Cambridge South new station opening

[italicbus]

For those not familiar with the immediate area: the Trumpington park and ride site is just off junction 11 of the M11. It's linked to Cambridge South station by 1.3 miles of guided busway, with a bus every 10 minutes at peak times. Parking is free, and the "short hop" return fare on the bus is £3.80, in other words cheaper than any local station car park. So it will be interesting to see if drive - park - bus - commute from Cambridge South (to London,for example) becomes an established pattern once people appreciate this possibility.

Has it been confirmed where the Busway stop for the station will be? It's surely too tight a corner for buses to turn right into the new station after crossing the busway bridge?

Ideally they would stop on the Hobsons Park side of the bridge so people can access the station from that side.

 

[neill]

Has it been confirmed where the Busway stop for the station will be? It's surely too tight a corner for buses to turn right into the new station after crossing the busway bridge?

Ideally they would stop on the Hobsons Park side of the bridge so people can access the station from that side.

The existing busway stops are in between he Astra Zeneca headquarters building and the Royal Papworth hospital - probably a 1-2 minute walk to the station. As built I'm not sure the station forecourt is suitable for busses; it looks like the focus is on taxis, car drop-off and bicycles.

Accounting for elevation change due to the bridge a stop on the park side would need to be a similar distance from the station and mean more land take from the park.

 

[mr_moo]

The existing busway stops are in between he Astra Zeneca headquarters building and the Royal Papworth hospital - probably a 1-2 minute walk to the station. As built I'm not sure the station forecourt is suitable for busses; it looks like the focus is on taxis, car drop-off and bicycles.

Accounting for elevation change due to the bridge a stop on the park side would need to be a similar distance from the station and mean more land take from the park.

Yep, unless anything has changed since I left, which I doubt, the links to buses is purely a walk to the existing bus stops on Francis Crick Avenue or the guided busway ones on the biomedical campus.

Whilst we did check that things like fire engines and bin lorries would get round the small access road, buses were never planned to go down there.

 

[Magdalia]

Has it been confirmed where the Busway stop for the station will be?

I haven't seen anything that suggests that either Stagecoach or Whippet are making any changes.

The existing busway stops are in between he Astra Zeneca headquarters building and the Royal Papworth hospital

Stagecoach buses stop here, but Whippet buses use a very basic bus stop in Francis Crick Avenue, near the Dahdaleh building.

All bus routes go round the campus anti-clockwise, so that the Rosie, Outpatients and Puddicombe Way stops are on the inside of the loop. This means that people walking between the station and the bus stops will have to cross Francis Crick Avenue.

My understanding is that the Babraham busway proposal includes new stops in Francis Crick Avenue.

Ideally they would stop on the Hobsons Park side of the bridge so people can access the station from that side.

There is only one stop that is actually on the southern end of the busway, which is near Hobson Square, beyond the Addenbrookes Spur Junction.

 

[Azuma800]

Just travelled through this afternoon. Stopped to be overtaken by a late running train to Brighton. The departure screens seem to be upside down at the moment, and also showing departures from Cambridge main station.... (Hence platform 8)

 

[rmHawk765]

Just travelled through this afternoon. Stopped to be overtaken by a late running train to Brighton. The departure screens seem to be upside down at the moment, and also showing departures from Cambridge main station.... (Hence platform 8)

Great start...
Jokes aside, it will almost definitely be fixed in time. I can understand the upside down thing, but displaying Cambridge departures is certainly quite odd.

 

[andy33gmail]

Great start...
Jokes aside, it will almost definitely be fixed in time. I can understand the upside down thing, but displaying Cambridge departures is certainly quite odd.

Seems sensible to me

If they set it to the correct station, there’ll be no trains to display

This way they can see it’s connected & updating

 

[Adrian1980uk]

Yes for testing but upside down is a bit odd/ careless by the installer

 

[Obar123]

Just went through this morning and it wasn't just a few screens it was every screen. So it cant be by accident, they must be able to turn then around on the software. Unless they installed them all the wrong way around, unlikely! Some screens were also showing the edge no Internet screen?

 

[saismee]

Just went through this morning and it wasn't just a few screens it was every screen. So it cant be by accident, they must be able to turn then around on the software. Unless they installed them all the wrong way around, unlikely! Some screens were also showing the edge no Internet screen?

