West Anglia Main Line

For details on the routes in the London area, see Lea Valley lines.

West Anglia Main Line
A Greater Anglia Class 379 at Bethnal Green, August 2012
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Greater London, East of England
Termini	London Liverpool Street, Cambridge
Stations	28
Service
Type	Commuter rail, Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Operators	Greater Anglia, CrossCountry, London Overground
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	85 mph (137 km/h) maximum
Route map (Click to expand)

The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main line railways that operate out of Liverpool Street; the other is 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.

For many years, the line was the main route from London to Cambridge, Ely and Kings Lynn. Following the 1988 electrification 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 also took on a new role as the route for express trains to Stansted Airport.

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.