Should Cambridge station be rebuilt?

[camflyer]

Moderator note - split from:

East-West Rail (EWR): Consultation updates [not speculation]

Hi guys, It was recently reported that the East-West Rail link between Oxford and MK has been delayed by 2 years from 2017 until 2019. Does anyone have any idea why?

www.railforums.co.uk

That sounds good. The present station is beyond grim and must give a terrible impression to the large number of tourists that use it.

Once they've finished with the rebuild of Oxford could they do Cambridge next?

 

[Magdalia]

Once they've finished with the rebuild of Oxford could they do Cambridge next?

The main building at Cambridge is Grade II listed. In the last 10 years the new island platform has been provided and the piazza at the front of the station has been completely renovated. I doubt that there will be any more significant changes until the East West Rail route is finalised.

 

[jfowkes]

The main building at Cambridge is Grade II listed. In the last 10 years the new island platform has been provided and the piazza at the front of the station has been completely renovated. I doubt that there will be any more significant changes until the East West Rail route is finalised.

There are continued noises about an Eastern entrance to Cambridge station, which would help a lot with access and reducing the footfall through the main station building. Probably still a long way off though.

 

[Magdalia]

There are continued noises about an Eastern entrance to Cambridge station, which would help a lot with access and reducing the footfall through the main station building. Probably still a long way off though.

I know the area very well. There may be noises but an Eastern entrance is totally impractical and with very limited benefit. There is no suitable road access for vehicles while pedestrians and cyclists already have the cycle bridge.

 

[dk1]

£millions recently spent on upgrading the sidings & rebuilding a bridge to accommodate those & the washer road next to Cambridge station & the island platforms 7/8 so I doubt it. Best I’d expect is quadrupling & separating the routes south to Shepreth Branch Jcn whilst incorporating Cambridge South (Addenbrookes) Station.

 

[adamedwards]

Cambridge South surely takes the pressure off the existing station? If the tracks are arranged paired by direction, cross platform changes will be so much easier than at Cambridge (not very Central).

 

[dk1]

Cambridge South surely takes the pressure off the existing station? If the tracks are arranged paired by direction, cross platform changes will be so much easier than at Cambridge (not very Central).

But wouldn’t that just create more conflicting moves at Shepreth Branch Jcn? Doesn’t make any sense unless they’d rather keep down trains from Cambridge platforms 1/4 & up from 7/8.

 

[NSE]

Yeah, surely four track would in effect have WAML and KGX services run independently from Shepreth Junction. That would seem the most logical way to me.

 

[cle]

I understood that there might be another platform, i.e. an eastern single side platform - and a small, more local entrance on that side. It wouldn't be the main one (similar to Botley).

Cambridge North could also have another platform activated, which might be useful for terminating and keeping roads free at Central.

South and the approaches all the way to Central should be four-tracked. A shame it's two sides and one island, as planned.

 

[camflyer]

I know the area very well. There may be noises but an Eastern entrance is totally impractical and with very limited benefit. There is no suitable road access for vehicles while pedestrians and cyclists already have the cycle bridge.

The area around the Clifton Way industrial estate is on the city council's development agenda and there have been talks to move for the Royal Mail to relocate their sorting office. Replace all of that with more offices and residential units then an eastern entrance becomes necessary

The RailFuture plan looks workable: https://www.railfuture.org.uk/east/...mbridge-Station-Eastern-Entrance-proposal.pdf

 

[Magdalia]

The area around the Clifton Way industrial estate is on the city council's development agenda and there have been talks to move for the Royal Mail to relocate their sorting office. Replace all of that with more offices and residential units then an eastern entrance becomes necessary

It might be desirable but it isn't practical and it isn't necessary. An entrance in Clifton Way is off the south end of platforms 7 and 8 and at completely the wrong end of the station for the footbridge. From Clifton Way the station can still be reached via Hills Road or the cycle bridge.

 

[slouch152]

It might be desirable but it isn't practical and it isn't necessary. An entrance in Clifton Way is off the south end of platforms 7 and 8 and at completely the wrong end of the station for the footbridge. From Clifton Way the station can still be reached via Hills Road or the cycle bridge.

An eastern entrance plan would shirley involve building a second footbridge. Firstly because there's no landing site on the east side to which the existing bridge could be extended, but also because it's more buildable; the existing bridge can remain in use throughout any works.