They're almost certainly (stupidly) running Windows and the displays are just essentially websites running on a Chromium-based browser. This is how the new Blackbox departure boards work at Norwich and Ipswich. They tend to run out of memory and crash, displaying the generic "Aw snap!" screen, and have an improperly-sized font after rebooting. Lovely pieces of kit.

As for flipping them, that's probably the one benefit of using Windows here.

 

[William3000]

Looking a but deeper into this, the proposed bus route to the new site beyond the M11 was an option in a 2018 consultation, and it seems to use the farm bridge over the M11 cirrently used by the cycleway.

I'm wondering if this is another legacy from Mayor Palmer's Autonomous Metro that the Greater Cambridge Partnership haven't let go of.

I'm also wondering what, if anything, is planned for the land on the east side of the M11, but haven't found anything.

But the key point is that Cambridge South is primarily designed to be a destination station for the Biomedical Campus, not a departure station for South Cambridgeshire villages.

Agreed. Whittlesford Parkway already serves as a railhead for South Cambs villages heading to London Liverpool Street and Cambridge. And I think Foxton has potential to do the same for the London King’s Cross/St Pancras route - particular if it were possible to create a Foxton Parkway with Travel hub - and whether the timings would enable the Thameslink trains to stop there in addition to the stoppers giving it 3 trains per hour off peak and 4 trains per hour in the peak.

 

[Strat-tastic]

Could they be upside down to prevent people taking them seriously?

 

[saismee]

Could they be upside down to prevent people taking them seriously?

Most people passing by likely take no notice of departure screens while already on a train. Upside down screens are more likely to cause them to take notice, I would assume.

 

[mr_moo]

Total guess, but perhaps thee screen being upside down is a simple check at the end. They are on test like that and can be verified as working etc, but on the last day before opening you go round and can quicklky verify for all screens that they have been changed back to the correct information.

 

[Stompehh]

Screen hardware will be mounted a certain way up due to cable routing etc. The rotation of the display will be a simple config change in the software, they don't need to go and physically turn them around.

 

[neill]

What sort of testing can we expect to happen over the next couple of weeks?

 

[Magdalia]

Some pictures of the station interior here:

Cambridge South railway station unveils Turner prize nominee's art

Mark Titchner's artwork draws upon his research into a pioneer of the circulation of blood.

www.bbc.co.uk

A Turner Prize, external nominee has created a piece of public artwork for a new railway station that is due to open on 28 June.
Mark Titchner was nominated for the prize in 2006 and his work focuses on an exploration of words and language, external.
The "Together We" artwork at Cambridge South station draws upon his research into the physician William Harvey, who studied at the University of Cambridge in the 1590s and was the first physician to recognise the full circulation of blood in the human body.
"This commission has enabled me to create a long‑form public text work, something I've wanted to pursue for a long time," the artist said.
"I hope the piece gradually reveals itself to those who use the station offering moments of reflection as they move through their daily journeys."

 

[mr_moo]

Thanks for the article about the artwork. I'm glad it's in and I think it looks good.

While I worked for the project, I was on the team that facilitated this.
Getting to this point was interesting - we had several artists submit interest and high level concepts of styles and thinking (but specifically not an example for this station). We then voted on them to create a shortlist. At that point there were various options available - sculpture, painting, on-screen, stained glass, etc.

The group looking at this was part station team and part local people from the biomedical campus and local residents.

Once we had created a shortlist we interviewed the artists and asked them to provide some info about what kind of thing they might do, but still at high level. Mark was clearly passionate about the station and what could be done, and was excited to be part of it, which secured him the winning vote.

He then created this artwork based on our (intentionally) fairly basic briefing and presented to us a couple of options. We saw a concept of where he was going and liked it, so we progressed to the final design. Some discussions along the way, but overall it's all his work and I think he's come up with something really good. I'm looking forward to seeing it in person soon.

 

[shmee]

The official opening ceremony will be at 10:30 on the Monday.

(I shall be there and have my official invitation)

This comment was confusing me. Is the opening ceremony invitation-only or public? Or, somewhere in-between. Services are calling there all day I see

 

[Bald Rick]

This comment was confusing me. Is the opening ceremony invitation-only or public? Or, somewhere in-between. Services are calling there all day I see

The official ceremony is invite only. There’s only so many vol au vents to go round

 

[mr_moo]

Lol, yes, it's invite only, although it's being held in the Western forecourt so isn't 'private'.

