News from the East Anglian Branch of Railfuture, edited by Martin Thorne and Jerry Alderson.
Railfuture News Snippets 392 - 30/11/2025
On 6th November 2025, Network Rail (NR) informed Railfuture, rail user grours (such as a FLUA), local politicians and other stakeholders of the very disappointing news that the opening of Cambridge South station has been pushed back to June 2026 because one of its key sub-cotractors, which was performing a "critical internal fit-out of the station's electrical and mechanical systems, has gone into administration. NR had previously announced that it would open in 'early Janaury 2026', a date that was already months later than originally expected because the necessary signalling works had been delayed. Realtime Trains (RTT) had been showing trains running from 26th Jauary 2026. When Railfutrue attended a site visit in May 2025, NR had said that the contractors would be leaving the site in October 2025, but this has not yet happened.
Charlotte Cane, the MP for Ely & East Cambridgeshire, has announced in her bulletin to constituents that she had recently obtaedin a response from Rail Minister Keir Mather about the vital rail upgrade for the Ely area (known as the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement, EACE) who had replied: "I fully recognise the strategic importance of the EACE programme. It has a strong case for future investment, and we are committed to working with stakeholders to support its place in the pipeline of future rail enhancements." Whilst many may see this as a worthless 'holding position' reply, Ms Cane described it as "the first meaningful concession in a positive direction" that she had obtained. She also had a "constructive meeting" with Lord Hendy, Minister for Rail, to "urge further research and planning to demonstrate the full economic benefits of the scheme."
According to a BBC News article the semaphore signals at Manea, on the line between Ely and March, which were removed on 1st November 2025, could have been the last in use in the entire Eastern region, althugh the Network Rail (NR) media spokesperson contactewd by the BBC could not be sure. Of course, this doesn't mean that NR is cluesless as to what infrestructure it has, merely that the BBC published its article before the situation had been confirmed. The article did not mention whether the signal would be donated to a heritage railway or simply scrapped.
The footbridge at Woodbridge station, which is on the East Suffolk Line, will be closed for six weeks until 24th December 2025 for reapirs, according to a BBC News article. Work will strengthen steelwork, paint the footbridge, and install new handrails with integrated lighting.
Over the weekends of 15th/16th and 29th/30th November 2025, Network Rail (NR) will be completing the latest stage of a project to swap out 40-year-old signalling components at the Norwich end of the Great Eastern main line. As well as being more reliable, the new digital parts are compatiblewith potential further upgrades to signalling equipment, helping to future-proof the railway. See Network Rail media release. While trains are not running, NR wil perform maintenance on the overhead line equipment between Diss and Norwich.
East Midlands Railway (EMR) has confirmed that the first of its 33 brand-new Aurora trains will enter service in December 2025. This does not directly affect services in East Anglia, as the nearest location that the trains will serve is Bedford.
The European Passengers Federation (EPF), of which Railfuture is a member, has announced that is next annual conference will be held in Maastricht in the Netherlands on 5th and 6th June 2026. It wil be held in the 'Gouvernement aan de Maas' building, where in 1992 the EU treaty was signed. The focus of the conference will be the modal shift from fossil to sustainable mobility: less cars, more walking, cycling and public transport in cities and regions; more trains and buses in cross border and international travels.
The Whitwell & Reepham railway will be running its popular Santa Trains on 13th, 14th, 19th and 20th December 2025 from 16:30 and 17:30 (17:30 and 18:30 on the 19th). Tickets are £15 for adults, £17.50 for children aged 2-16 years, and £7.50 for children under 2 years and include a drink and mince pie on arrival. It also has Christmas Day lunch, a New Year Eve celebration. In 2026 there will be more chances for a Steam Experience driving a train. The 'Silver' version includes: 60 minutes on the footplate, taking charge of the engine, learning to start, stop and control speed and direction from an experienced driver, a site tour, a £20 meal voucher to use at The Sidings restaurant and a certificate to commemorate the experience.
WEBSITES AND APPS
Yet another website showing real-time train locations
The https://signalmaps.co.uk/ website shows routes, signals and train locations in graphical from in real-time. It is possble to search for a route or even a particular train by specifying its headcode.
The URL for a specific location is 'https://signalmaps.co.uk/#placename:number'. To detemrine the place name go via the navigation. For example, https://signalmaps.co.uk/#cambridge:2848 will show trains around Cambridge North and https://signalmaps.co.uk/#ely:580 will show north of it up to Ely. Each location on the map, and the trains, are clickable links which go to Real Time Trains (RTT) to provide details.
Real-Time Trains website offers ad-free viewing for a subscription
The https://realtimetrains.co.uk/plus/ website, which is widely regarded and is paritally funded by advertisements, has launched 'RTT+', its new subscription service that unlocks ad-free viewing and more for just £25 a year. Cick on https://realtimetrains.co.uk/plus/ to find out more.
Real-Time Trains has also added extended data history: up from one to three months, and it will increase this to six months by January 2026. However, the RTT+ subscribers can see history up to five years.
Additional content will be added to this page.
Railfuture East Anglia Branch News Snippets 392 - 30/11/2025
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Railfuture is a non-profit making pro-rail campaiging organisation, which is run entirely by unpaid volunteeers, including production of Rail News Snippets for the East Anglian branch of Railfuture.
How we spell Railfuture — singular, one word, one capital letter (can be abbreviated to Rf).