Cambridge railway station is the principal station serving the city of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
in the
east of England. It stands at the end of
Station Road, south-east of the city centre. It is the northern terminus of the
West Anglia Main Line
The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Har ...
, down the line from
London Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...
, the southern terminus.
The station is managed by
Greater Anglia. It is one of two railway stations in the city (the other being , approximately away). Cambridge is noted for having the third-longest platform on the network in England.
Cambridge is also the terminus of three secondary routes: the
Fen line to , the
Breckland line
The Breckland line is a secondary railway line in the east of England that links in the west to in the east. The line runs through three counties: Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. It takes its name from the Breckland region of Norfolk, ...
to and the
Ipswich–Ely line
The Ipswich–Ely line is a railway line linking East Anglia to the English Midlands via Ely. There is also a branch line to . Passenger services are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia. It is a part of Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.07 ...
to . It is the thirteenth busiest station in the UK outside London.
History
Up to 1923
In 1822, the first survey for a railway line in the Cambridge area was made and, in the 1820s and 1830s, a number of other surveys were undertaken none of which came to fruition although the Northern and Eastern Railway had opened up a line as far as Bishop's Stortford by May 1842. The financial climate in the early 1840s ensured that no further scheme got off the ground but, by 1843, Parliament had passed an act enabling the
Northern and Eastern Railway
The Northern & Eastern Railway (N&ER) was an early British railway company, that planned to build a line from London to York. Its ambition was cut successively back, and it was only constructed from Stratford, east of London, to the towns of Bi ...
to extend the line to Newport (Essex). The following year, a further act was passed, extending the rights to build a railway through to Cambridge itself. In 1844, the Northern and Eastern Railway was leased by the
Eastern Counties Railway
The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth.
Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...
(ECR), which built the extension.
The 1844 act also covered an extension of the line north of Cambridge to Brandon in Suffolk forming an end on connection to the line through to .
Robert Stephenson
Robert Stephenson FRS HFRSE FRSA DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railways", he built on the achievements of his father ...
was appointed engineer and, on 29 July 1845, the station opened with services operating from Bishopsgate station in London via Stratford and Bishops Stortford.
In the years following the opening of the main line from Cambridge through to Norwich in 1845, other railways were built to Cambridge. Initially, some of these planned to have separate stations but opposition from the university saw them all eventually using the same station. The first line to arrive was the
St Ives to line which opened in 1847 and was built by the East Anglian Railway. Services to also commenced that year, with the opening of the line from via to Peterborough, which also became the main route for coal traffic into East Anglia which was built by the
Eastern Counties Railway
The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth.
Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...
.
The following year, the
Eastern Counties Railway
The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Yarmouth.
Construction began in 1837 on the first nine miles at the Lond ...
opened a line between St Ives and March which saw some passenger services although the coal traffic (mentioned above) was then diverted on to this route.
In 1851, a branch line from
Newmarket to Cambridge (Coldham Lane Junction) was opened which partly used the alignment of the
Newmarket and Chesterford Railway which subsequently closed. In 1854, the Newmarket line was extended eastwards to meet the
Eastern Union Railway
The Eastern Union Railway (EUR) was an English railway company, at first built from Colchester to Ipswich; it opened in 1846. It was proposed when the earlier Eastern Counties Railway failed to make its promised line from Colchester to Norwich. T ...
line at , allowing through running to .
A parliamentary act in 1848 was granted to the
Royston and Hitchin Railway
The Royston and Hitchin Railway was an English railway company; it built a line from the Great Northern Railway at Hitchin to Shepreth. A Shepreth branch line was built by the Eastern Counties Railway from Shelford Junction (later called She ...
to extend its line from . Although Cambridge was its goal, Parliament sanctioned only an extension as far as Shepreth (as the Eastern Counties Railway had opposed the extension to Cambridge). The line was completed in 1851 and initially the GNR, who had leased the
Royston and Hitchin Railway
The Royston and Hitchin Railway was an English railway company; it built a line from the Great Northern Railway at Hitchin to Shepreth. A Shepreth branch line was built by the Eastern Counties Railway from Shelford Junction (later called She ...
in the interim, ran a connecting
horse-drawn omnibus
A horse-bus or horse-drawn omnibus was a large, enclosed, and sprung horse-drawn vehicle used for passenger transport before the introduction of motor vehicles. It was mainly used in the late 19th century in both the United States and Europe, a ...
service. This proved unsuccessful, so in April 1852 the line was extended to join the ECR main line south of Cambridge and was leased to the Eastern Counties Railway for 14 years with a connection to enable the ECR to run trains from Cambridge to Hitchin.
