53-580: The Wherry Lines are railway branch lines in the East of England , linking Norwich with Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft . There are 14 stations on the lines, including the three termini. They form part of Network Rail Strategic Route 7 , SRS 07.11 and are classified as a rural line. The lines pass through the Broads of Norfolk and Suffolk. The name is taken from the Norfolk wherries , which played an important role in
106-446: A Class 47 diesel locomotive . The services have now ceased, favouring connections with existing local services; this is due to the complexity of the coupling and uncoupling and other issues which led to poor reliability of the mainline operation. On Mondays to Saturdays from 2018, one service in each direction between Norwich and Lowestoft was operated by East Midlands Railway 's Class 158 Express Sprinter units. The service ran in
159-478: A loading gauge of W8, except between Lowestoft and Oulton Broad North where it is W6; there is a maximum line speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). Of the lines' 14 stations, two are lightly served; these are: At most of the stations on the Wherry Lines, service frequencies are increased during the summer months. The signalling system was modernised in 2018–19. The line between Reedham and Great Yarmouth
212-547: A certain industrial site such as a power station either because of a location away from the main line or to reduce congestion. They were typically built to lower standards, using lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. Much of Canada's branch line history relates to large rail transport conglomerates (such as the Grand Trunk , Canadian National , or Canadian Pacific ) which would acquire formerly independent short line railways for use as branch lines, with
265-828: A competition to give the class their own unique brand name. In October 2020, EMR announced that the fleet will have the 'Aurora' brand. The earlier-than-planned withdrawal of the Class 180 fleet, now occurring at the May 2023 timetable change, means that 'Aurora' units will only directly replace the Class 222 fleet. The last of the InterCity 125 sets East Midlands Railway inherited from East Midlands Trains were withdrawn in December 2020, having been replaced by five ex LNER InterCity 125 sets which had greater compliance with new regulations and four Class 180s. Originally nine former LNER sets were to replace
318-443: A dispute over pay and working conditions. On multiple occasions, EMR has requested that the travelling public avoid using its services on certain dates due to these strikes. During February 2023, Transport UK Group concluded a management buyout of Abellio's United Kingdom business, which included EMR. EMR operates commuter services from London St Pancras to Corby , as well as Intercity services from London St Pancras along
371-419: A greater sense of community involvement. The line from Norwich to Lowestoft is double-tracked throughout; the two branches to Great Yarmouth that diverge from Brundall , the route via Acle and from Reedham via Berney Arms , are single-tracked , although the former was once double-tracked throughout. The Wherry Lines are not electrified , hence services are formed by bi-mode multiple units . The route has
424-411: A larger yard, where these railcars are sorted and dispatched in larger trains with other cars destined to similar locations. Because industrial spurs generally have less capacity and traffic than a mainline, they tend to have lower maintenance and signaling (train control) standards. Before the rise of the long-distance trucking in the early 1930s, railroads were the primary means of transportation around
477-582: A later date. East Midlands Railway withdrew the last of its Class 156 fleet and its entire 180 fleet in May 2023. EMR operates two depots: Derby Etches Park and Nottingham Eastcroft . The Class 360s are maintained at Bedford Cauldwell Walk depot by Siemens Mobility . East Midlands Railway was investigated by the Advertising Standards Authority , who in September 2021 found that they had breached marketing codes. The firm had launched
530-786: A section of the West Rail line . Discontinued services include the Sha Tau Kok Railway and the Wo Hop Shek Branch . A spur line to Siu Sai Wan has been proposed. Delhi On the Delhi Metro , the Blue Line has a Branch Line with 8 Stations, linking Yamuna Bank to Ghaziabad via Anand Vihar ISBT and terminating at Vaishali. The first section of the Branch opened on 8 January 2010 with Anand Vihar as its terminal with six stations. It
583-715: A similar number of sets inherited from East Midlands Trains. However, after the carriages were found to require more repairs than originally envisaged, this was cut back to five sets. In December 2021, the final Class 153s were withdrawn, as they were not PRM (Persons with Reduced Mobility) compliant, with Class 156s replacing them on the Barton line from 13 December. These units were placed into storage at Long Marston and Ely Papworth Sidings in December 2021. In December 2022, four Class 156 units went off lease and were sent for storage at Barrow Hill , with East Midlands Railway stating that they will be moved to Ely Papworth sidings at
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#1732859025437636-484: A single track, the journey is 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometres) long and the train takes around two and a half minutes to complete its journey. In North America, little-used branch lines are often sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout the United States and Canada, branch lines link smaller towns too distant from the main line to be served efficiently, or to serve
