East West Rail | Plans go in for new Cambridge railway station

Network Rail has submitted a Transport and Works Act Order application for a new station in the vicinity of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus to improve connectivity in Cambridgeshire and beyond.

The new station would connect the Cambridge Biomedical Campus with potential destinations such as central London, London Stansted Airport, Ely, Birmingham and Europe.

The station would also provide access to a growing area of high-quality employment and help relieve congestion in the local area by supporting the development of environmentally sustainable transport in Cambridge.

In the future, East West Rail services from Bedford to Cambridge could serve the new station.

Network Rail identified the preferred location of the proposed new railway station for Cambridge South in June last year.

The Cambridge Local Plan 2018 identifies the Cambridge Biomedical Campus and the Cambridge Southern Fringe as an area of major change in Cambridge.

It is envisaged that by 2031 new housing developments across the Cambridge Southern Fringe comprising an estimated 4000 new homes will have been built.

Network Rail plans involve the construction and operation of a new two storey, four platform station on the West Anglia Main adjacent to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus which includes:

• a ticket office
• ticket vending machines
• lifts providing step free access to all platforms
• accessible toilets, baby change facilities, waiting area and space for retail/catering
• access for pedestrians and cyclists from both sides of the railway with capacity for a 1000 cycle parking spaces
• modification to roads and crossings to facilitate access to the station

Network Rail also plans to modify and enhance the rail infrastructure to support the new station which could include:

• remodelling of the existing track layout
• installing two additional track loops to accommodate a four-platform station
• enhancements to Shepreth branch junction
• modification to the railway on the southern approach to Cambridge station
• provision for overhead line electrification infrastructure and a substation
• modification of existing signalling equipment
• closure of two private level crossing and provision of alternative access

Subject to gaining the necessary consents, work could start on the station in 2022 with a target of station opening in 2025. A funding statement is included in the TWAO application with a projected investment package of £183.6M needed to deliver the new station and the associated infrastructure changes.

Source https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/east-west-rail-plans-go-in-for-new-cambridge-railway-station-21-06-2021/

Department of Civil Engineering https://www.ibu.edu.ba/department-of-civil-engineering/