In 1862, the
Bedford and Cambridge Railway
The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway.
During World War II the line was ...
opened. Originally a local undertaking, it was soon acquired by the
London & North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom.
In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lon ...
(LNWR), extended to , and saw services between and Cambridge introduced on what became known as the "
Varsity Line
The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway.
During World War II the line was ...
".
By the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when the
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...
was formed by amalgamation. Thus Cambridge became a GER station in 1862.
The
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
helped block later 19th-century attempts to create a central station.
The GER opened the cross-country line from Marks Tey via Sudbury and Haverhill to Shelford in 1865, which enabled the introduction of direct services to Colchester.
The
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
built a line from Kettering to Huntingdon which opened in 1866 and services ran to Cambridge using running powers over the Huntingdon to St Ives line. In 1866 the
Great Northern Railway (GNR) again applied to run services from King's Cross as the lease on the line to Hitchin was ending. Initially the GER opposed this but eventually agreement was reached and, from 1 April 1866, services started operating between Cambridge and King's Cross from a dedicated platform at Cambridge station.
In 1882, the
Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway
The Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway, colloquially referred to as "the Joint Line"''Joint Line Joy'', in the Railway Magazine, June 2015 was a railway line connecting Doncaster and Lincoln with March and Huntingdon in the eastern cou ...
was opened. As well as becoming the major route for coal traffic from the north east to East Anglia it saw the introduction of direct services between London, Cambridge and York. Goods trains generally passed Cambridge on dedicated goods lines to the east of the station. Between these and the station a number of carriage sidings existed.
The next line to open was in 1884 when the Fordham line opened joining the main line towards Ely at Barnwell Junction. The following year the branch to
Mildenhall railway station
Mildenhall railway station is a disused railway station that was the terminus of the closed Cambridge to Mildenhall railway. It served the market town of Mildenhall, Suffolk
Mildenhall is a market town and civil parish in Suffolk, England. T ...
opened and services operated direct from there to Cambridge.
Each of the four companies also had its own goods facilities in the station area and, except for the M.R., its own
motive power depot
The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine she ...
. The G.E.R. maintained a special locomotive for the
Royal Train
A royal train is a set of railway carriages dedicated for the use of the monarch or other members of a royal family. Most monarchies with a railway system employ a set of royal carriages.
Australia
The various government railway operators of ...
here for workings between London and Sandringham.
LNER 1923-1947
In the
1923 Grouping, the GER amalgamated with other railways to form the
London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and Cambridge became a LNER station. The Midland and LNWR similarly amalgamated with other railways to form the
London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS).
In around 1928, the
London and North Eastern Railway re-signalled the station replacing its five
signal box
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
es with two electrically controlled boxes, with the work carried out by the British Power Railway Signal Company.
British Railways 1948-1996
Following nationalisation of the UK's railways, Cambridge station was operated by the
Eastern Region of British Railways.
East Anglia was one of the first areas in the UK where British Railways wanted to phase out steam operation in favour of diesel traction. From 1959, diesels started to take over operation of services with Cambridge engine shed closing to steam in 1962. Diesel shunters and DMUs were allocated to another shed on the opposite side of the line known as Coldham Lane.
The 1960s saw a series of closures and a number of the lines serving Cambridge were closed at this time.
First to go was the lightly used
line to Mildenhall, closed to passengers on 18 June 1962.
The
Stour Valley Railway
The Stour Valley Railway is a partially closed railway line that ran between , near Cambridge and in Essex, England. The line opened in sections between 1849 and 1865. The route from Shelford to Sudbury closed on 6 March 1967 leaving only th ...
route to via Haverhill and Sudbury closed on 6 March 1967 although the
Sudbury-Marks Tey section remains operational as a branch line. The Varsity Line to Oxford also saw passenger services to Bedford withdrawn during this year (on 30 December 1967) as did the line between March and St Ives.