689-523: A subsidy for grain transport, and instead allowed railways to absorb branch line subsidies freely without making effort to improve the profitability of the lines. The term "grain-dependent branch lines" began being used as early as 1978 to refer to the special case of these branch lines in agricultural areas whose viability depended on the economics of grain transport. The Western Grain Transportation Act of 1983 addressed this case specifically, but
742-556: Is a type of secondary track used by railroads to allow customers at a location to load and unload railcars without interfering with other railroad operations. Industrial spurs can vary greatly in length and railcar capacity depending on the requirements of the customer the spur is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it is not uncommon for one industrial spur to have multiple sidings to several different customers. Typically, spurs are serviced by local trains responsible for collecting small numbers of railcars and delivering them to
795-529: The Bay of Plenty Region , lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks . In Auckland and Wellington , two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see
848-717: The Gladstone Branch in New Jersey; as well as the New Canaan Branch , Danbury Branch , and Waterbury Branch in Connecticut . The Long Island Rail Road also refers to its services as "branches". In Chile, there are a lot of branch lines on its main line, of only a few remain operational. Most only operating in turistic services (like the Antilhue-Valdivia branch line), others have been taken over by other railways (like
901-456: The Luton DART , an automated guided people mover , opened between Luton Airport and Luton Airport Parkway railway station . From then on, EMR simultaneously brands EMR Connect as the airport rail link Luton Airport Express since the services are non stop from St Pancras to Luton Airport Parkway, with a headline figure of 32 minutes from London St Pancras to the airport terminal using
954-518: The Midland Main Line to Nottingham and Sheffield with limited extensions to Lincoln . EMR also operate the local East Midlands services and inter regional services to Liverpool and Norwich (Express service). Services from Nottingham to Liverpool Lime Street were to transfer to another operator during the life of the franchise, although following a review by the DfT, this will no longer take place;
1007-761: The North South Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang stations was operated as a separate line, known as the Branch line . It was merged into the North–South Line with the opening of the Woodlands Extension in 1996. The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line will also have branch lines. New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury , Otago , and Southland . Many were built in
1060-592: The Pisa-Rome railway mainline at Roma San Pietro railway station , to Vatican City station . Many British railway branch lines were closed as a result of the " Beeching cuts " in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways . The smallest branch line that is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town . Operating on
1113-672: The South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to LOHAS Park station , opened in 2009. Earlier, a spur line was built in 1985 on the East Rail line to serve Racecourse station , bypassing Fo Tan station . Also, the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension [ yue ] was built in 2004 on the East Rail line to serve East Tsim Sha Tsui station . However, after the Kowloon Southern Link was completed in 2009, this spur line turns into
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#17328590254371166-472: The list of New Zealand railway lines . East Midlands Railway East Midlands Railway ( EMR ; legally Transport UK East Midlands Limited ) is a British train operating company owned by Transport UK Group , and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. Originally owned by Abellio , EMR took over operations from East Midlands Trains (EMT) on 18 August 2019, on an agreement to run
1219-491: The Luton DART, the cost of which is included in the train ticket price. East Midlands Railway inherited a fleet of 28 Class 43 , 21 Class 153 , 15 Class 156 , 26 Class 158 , and 27 Class 222 units from East Midlands Trains . In January 2020, nine additional Class 156 units from Greater Anglia were introduced into service. Nine 8-carriage InterCity 125 sets were also transferred from London North Eastern Railway , with
1272-455: The Norwich to Liverpool stretch. EMR introduced Class 170s to replace the 153s and 156s which have since been withdrawn, and initially the 158s, which will now be kept for the foreseeable future and are planned for refurbishment along with the 170s. The Norwich to Liverpool service was initially planned to terminate at Nottingham with the stretch to Liverpool Lime Street taken over during
1325-666: The San Rosendo-Talcahuano branch line, which has been taken over by Biotrén and the Laja-Talcahuano train service) however, there is one branch line that still remains as fully operative. The Talca-Constitución branch line, which uses trains with bus motors. Two extensions to the MTR rapid transit network were built as branches of existing lines: the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to Lok Ma Chau station , which opened in 2007; and
1378-543: The U.S. state of New Jersey . The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line , running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. Also known as the "Dinky Line", at 2.9 mi (4.7 km) it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Other than the Princeton Line, other surviving branch lines include
1431-463: The course of the franchise, several planned timetable changes are to be made: As of December 2023, East Midlands Railway's regular off-peak services Monday-Friday include: EMR Regional is a brand used on regional routes, most of which terminate at or pass through Nottingham , including services from Norwich to Liverpool Lime Street and from Crewe to Newark Castle . They run a mixture of Class 158s and 170s with 158s normally confined to
