Coldham’s Lane, Cambridge - new station

[William3000]

There are currently proposals for significant new developments at the Beehive Centre, Grafton Centre, and already a lot of shopping areas like Cambridge Retail Park close to Coldham’s Lane junction in Cambridge.

Could there ever be potential for an immediate station here either just north or just south of Coldham’s Lane bridge?

 

[dk1]

There are currently proposals for significant new developments at the Beehive Centre, Grafton Centre, and already a lot of shopping areas like Cambridge Retail Park close to Coldham’s Lane junction in Cambridge.

Could there ever be potential for an immediate station here either just north or just south of Coldham’s Lane bridge?

I would say no chance. Cambridge North & Cambridge are both close enough.

 

[Magdalia]

There are currently proposals for significant new developments at the Beehive Centre, Grafton Centre, and already a lot of shopping areas like Cambridge Retail Park close to Coldham’s Lane junction in Cambridge.

Could there ever be potential for an immediate station here either just north or just south of Coldham’s Lane bridge?

If the proposals for the Beehive and the Newmarket Road retail park go ahead then yes. These are currently retail space and car parks but will be redeveloped predominantly for business use, with most of the car parks eliminated, and this will generate lots more new commuting traffic.

Then add in the housing development on the Marshalls Airport site, which will need rail access at or near to Newmarket Road.

The way that the Cambridge economy is growing I'll be surprised if we don't get a new station somewhere near Coldham Lane and Barnwell Junctions eventually, though it is a long way off at the moment. People need to wake up and notice that the railway has become the main artery for business development in Cambridge.


== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Aug 2023 ==

I would say no chance. Cambridge North & Cambridge are both close enough.

Anyone who has ever watched football at Cambridge United, arriving and departing by rail, will know that this is not the case!

 

[dk1]

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Aug 2023 ==


Anyone who has ever watched football at Cambridge United, arriving and departing by rail, will know that this is not the case!

Yes I’ve been to football there and drive trains through on almost a daily basis. It’s taken long enough to get stations at North & soon South with the latter having great potential. There just is no business case for another at Coldham lane even if just for the sake of further clogging up this already busy rail corridor.

 

[Magdalia]

There just is no business case for another at Coldham lane

Not now, but we aren't talking about now. We are talking about planning for the future.

And the future in Cambridge is further rapid economic and population growth.

It’s taken long enough to get stations at North & soon South with the latter having great potential.

Which is why this needs to be thought about as soon as plans for the Beehive and Newmarket Road retails parks are approved. At that point a Coldham Lane/Barnwell station moves from "no business case" to "having great potential".

 

[Meerkat]

My crayons would move the line to go through the middle of the airfield redevelopment and north of Cherry Hinton, losing two or three level crossings.

 

[ac6000cw]

My crayons would move the line to go through the middle of the airfield redevelopment and north of Cherry Hinton, losing two or three level crossings.

That's a different railway line (towards Newmarket) to the one mostly being discussed above (towards Ely, which runs alongside the current Newmarket Road retail park. If you were going to add a station in that general area, I think where the line crosses under Newmarket Road is the obvious place, as that is a busy transport corridor anyway so you would have direct interchange with bus services.

 

[Magdalia]

I think where the line crosses under Newmarket Road is the obvious place, as that is a busy transport corridor anyway so you would have direct interchange with bus services.

This definitely has advantages, but it does put the station further away from the Beehive.

My crayons would move the line to go through the middle of the airfield redevelopment and north of Cherry Hinton, losing two or three level crossings.

The Victorians had two goes at building a railway out of Cambridge towards Newmarket and got both of them wrong. Maybe it can be third time lucky but the crayons for the Newmarket line are a separate discussion!