West Anglia Main Line

West Anglia Main Line
Greater Anglia 379021 at Bethnal Green in August 2012
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Greater London East of England
Termini	Liverpool Street, London Cambridge
Stations	28
Service
Type	Commuter rail, Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Greater Anglia (Stansted Express) CrossCountry
Rolling stock	Class 170 "Turbostar" Class 710 "Aventra" Class 720 "Aventra" Class 745 "FLIRT" Class 755 "FLIRT"
Technical
Number of tracks	2–4
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC OHLE
Operating speed	80 mph (130 km/h) maximum
Route map (Click to expand)

v t e West Anglia Main Line
Legend
from London Liverpool Street mi-ch Fen line to King's Lynn & Breckland line to Norwich Cambridge North 57-75 Cambridge–Ipswich line Cambridge 55-52 Varsity Line Cambridge South (opens 2025) Cambridge line to London King's Cross Shelford 52-36 Stour Valley Railway River Cam Whittlesford Parkway 49-01 A505 road M11 motorway 46-23 Newmarket & Chesterford Rly River Cam Great Chesterford 45-56 Littlebury Tunnel Audley End Tunnel Saffron Walden Railway Audley End 41-55 Audley End Viaduct Newport Viaduct Newport 39-72 Elsenham & Thaxted Light Rly Stansted Airport 36-67 Stansted Tunnel Elsenham 35-45 M11 motorway Stansted Mountfitchet 33-28 Bishop's Stortford– Braintree branch line Bishop's Stortford 30-27 River Stort Navigation Sawbridgeworth 26-57 Harlow Mill 24-36 Harlow Mill aggregate terminal Harlow Town 22-59 River Stort Navigation Roydon 20-09 River Lee Navigation Hertford East branch line to Hertford East Broxbourne 17-17 Cheshunt 14-01 M25 motorway Lea Valley lines Great Eastern Main Line to Norwich Stratford 4-03 London Liverpool Street 0-00

The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main line railways that operate out of Liverpool Street (the other being the Great Eastern Main Line to Ipswich and Norwich). It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishop's Stortford and Audley End (near Saffron Walden) to Cambridge, with branches between serving Stratford, Hertford and Stansted Airport. The line runs along the boundary between Hertfordshire and Essex for much of its length.

In the early years, the line was the main route from London to Cambridge. Following the opening of the Cambridge Line between Hitchin and Cambridge, the West Anglia Main Line is now primarily a commuter route for stations between Cambridge and London. It was an important goods route for many years as the southern end of a route from coalfields in Yorkshire, and there are still freight trains which run occasionally to Harlow and Rye House Power Station, along with a Network Rail base at Broxbourne.