1484-402: The early morning on both journeys. Branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line . A very short branch line may be called a spur line . Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located on a main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines. An industrial spur
1537-462: The final HSTs to be withdrawn. The Connect service is operated by ex-Greater Anglia Class 360s . By 2023, East Midlands Railway planned to run EMR Regional services using 40 Class 170 units (in fact, they have 43 170s so far), and by 2024 plans to run EMR Intercity services using 33 new bi-mode Class 810 Aurora units. The final Class 170s from West Midlands Trains were delivered in May 2023. The last Class 170 from Transport for Wales
1590-552: The first president of the Canadian National Railway , said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are even essential to make main lines pay. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act . The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in
1643-447: The first set having entered service on 4 May 2020. They were replaced in May 2021. To replace the former Grand Central “buffered” HST sets, EMR commenced a lease of the four former Hull Trains Class 180 fleet despite their history of technical difficulties, with the first units entering service on 13 December 2020. On 16 May 2021, East Midlands Railway launched EMR Connect services between Corby and London St Pancras, which has enabled
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1696-596: The franchise by another operator, likely TransPennine Express . However, this is no longer taking place. EMR Connect is a commuter service linking Corby with St Pancras . The service began in May 2021 using Class 360s formerly used by Greater Anglia following the electrification of the Midland Main Line from Bedford to Kettering and Corby in 2020. It was initially planned to be known as EMR Electrics until just before its launch date in April 2021. In March 2023,
1749-527: The franchise for eight years. As part of the franchise commitments, EMR placed an order for 33 new bi-mode Class 810 Aurora high speed train sets, and sourced over 40 pre-existing Class 170 Turbostar diesel multiple units from other operators. During early 2020, passenger numbers and ticket revenues collapsed following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic , leading to the original franchise agreement being initially suspended before being replaced entirely. Under
1802-509: The franchise from East Midlands Trains (EMT) on 18 August 2019 for a period of eight years; rival bidder Stagecoach had been disqualified from the process because its submission failed to meet employee pension obligations. In June 2019, Abellio revealed its branding and colour scheme for EMR, which featured distinct purple and white colours that reflected the heritage of the East Midlands . The company also confirmed that it would divide
1855-574: The franchise's services into three segments: EMR Electrics was later rebranded as EMR Connect following an announcement in April 2021. Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and a resulting collapse in both passenger numbers and ticket revenues in March 2020, the franchise agreement was suspended and replaced by an Emergency Measure Agreement for six months under which the Department for Transport assumed responsibility for all revenues and costs and EMR
1908-416: The greater flexibility and economic savings of trucking. Today, railroads remain the most economical way to ship large quantities of material, a fact that is reflected in industrial spurs. Most modern day spurs serve very large industries that require hundreds, if not thousands, of carloads a year. There is an international branch line between Italy and Vatican: the 300-metre Vatican Railway , connecting from
1961-496: The late 1980s until 2019. In 2015, the train operator introduced DRS Class 37 locomotive-hauled services due to a shortage of rolling stock as the route is not electrified. These ceased following the introduction of the Class 755s in 2019. Some summer Saturday services were extended beyond Norwich from London Liverpool Street , which ran to and from Great Yarmouth. These services were formed of Class 90 electric locomotives with Mark 3 coaches , which were hauled from Norwich by
2014-534: The late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast , an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and
2067-459: The new National Rail Contract signed in 2022, the franchise is to last until October 2030. In February 2023, Transport UK Group concluded a management buyout of Abellio's United Kingdom business, which included EMR. In March 2017, the Department for Transport announced that Arriva , a joint venture between FirstGroup and Trenitalia , and incumbent Stagecoach had been shortlisted to bid for
2120-533: The newly electrified Midland Main Line . The Class 810 is an evolution of the Class 802 units that Hitachi have delivered to a number of British train operators; amongst other changes, it has a reduced car length as to better facilitate its use of stations such as St Pancras and is fitted with uprated diesel engines that enable the Class 810 to equal, if not exceed, the acceleration of the Class 222. During May 2020, EMR opened
2173-473: The next East Midlands franchise. Abellio was also shortlisted for the franchise during February 2018. In April 2018, FirstGroup and Trenitalia pulled out of the bidding process, their stated reason for doing so being to focus on the West Coast Partnership franchise. During April 2019, it was announced that the franchise has been awarded to Abellio, with East Midlands Railway (EMR) to take over