Passenger services along the
Cambridge & St. Ives Branch managed to survive the
Beeching Axe, but with
British Rail citing heavy losses the final passenger service ran between St Ives and Cambridge on 5 October 1970. Despite campaigns to reopen the service during the 1970s, the only subsequent rail traffic on the line was a freight service to
Chivers in
Histon
Histon is a village and civil parish in the South Cambridgeshire district, in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is immediately north of Cambridge – and is separated from the city – by the A14 road which runs east–west. In ...
which ran until 1983 and a contract to ferry sand from ARC at
Fen Drayton
Fen Drayton is a small village between Cambridge and St. Ives in Cambridgeshire, England, and between the villages of Fenstanton and Swavesey.
The village has a primary school, village hall, tennis courts and football fields, where Drayton Li ...
which continued until May 1992.
The line from to Cambridge was electrified by
British Rail in 1987, enabling electric trains to operate between Liverpool Street and Cambridge.
When the link to from opened in 1991, the
Cambridge line became more important; all non-stop trains now take this route to , reducing congestion on the very busy stretch of the
West Anglia Main Line
The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Har ...
between and Bishop's Stortford.
The privatisation era 1994 - present
Operations
The 1993 railways act came into force on 1 April 1994. Train Operating Units initially operated the services whilst the franchises were let.
A number of different train operating companies (TOCs) have operated services at Cambridge station since privatization.
West Anglia Great Northern
West Anglia Great Northern, commonly shortened to ''WAGN'', was a train operating company in England. It operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise between January 1997 and March 2004, as well as the Great Northern franchise between Apri ...
which was initially owned by
Prism Rail
Prism Rail was formed in July 1995 to bid for rail franchises in the United Kingdom during the privatisation of British Rail. It expressed interest in eighteen franchises, was shortlisted for twelve and was ultimately awarded four, LTS Rail, Va ...
but then bought by
National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
, operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. This covered services to both London Liverpool and King's Cross stations as well as King's Lynn. In April 2004 the Liverpool Street route became part of
National Express East Anglia
National Express East Anglia (NXEA) was a train operating company in England owned by National Express that operated the Greater Anglia franchise from April 2004 until February 2012. Originally trading as ''One'', it was rebranded National Exp ...
(NXEA) franchise whilst the
Great Northern route to King's Cross remained part of WAGN until March 2006 when it became part of the
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (T ...
franchise.
Services to Ipswich and Norwich were initially operated by Anglia Railways from January 1997 and these routes later became part of the NXEA franchise.
Services to and from the Midlands were operated by
Central Trains
Central Trains was a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by National Express that operated a variety of local and inter-regional trains from 2 March 1997 until 11 November 2007.
Overview
Created out of the Central division o ...
from March 1997.
In November 2007, the Central Trains franchise was split up with services through Cambridge becoming part of the
Arriva CrossCountry
CrossCountry (legal name XC Trains Limited) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by Arriva UK Trains, operating the Cross Country franchise.
The CrossCountry franchise was restructured by the Department for Transport (DfT) i ...
network.
The First Capital Connect franchise passed to
Govia Thameslink Railway
Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Expr ...
in September 2014.
Infrastructure
On 1 April 1994,
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from 1994 until 2002. It was created as part of the privatisation of ...
became responsible for the maintenance of the national rail infrastructure.
Railtrack was succeeded by
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
in 2002, following financial difficulties.
The "CB1" area in front of the station buildings had been due for redevelopment by Ashwell Property Group. In December 2009 the developers went bankrupt and reformed under the name Brookgate. Part of the redevelopment scheme had included a £1 million contribution towards the
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, known locally as The Busway, connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It is the longest guided busway in the world, overtaking the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Au ...
scheme passing through the area.
A new island platform was brought into operational use in December 2011.
In 2012, the station infrastructure was under scrutiny as it emerged passengers were forced to queue for over 40 minutes to purchase tickets.
