Felixstowe to Nuneaton railway upgrade
[8][9] In 2017, it was ranked at 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with an estimated traffic of 3.85 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU).
[11] In East Anglia the main road from the port is the A14 but this cannot handle all lorry traffic that is required, hence the railway is a vital strategic artery.
[16][17] In response to the trend for intermodal container heights to increase from 8 feet 6 inches to the "high cube" standard of 9 feet 6 inches,[18] the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) funded gauge clearance work, completed in November 2004, to allow 9'6" (2.9m) high containers to be carried on standard freight wagons on the F2N route and beyond.
[20] The SRA intended to go on to clear the route to W12 gauge to accommodate wider containers on European intermodal units, and to work to increase capacity to 30–40 trains per day in each direction by 2010 to cater for the expected growth in traffic.
[21] The document – although having a map showing F2N as one scheme in Table 6.2, section 5.1 – treated it as a composite of three individual components.
[28] Upgrade of the section between Ely and Soham was proposed[29] but was declined in September 2015 because costs had increased due to the complexity of the project.
[3] When asked in parliament via written question on 3 October 2019 what was planned for the F2N corridor, Chris Heaton-Harris the Rail Minister answered that a number of individual enhancement schemes for the route were being looked at in the 2019 to 2024 timeframe.
[31] Writing in Modern Railways in March 2018, Julian Worth, former EWS Marketing Director and Transrail Freight Managing Director, said upgrading and electrifying F2N would require 146 miles of electrification and enable 56 trains to convert to electric haulage.
[35] The Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transport although calling for 800 miles of electrification across the UK to make 95% of Railfreight electrically hauled, put the F2N route as number one priority.
[53] All these factors have meant that capacity in the Nuneaton area to the ports, including Felixstowe and other enhancements have been discussed and progressively implemented over the years.
Tritax claimed it is in an ideal strategic location with road links, F2N railway and also access to other key ports such as Southampton and Liverpool.
The further claim was that 20% of UK manufacturing capability and 45% of British rail freight pass through the Midlands and regard the area as "The Golden Triangle".
The feasibility study submitted showed it would need additional land purchase and level crossing modifications.
[62] The work began in March 2020 and involved building a new double track railway that dives under the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at Werrington.
This new line removes constraints caused by slower freight trains from F2N having to cross over the high-speed ECML.
The upgrade was part of the HLOS High Level Output Specification for Control Period 5 published by the UK Government in 2012.
[79] After this document there was an announcement by the new Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling saying electrification north of Kettering to Leicester, Derby, Nottingham and Sheffield had been cancelled.
[81] The Transport Select Committee meeting on 23 March 2021 published a report into the Trains fit for the Future ongoing enquiry, calling for a rolling programme of electrification[82][83] and again the MML was an active candidate.
[84] It was reported and confirmed in Modern Railways that work was ongoing to progress the project north of Market Harborough through Leicester all the way to Sheffield and the plan was for the route to be divided into eight discrete sections.
[99] In September 2020 the TDNS Traction Decarbonisation Network Strategy Interim Business case was published but dated 31 July 2020.
[105] Later in the large report the route was further identified as key but broke up into 4 sections and the whole line called F2MN (Felixstowe to Midlands) rather than F2N.
[107] The managing director of GB Railfreight, John Smith, questioned the prioritisation of the Electric Spine particularly over F2N.
"[109] In July 2020 the chairs of England's Economic Heartland, Midlands Connect and Transport East jointly wrote a letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer both to express concern for the lack of action on F2N capacity improvements, but also to express support for the work already done.
