Two construction trains a night run through Woodbridge from Monday 7 September, five months later than Network Rail planned. The published times, in full.
Sizewell C will start running construction trains onto its new on-site railway from the week beginning Monday 7 September, and has published a timetable for the first time.
The project’s works tracker says only that “train movements will commence on the Green Rail Route from the week commencing 7 September”, in its bulletin of 28 August. Attached to that bulletin is a one-page timetable of what it calls “early train movements”. It is more revealing than the notice.
It shows two trains in and two trains out each night, six nights a week, with nothing at all on a Sunday. The first passes Ipswich at 22:19 and the last comes back past Ipswich at 05:43.
The published times
The timetable gives passing times at Ipswich and arrival and departure times at the TCA, the temporary construction area beside the power station site where materials are unloaded.
| Movement | Passes Ipswich | At the site |
|---|---|---|
| Train 1 inbound | 22:19 | arrives 00:45 |
| Train 2 inbound | 23:14 | arrives 01:45 |
| Train 1 outbound | 03:32 | departs 02:10 |
| Train 2 outbound | 05:43 | departs 03:34 |
Two details are worth pulling out of the table.
- One night a week runs later. In the Thursday column the first train passes Ipswich at 22:37 rather than 22:19, and the site arrival is 01:02 rather than 00:45. The second train is 01:57 rather than 01:45.
- Saturday morning is slightly earlier, and Sunday is empty. The last outbound leaves the site at 03:30 on a Saturday rather than 03:34, and passes Ipswich at 05:39. There are no Sunday entries in any row.
Sizewell C marks every figure on the sheet as approximate.
Why this is a Woodbridge story
The timetable never names Woodbridge. The route does.
Network Rail, which owns and runs the line, says the Sizewell C freight strategy depends on “heavy freight trains” using “the East Suffolk line between Ipswich and Saxmundham” and “the Sizewell branch line”, on its Sizewell Rail Programme page. Woodbridge and Melton are on that stretch, between the two places the timetable does name.
Sizewell C has published a Woodbridge time before. When it ran an overnight trial train “from Ipswich on the East Suffolk line to Saxmundham and on to the Sizewell Branch”, its own notice said the train would “pass Woodbridge at approximately 01:19” and return “back past Woodbridge at 04:46”.
Five months behind the published plan
Network Rail sets the freight build-up out in two stages.
- Stage 1 was two return trains a day to a separate ancillary area, “within restricted hours” and “at low speeds to minimise the impact to local residents at night”, anticipated from January 2026.
- Stage 2 begins once the Green Rail Route is finished, and runs “up to four return trains per night” into the construction area itself. Network Rail anticipated it “from April 2026 until the end of construction of the power station”.
Stage 2 is what starts on 7 September. That is five months after the date Network Rail published, and the timetable now issued is for two return trains a night rather than the four the plan allows for.
What the Green Rail Route is
It is a temporary railway, built by Sizewell C to carry materials off the branch line and straight into the site, so that lorries do not.
The works tracker’s own project page describes it as “a temporary new railway to enable deliveries of materials directly to the main site as part of our strategy to deliver 60% of materials via rail and sea”. Building it ran from 30 September 2024 to 4 May 2026, and included two new level crossings, at Buckleswood Road and Abbey Road in Leiston.
The route comes out again at the end. Sizewell C says the Green Rail Route and the two temporary areas “will be removed once the power station has been constructed”. The upgrades to the branch line and the East Suffolk line stay.
Some of those upgrades are close to home. Network Rail lists track renewals already completed at Bealings and Saxmundham, and still to come:
- track renewals at Burnt House, Wickham Market
- new signals at Wickham Market
- a new crossover at Saxmundham junction
- upgrades to level crossings including Darsham
- closure of Uffold level crossing on the East Suffolk line, and Snowdens on the Sizewell branch
What it means for you
If you live near the line in Woodbridge or Melton, the window to expect movement is roughly 22:20 to 05:45, Monday night through to Saturday morning. Sunday nights are clear.
Three practical points:
- No Woodbridge times are published. The tracker gives Ipswich and the site and nothing in between, so there is no way to know from it when a train reaches you. If you want that, ask for it.
- You can subscribe by parish. The works tracker’s alert form lets you pick Woodbridge, Melton, Wickham Market or any other parish, and pick “Train Movement” as an activity type, so the alerts you get are only the ones near you.
- There is a freephone line. Sizewell C publishes 0800 197 6102 and info@sizewellc.com for enquiries and complaints, including at night.
The passenger timetable is unaffected. Our own page on trains from Woodbridge to London covers the daytime service, and current road closures across the district are on the roadworks and travel page.
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