Suffolk: Rail services return to normal as decision awaited on weekend plans

Rail services in the region should finally be back to normal today after Tuesday’s engineering over-run at Ipswich.

And rail bosses are due to announce whether next Sunday’s scheduled closure at Ipswich will go ahead.

Engineers from Network Rail met last night to look at what went so disastrously wrong over the weekend, and to work out whether they could be confident that next Sunday’s work could be completed on time.

Today they are due to report their decision to Abellio Greater Anglia and other rail operators – the tracks are also used by several freight companies – before announcing whether the work will go ahead.

Most services did get back to normal yesterday, but there were problems on two of the shorter routes.

Services between Ipswich and Felixstowe were suspended until late morning because the line was fully-occupied by a backlog of freight trains to the port which had been unable to get through on Tuesday.

And trains between Marks Tey and Sudbury were replaced by buses because of fears that the unit could run out of diesel because it had been unable to return to Norwich for a refill.

An Abellio Greater Anglia spokesman thanked customers for their patience and understanding while the problem was resolved and added: “We would like to apologise to customers using our Ipswich to Felixstowe route for the suspension of the service.”

Meanwhile Suffolk Chamber of Commerce has invited Network Rail to a meeting to explain their concern that continuing problems on the line are harming the county’s business.

Stephen Britt from the Chamber said: “The delays that commuters and others are experiencing is not acceptable.

“I will be inviting Network Rail to attend the next meeting of our Transport and Infrastructure Board where members will want to hear of the plans that are being put into place to prevent any further service disruption.”