Members of the public will be able to see the speeches and the unveiling of a plaque from outside the invited guests area if they wish, but wont be able to get into the restricted area or get the food.

Speeches will start about 10:30 and the plaque gets unveiled at about 11.

The station will be operating normally throughout.

 

[neill]

The official ceremony is invite only. There’s only so many vol au vents to go round

Surely a missed opportunity to launch the Great British Railway Sandwich!

 

[andy33gmail]

Unrelated question; will there be any left luggage facilities?

I’ve not been able to play hockey on Wednesdays [at Cambridge South hockey club] since having to start commuting. The aptly named Cambridge South station might make this feasible in terms of time - if not for the practical issue of not wanting to take a hockey stick to London and back.

That said, so far I’ve never been questioned for wandering around the public transport network with it - but it’s a bit off taking it 100 miles or so further than necessary & potentially onto the underground

 

[Royston Vasey]

They should start work later this year on the Cambridge South West Travel Hub, which is effectively Trumpington P&R #2, off Junction 11 of the M11.

The groundwork is already well advanced, I would consider it started!

Not sure if many people will actually choose to make a journey that goes: Home (in village) - drive to CSWTH P&R - Bus to Cam South - Train to final destination. Quite convoluted and there's zero fares integration - Whittlesford Parkway's more convenient for most trips.

I agree, nobody is going to do this. Other than some local residents in walking distance, Cambridge South won't be a railhead for commuting, it'll overwhelmingly be a destination.

 

[higthomas]

Unrelated question; will there be any left luggage facilities?

I’ve not been able to play hockey on Wednesdays [at Cambridge South hockey club] since having to start commuting. The aptly named Cambridge South station might make this feasible in terms of time - if not for the practical issue of not wanting to take a hockey stick to London and back.

That said, so far I’ve never been questioned for wandering around the public transport network with it - but it’s a bit off taking it 100 miles or so further than necessary & potentially onto the underground

I highly highly doubt it. Very few stations do.

FWIW I've taken a hockey stick to and from London on the same commute (and to the same Hockey club!) a fair few times and never had any issues.

 

[andy33gmail]

FWIW I've taken a hockey stick to and from London on the same commute (and to the same Hockey club!) a fair few times and never had any issues.

I think I can work out who you . Perhaps just worth keeping it attached to me and hoping no-one texts the BTP

 

[ScottGallagher]

Some pictures of the station interior here:

Cambridge South railway station unveils Turner prize nominee's art

Mark Titchner's artwork draws upon his research into a pioneer of the circulation of blood.

www.bbc.co.uk

Its different and quite striking but i cant fathom the overuse of the word 'and' it reminds me of how you would write in infant school before youre taught what a comma is!

 

[mr_moo]

Unrelated question; will there be any left luggage facilities?

There's no left luggage facilities in the permanent design but there is a bit of space for some standalone retail units or pop up shops. Whether any third party would bring in a left luggage facility is doubtful though!
Looks like your hockey stick may well have to head to London.

Its different and quite striking but i cant fathom the overuse of the word 'and' it reminds me of how you would write in infant school before youre taught what a comma is!

This is a great question!

From what I recall of the explanation from the artist, the art is designed in a way that means you'll take something different from it on different days and different journeys through the station. The 'and' acts as a break between the different words that invite you to think about them, and thus, the idea is that you'll likely focus on different words each time you go through, so taking something different away from it with different passes. If it was something simple you'd see it a few times then it would just become part of the scenery, but this makes you think something unique every time you go past it.
It's also got an array of different words to cover different thoughts and feelings, and links them together in different ways as your mind will skip some of them and form new links each time.
I really like it.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Its different and quite striking but i cant fathom the overuse of the word 'and' it reminds me of how you would write in infant school before youre taught what a comma is!

Ah, we don't use the Oxford comma in Cambridge

 

[mr_moo]

Ah, we don't use the Oxford comma in Cambridge

Very good!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Jun 2026 ==

The official ceremony is invite only. There’s only so many vol au vents to go round

All the vol au vents are mine....
Nom nom nom!