Felixstowe Branch Line

Felixstowe Branch Line

Principal stations Ipswich Westerfield for East Suffolk Line Derby Road Trimley Felixstowe

The Felixstowe Branch Line is a railway line from Ipswich to Felixstowe in Suffolk.

The towns and villages on the line are listed below.

• Ipswich
• Westerfield
  • Line diverges to Lowestoft
• Derby Road (Ipswich)
• Trimley
  • Freight-only line diverges to Felixstowe Docks
• Felixstowe

The line follows the East Suffolk Line from Ipswich to Westerfield, and then diverges to the south.

Passenger services are operated by 'one', who replaced the previous franchise Anglia Railways on April 1st 2004. The line is extensively used by freight trains to Felixstowe Docks, operated by EWS, Freightliner and GB Railfreight.

From when the railway line diverges at Westerfield, the line is single track to Felixstowe. However, there is a double track section at Derby Road, long enough to allow two freight trains to pass each other. There are two junctions: one at Trimley station, where the diverging route to Felixstowe Docks parallels the line through a disused platform at Trimley before a sharp turn to the right towards Felixstowe Docks; the other at Felixstowe just under the Maidstone Road bridge, where the line diverges: the left line going a short distance to Felixstowe Station and the right line going along the old Felixstowe Beach Station branch to Felixstowe Docks.

The line has a disused station, Orwell railway station.

The line is not electrified.

Signalling

The railway is completely track circuited with colour-light signals and is controlled from Colchester PSB. Multiple traffic can use the same section at the same time and freight trains regularly follow behind passenger services.