Ideas to improve existing Waterbeach (Cambs) station

[William3000]

There will certainly be some people who would prefer it to stay as is, though they will also benefit from a much quieter street once the railway traffic has gone.

I think a much larger conversation needs to be had about the future of Cambridge and the surrounding area - like it or not, it's becoming a hugely important economic hub and it will need to adapt to that challenge.

Indeed - in my view it seems short-sighted to close the existing station. It’s recently been upgraded and the existing population of Waterbeach is nearly 7000. This is far larger than closely spaced villages with stations south of Cambridge like Foxton and Shepreth for example. Furthermore, Waterbeach existing station currently has almost 350,000 users per year making it busier than nearby stations like Thetford, Brandon, and Littleport and almost as busy as March. Furthermore, the new station is actually over 2km away and further than Foxton and Shepreth are from each other.

Given the significant cost in closure, I think a more sensible option given the huge growth facing the Cambridge area would be to:

Provide a turnback bay platform at Waterbeach New Town station (3 platforms in total) enabling more cross city services to operate and freeing up bays at Cambridge Central and Cambridge North for future EWR services. Existing Cambridge to London slow trains could be extended to Waterbeach New Town - this would provide the additional benefit of providing access to the Science Park for passengers from Royston, Meldreth etc., as well as providing more services between Cambridge North and Cambridge South.

In future Waterbeach old station would have a more local function therefore but would likely be still busy. Fast trains to London would no longer stop there in favour of Waterbeach New Town station- I imagine the Norwich to Stansted trains also stopping there.

Assuming the reintroduction of a half hourly service on the Cambridge to London slow this could give the existing Waterbeach station a half-hourly stopping service between London King’s Cross and Waterbeach New Town and Waterbeach New Town would have 5 trains south bound (2 slow to London King’s Cross, Stansted Airport, 2 fast to London King’s Cross), and 3 north bound each hour: (two to Ely/King’s Lynn, and 1 to Norwich). London Liverpool Street to Ely could also serve both stations in the peak.

Even if the above service is not possible to fit in immediately - I would suggest keeping Waterbeach open with a parliamentary service of a couple of trains a day would be preferable to enable it to reopen more fully in the future without the infrastructure. If Shippea Hill can be retained without closure, the case for retaining Waterbeach is far stronger.

 

[Magdalia]

Indeed - in my view it seems short-sighted to close the existing station.

The existing Waterbeach station is on the south-eastern edge of the village, basically there is nothing on the up side of the line. For many Waterbeach travellers moving the station won't make a lot of difference, apart from having to remember to turn right instead of left (or vice versa) when they leave the house.

The existing station is also on a busy road, with platforms either side of a level crossing, and with nowhere suitable for buses. It isn't fit for purpose for the amount of use that it now gets.

Furthermore, the new station is actually over 2km away and further than Foxton and Shepreth are from each other.

Only by a few metres! Foxton-Shepreth is about 1830 metres.

If there was housing development around Foxton and Shepreth, similar to at Waterbeach, then there would be a case to be made for a new combined Foxton/Shepreth station. The proximity of these two existing stations is a historical anomaly and I don't think it can be used as justification for repeating it elsewhere.