The Ipswich–Ely line is a railway line linking East Anglia to the English Midlands via Ely. There is also a branch line to . Passenger services are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia. It is a part of Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.07, 05.08 and part of SRS 07.03. The line has previously been part of the Great Eastern Main Line. History Early history The Eastern Union Railway (EUR) had built a line from Colchester to Ipswich and a number of directors from the EUR formed a new company, the Ipswich and Bury Railway, chaired by John Chevallier Cobbold to build a line from Ipswich to Bury St Edmunds which was known as the "Bury extension". It was granted parliamentary approval on 21 July 1845 and the first train ran on 26 November 1846. The stations at Bramford, Claydon, Needham, Stowmarket, Haughley Road, Elmswell and Thurston all opened on this date. Bury St Edmunds was served by a temporary station east of the current site with the main station opening in November 1847. The Ipswich and Bury Railway was formally merged with the Eastern Union Railway on 9 July 1847. The Newmarket Railway was built by the Newmarket and Chesterford Railway with the first section from Newmarket to meet the West Anglia Main Line at Great Chesterford opened in 1848. The intermediate stations at and opened at this time. In addition to the new line from Chesterford, the Newmarket Railway also stated constructing a line from Cambridge to Newmarket. The original route diverged form the main platform at Cambridge on a sharp curve and was the cause of operational difficulties for many years. In July 1849 the Eastern Union Railway's extension to Norwich opened and a new station called Haughley was opened located just east of the junction. Haughley Road closed the same week. The Newmarket Railway then intended building extensions through to Bury St Edmunds, Ely and Thetford and a parliamentary Act of 1847 gave approval for this. The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR), who ran the competing (and longer) route via Cambridge, Ely and Thetford, opposed this fearing a loss of Norwich traffic to this more direct route. The ECR also operated the London Liverpool Street to Cambridge route at this time and were in a position to make things difficult for the Newmarket Railway which ceased operations in June 1850. However, under the leadership of bankruptcy commissioner