A busy place, most of the time. Looking south the main line to Cambridge goes straight ahead, the Bury St. Edmunds and Ipswich line diverging to the left and then up and over a sizeable bridge. Most traffic to/from Cambridge and London is WAGN's 365's, plus Central DMU's to/from Stansted. ONE's 170's use the Bury line. Regular heavy freight on the Bury line as well, mostly Freightliner, GBRF and EWS 66's on Intermodal. Some ballast trains also see class 60's. Irregular engineer's trains on all lines to/from March Whitemoor yard.

Looking North, Central 158 + 156's ply between Ely and Norwich/Peterborough. ONE 170's go to Norwich and Peterborough as well, with WAGN'S 365's having a monopoly on the Kings Lynn line.

Plenty of freight action, including services to/from the Potter's yard at Ely North Junction.

However, Ely station must rank as one of the coldest, bleakest most windswept places in the country. No shelter from the biting cold easterly winds in Winter. Good cafe and shop on platform 1, but the cafe/waiting room on Platform 2 looks like something out of a Siberian salt mine torture room.