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2226-621: The northern route from Norwich to Great Yarmouth via Acle was added in 1883 by the Great Eastern Railway , opening from Breydon Junction to Acle on 12 March, and through to Brundall on 1 June. The typical Monday-Saturday off-peak service on the Wherry Lines is as follows: In 2007, the route was designated as having community rail services as part of the Community Rail Development Strategy ; this aims to increase patronage and income, improve cost control and develop
2279-556: The railways had owned. However, by the mid-20th century, railways began neglecting lines in western agricultural regions. This was historically driven by factors such as the Crow Rate , which regulated the price railways could charge for shipping grain. Railways had little incentive to invest in rural Prairie branch lines, but were legally unable to abandon them under the National Transportation Act , which also did not provide
2332-504: The service instead being split at Nottingham as intended but remaining with EMR. The Barton line was expected to transfer from Northern in 2019 but this was delayed until May 2021. On 19 June 2021, EMR Regional services were cut to enable the timetable to run effectively. Although EMR stated that 85% of services were still running, there was still an impact to local commuter services. Contactless payment cards can be used between London St Pancras and Luton Airport Parkway . Over
2385-804: The short line often continuing to exist as a subsidiary. For example, when the Canadian Pacific acquired the Algoma Eastern Railway (a short line) in 1930, it soon after abandoned much of the Algoma Eastern mainline, but retained sections close to Algoma Eastern–Canadian Pacific junctions as short branch lines or spurs. The National Transportation Act of 1967 provided government subsidies for branch lines. Western railway development in Canada worked in concert with land settlement and cultivation, as pioneers were settled near railway lines, often on land
2438-536: The transport of goods and people around the Broads before road and rail transport became widespread. Passenger services on the Wherry Lines are currently operated by Greater Anglia . The route was opened from Norwich to Great Yarmouth by the Norwich and Yarmouth Railway in 1844, running via Reedham . The line from Reedham to Lowestoft was added in 1847 by Samuel Morton Peto as part of the Norfolk Railway . Finally,
2491-467: The world. Industries of the era were commonly built along railroad lines specifically to allow for easy access to shipping. Short (under a mile, oftentimes only several hundred yards) industrial spurs with very small (under ten car) capacities were a common sight along railroads in industrial and rural cities alike. As automobile and roadway technology improved throughout the early and mid-20th century, most low volume industry spurs were abandoned in favor of
2544-437: Was announced that EMR had received a direct award of a four-year National Rail Contract, the terms of which included the option of extending it for a further period of up to four years. EMR was one of several train operators impacted by the 2022-2023 United Kingdom railway strikes , which was the first national rail strike in the UK for three decades. Its workers were amongst those who participated in industrial action due to
2597-694: Was closed from 20 October 2018 and was scheduled to open again in April 2019; a bus replacement service was available during the works. In January 2019, it was reported that the project was overrunning and that the line between Reedham and Great Yarmouth would not reopen in April 2019 as scheduled. No firm date was initially given as to when the line would reopen, but the Great Yarmouth-Reedham line finally reopened on 24 February 2020. Passenger services are operated by Greater Anglia , typically using Class 755 bi-mode multiple units . Services were typically operated by Class 156 diesel multiple units from
2650-496: Was further extended to Vaishali in 2011. The line is planned to be extended from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar via Sahibabad Station to link with the main line. The East West Line of the MRT system in Singapore has a two-station branch to Changi Airport . The first station, Expo , opened in 2001. It was extended to Changi Airport station the next year. From 1990 to 1996, the section of
2703-531: Was instead paid a management fee. This arrangement was superseded by an Emergency Recovery Measures Agreement (ERMA) under which the original franchise agreement was terminated. At the time, it was announced that the EMR franchise would operate until March 2022. In October 2021, the DfT issued an updated prior information notice that confirmed that the ERMA period would be extended until 16 October 2022. During October 2022, it
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#17328590254372756-488: Was repealed in 1994 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement and budget-balancing initiatives in favour of a one-time payout by the federal government directly to farmers, to arrange transport of grain themselves. From the mid-1970s to the late 2010s, more than 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Prairie branch lines were abandoned or had a discontinuance of service. David Blyth Hanna ,
2809-439: Was transferred on 28 January 2024. EMR also has 170s acquired from ScotRail and Southern ; the latter were converted back to 170s from previously converted 171s by reinstating their original type of couplers. The company is refurbishing the stock used for its regional services. [REDACTED] To replace the Class 222 units, 33 five-carriage Class 810 bi-mode trains will be introduced in early 2025 to make use of
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