The obvious location for a second bridge would be in symmetry with the existing one, shortening platform 2 to create space in the same way that platform 5 was shortened before. Platform 2 is about 200m long and is used by 8x20m trains at their longest, so can cope with losing a few metres. With a slight kink, such a bridge could travel east to land on the depot site currently occupied by portakabins immediately north of the Royal Mail parking.

Clifton Road (not Clifton Way) is the appropriate access road. There's not that much wrong with it that couldn't be fixed by banning on-road parking. Some of the low-rise industrial units would have to be removed to create a drop-off site, taxi rank etc, but given local land values they can't be long for this world anyway.

Do the numbers add up? No idea, but the traffic queues to access the west side of the station seem to be getting ever longer and will fuel the notion that "something must be done".

 

[Magdalia]

Platform 2 is about 200m long and is used by 8x20m trains at their longest, so can cope with losing a few metres.

Unfortunately my copy of the sectional appendix is old, and predates the changes when platform 1 was extended to take 12 car trains. I'm fairly sure that, when platform 1 was extended, platform 2 was reduced, with signal CA152 moving nearer to the buffer stops. Platform 2 does not look significantly longer than the adjacent platform 3, which is only just long enough for an RLU class 700.

Clifton Road (not Clifton Way)

My mistake, it was late and I was tired!

but the traffic queues to access the west side of the station seem to be getting ever longer

My familiarity with Cambridge station goes back more than half a century. The traffic issues now are insignificant compared to the days with the little roundabout adjacent to the station entrance, and before the bus stops were moved into the coalfields.

 

[MikeWM]

An eastern entrance plan would shirley involve building a second footbridge. Firstly because there's no landing site on the east side to which the existing bridge could be extended, but also because it's more buildable; the existing bridge can remain in use throughout any works.

The obvious location for a second bridge would be in symmetry with the existing one, shortening platform 2 to create space in the same way that platform 5 was shortened before. Platform 2 is about 200m long and is used by 8x20m trains at their longest, so can cope with losing a few metres. With a slight kink, such a bridge could travel east to land on the depot site currently occupied by portakabins immediately north of the Royal Mail parking.

A second bridge at the London end really should have been provided when platforms 7/8 were built. The distance between the London end of a service arriving on 7/8 and trying to get a connection off 2 or 3 is considerable and a very large double-back (and almost certainly breaks the 'minimum connection time' unless you walk rather more briskly than the average person).

So I'd definitely agree we need a bridge, and then...

Clifton Road (not Clifton Way) is the appropriate access road. There's not that much wrong with it that couldn't be fixed by banning on-road parking. Some of the low-rise industrial units would have to be removed to create a drop-off site, taxi rank etc, but given local land values they can't be long for this world anyway.

Yes - currently that area really does feel rather 'middle of nowhere' but it is actually really close to the 'Leisure Park' (Cattle Market, for those of us who've been around for a while) at that point, as well as a considerable amount of housing.

If nothing else, I would very much welcome a better link between the Leisure Park and the station. Particularly as it seems no-one ever considered the value in adding a pedestrian connection between Hills Road bridge and the guided busway, which would have shortened the required diversion somewhat when walking between the two, and I'm guessing now that one will never be added.

 

[ashkeba]

Particularly as it seems no-one ever considered the value in adding a pedestrian connection between Hills Road bridge and the guided busway, which would have shortened the required diversion somewhat when walking between the two, and I'm guessing now that one will never be added.

The little cut through by Brunel House is 100m between busway and the west ramp of Hills Road bridge.

The half of a mile detour over the cycle bridge from the Davy Road caused by the lack of eastern entrance seems much worse.

 

[MikeWM]

The little cut through by Brunel House is 100m between busway and the west ramp of Hills Road bridge.

True but it still involves a (very minor) double-back to get off Hills Road - it adds 125m or so, which isn't much but somewhat irritating if rushing for a train...

I'd rather they'd put in some steps straight down, as they did on the other side for better access to the Leisure Park rather than having to go all the way down the ramp to the Cherry Hinton Road junction.

The half of a mile detour over the cycle bridge from the Davy Road caused by the lack of eastern entrance seems much worse.

Totally agree if we're talking objectively. (as opposed to 'journeys I personally do on a regular basis'