sudbury 53½ Bures Colne Valley & Halstead Rly 50¼ Chappel & Wakes Colne Chappel Viaduct 46¾ Marks Tey Marks Tey junction Great Eastern Main Line to London • to Norwich

The Gainsborough line is the current marketing name of the Sudbury branch line, a railway branch line off the Great Eastern Main Line in the east of England, that links Marks Tey in Essex with Sudbury in Suffolk. It is 11 miles 53 chains (18.77 km) in length and single-track throughout. The line's Engineer's Line Reference is SUD.^[1]

Prior to the Beeching cuts initiated in the 1960s, the line, then known as the Stour Valley Railway, continued beyond Sudbury to Shelford in Cambridgeshire. Today the line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 7, SRS 07.10, and is classified as a rural line.^[2]

As of December 2016 the stations and all trains serving them are operated by Greater Anglia. The typical service frequency is one train per hour in each direction, with a timetabled journey time between one terminus and the other of 19 minutes.