Cambridge South Stopping Pattern

[William3000]

With Cambridge South station now under construction, which services will stop there?

I’m guessing definitely:
Cambridge to London KX (slows)
Cambridge to Brighton (semi-fast)
Cambridge to London LS (all slow/semi fast)
Norwich to Stansted Airport

And probably not for:
King‘s Lynn/Ely to London KC (fast)
Birmingham NS to Stansted Airport

The above would give:
3/4 per hour to Royston, Baldock, Letchworth GC, Hitchin, Stevenage, London KX/SP
2 per hour to Gatwick Airport/Brighton
1 or 2 per hour to Foxton, Shepreth, Meldreth
3 per hour to Whittlesford Parkway/Audley End
1 per hour to Stansted Airport (if all Norwich to Cambridge are extended to Stansted Airport
1 per hour to Shelford, Great Chesterford (2 in peaks)
2 per hour to Bishop’s Stortford, Harlow, Tottenham Hale, and London LS
5 or 6 per hour to Cambridge
3 per hour to Cambridge North
1 per hour to Ely, Thetford and Norwich

Is that enough?

I’ve assumed King’s Lynn/Ely to London King’s Cross fasts wouldn’t stop (except perhaps in peaks as they do at Royston and Letchworth Garden City) which would provide Waterbeach, Littleport, Downham Mkt, King’s Lynn with access to Cambridge South in peaks

I’ve also assumed that Birmingham to Stansted Airport cross country services wouldn’t stop.

The above would give about 11 trains per hour off peak and 14-15 peak which seems a good service.

While I can see some arguments for stopping everything there, the Birmingham to Stansted service is a limited stop long distance service and as long as Norwich to Stansted Airport services stop there, there is direct access to the airport without changing at Bishop’s Stortford.

I can also see some arguments for stopping fast trains to London KX there on the basis that they stop at Cambridge North - but Cambridge North doesn’t have the Brighton or the slow services as well. The Brighton trains would on current schedules take about 54 mins to Finsbury Park and about 59 mins to London St Pancras which seems pretty reasonable given the fasts from Cambridge take 49 mins and 1 hour from Cambridge North.

Be interested to hear others’ thoughts.

 

[Magdalia]

The biggest drawbacks with your proposal are the lack of capacity from and to Ely combined with the complete absence of through trains at Cambridge South from and to the Kings Lynn line stations.

The Stansted-Norwich trains are already full in the peaks. Last time I was at Cambridge there was a poster advising Ely passengers to use alternative trains because of overcrowding.

So I think that the Kings Cross-Ely/Kings Lynn trains will stop. The extra time for the station stop should be roughly balanced out by the time saving from the increased line speed at Shepreth Branch Junction.

 

[William3000]

The biggest drawbacks with your proposal are the lack of capacity from and to Ely combined with the complete absence of through trains at Cambridge South from and to the Kings Lynn line stations.

The Stansted-Norwich trains are already full in the peaks. Last time I was at Cambridge there was a poster advising Ely passengers to use alternative trains because of overcrowding.

So I think that the Kings Cross-Ely/Kings Lynn trains will stop. The extra time for the station stop should be roughly balanced out by the time saving from the increased line speed at Shepreth Branch Junction.

I get your point - I was envisaging them stopping in the peaks but not off peak. In off peak crowding is less of an issue but I agree that lack of trains from North of Cambridge North is an issue with my suggestion, so maybe the King’s Lynn/Ely to London KX fasts will stop there. I would be surprised if the Birmingham to Stansted Airports stop there though but an hourly direct service to the airport on the Norwich to Stansted train is essential

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Apr 2023 ==

The biggest drawbacks with your proposal are the lack of capacity from and to Ely combined with the complete absence of through trains at Cambridge South from and to the Kings Lynn line stations.

The Stansted-Norwich trains are already full in the peaks. Last time I was at Cambridge there was a poster advising Ely passengers to use alternative trains because of overcrowding.

So I think that the Kings Cross-Ely/Kings Lynn trains will stop. The extra time for the station stop should be roughly balanced out by the time saving from the increased line speed at Shepreth Branch Junction.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 2 Apr 2023 ==

There does seem quite a bit of slack in the timetable running through Cambridge at present on the K Lynn/Ely to London KX so maybe an additional stop at Cambridge South could be accommodated. If they did stop there it would give Cambridge South quite an extensive service level. In any hour there would be trains to the following:

London King’s Cross x3 or x4
London Liverpool St x2
Brighton x2
Stansted Airport x1
Cambridge x3 or 4
Cambridge North x2
King’s Lynn x1
Ely x1
Norwich x1

I believe there is a long term proposal for the slow Cambridge to London KX to be diverted via London SPI to Maidstone East or Ashford International

 

[Magdalia]

I believe there is a long term proposal for the slow Cambridge to London KX to be diverted via London SPI to Maidstone East or Ashford International

This was part of the original Thameslink 2018 plan but it has died a quiet death.

From May the Cambridge/Letchworth stoppers are rebranded GN instead of TL and interwork with the Kings Lynn/Ely trains at Kings Cross.

 

[bramling]

The biggest drawbacks with your proposal are the lack of capacity from and to Ely combined with the complete absence of through trains at Cambridge South from and to the Kings Lynn line stations.

The Stansted-Norwich trains are already full in the peaks. Last time I was at Cambridge there was a poster advising Ely passengers to use alternative trains because of overcrowding.

So I think that the Kings Cross-Ely/Kings Lynn trains will stop. The extra time for the station stop should be roughly balanced out by the time saving from the increased line speed at Shepreth Branch Junction.

In my view the fast trains should stop. A significant purpose of their existence is to serve Cambridge. There’s already always been a bit of an issue with Cambridge users crowding out other services, so we don’t need a whole load more people on them.

It used to get my back up in the old days that a lot of Cambridge users would board the old 1Cxx service which used to leave at XX30, rather than wait 15 minutes for the fast. This was a particular nuisance when this was routinely a 4-car service.

 

[Silenos]

I’m just wondering whether an additional stop at Cambridge South is going to result in a later arrival of KX to Kings Lynn services into Lynn, or whether they’re going to cut the dwell time at Cambridge (where the driver’s change over) or Littleport (where you usually have to weight around 10 minutes for the London-bound train to clear the single track section