2016 Improvements
In 2014, the station operator
Abellio Greater Anglia
Greater Anglia (legal name Abellio East Anglia Limited) is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the J ...
released plans to improve the station building at Cambridge as part of the CB1 project in the area. The works include a bigger concourse, more ticket gates and machines and a bigger ticket office. These opened in January 2017.
Building and platforms
![Cambridge railway station (6385339063)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/66/Cambridge_railway_station_%286385339063%29.jpg)
The station building, with its long classical
façade
A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'.
In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...
and
porte-cochère
A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...
(infilled during the 20th century), has been attributed to both
Sancton Wood
Sancton Wood (27 April 1814 – 18 April 1886) was an English architect and surveyor, known for his work on railway buildings.
Life and family
Sancton Wood was born on 27 April 1814 in Nursery Place, Hackney Terrace, Hackney, London. He was ...
and Francis Thompson and is
listed
Listed may refer to:
* Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm
* Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic
* Endangered species in biology
* Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...
Grade II. The long platform (platforms 1 and 4) is typical of its period but was unusual in that (apart from a brief period in the mid-19th century) it was not supplemented by another through platform until platforms 7 and 8 were added in 2011. Two further platforms (9 and 10) are proposed to the east of the station to accommodate additional planned services. There were major platform lengthenings and remodellings of the main building in 1863 and 1908. The station layout was altered in 1896 by deviating the Newmarket line approaches.
At , Cambridge has the third-longest
railway platform
A railway platform is an area alongside a railway track providing convenient access to trains. Almost all stations have some form of platform, with larger stations having multiple platforms.
The world's longest station platform is at Hubbali ...
in the UK on the main railway network, after and . This platform is divided into Platforms 1 and 4 with a
scissors crossover
A railroad switch (), turnout, or ''set ofpoints () is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off.
The most common typ ...
in the middle to divide it in two, which allows trains from either direction to pass those already stopped there.
Bay platforms exist at both ends of the station: Platforms 2 and 3 at the southern end of the station and Platforms 5 and 6 at the northern end. Platforms 7 and 8 are located on an island platform on the eastern side of the station. These came into use in December 2011.
Platform 1 is a 12-car bi-directional through platform generally used for northbound services to Ely, King's Lynn and Cambridge North. It is also used for some southbound services to London King’s Cross and Stansted Airport and for some late evening terminating services.
Platforms 2 (10-car) and 3 (8-car) are south-facing bay platforms generally used for stopping services to and from London King's Cross.
Platform 4 is a bi-directional 12-car through platform generally used for northbound services to Ely, Norwich, King's Lynn and Birmingham New Street. It is also used for some early morning southbound services to Stansted Airport and for some terminating late evening services.
Platforms 5 and 6 are 6-car north-facing bay platforms generally used for services to and from Ipswich and Norwich (and occasional services to and from Birmingham New Street).
Platforms 7 and 8 are bi-directional 12-car through platforms generally used for southbound services to London King's Cross, London Liverpool Street, Stansted Airport and Brighton via London St Pancras International. These platforms are also used for longer terminating trains from London Liverpool Street and London King's Cross.
Services
Services up to 1923
*
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...
** Main line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich and King's Lynn
** Cross-country services to via
Newmarket and to
** Cross-country services via Ely, and the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Line to northern England
** Branch line to
St Ives and beyond
** Branch line to
Mildenhall
*
Great Northern Railway
** Services to London King's Cross via Hitchin, including the ''Cambridge Buffet Car Expresses''
*
London and North Western Railway
** Cross-country "
Varsity Line
The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway.
During World War II the line was ...
" to
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
*
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...
** Services via St Ives to
Services
Cambridge is served by several operators.
*
CrossCountry serves the station with its
Birmingham New Street
Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from , and vi ...
service, via and . This is operated using
Class 170 diesel multiple unit
A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...
s. There is typically an hourly service in each direction which commences at Cambridge. Three services a day extend to Stansted Airport.
*
Great Northern Great Northern may refer to:
Transport
* One of a number of railways; see Great Northern Railway (disambiguation).
* Great Northern Railway (U.S.), a defunct American transcontinental railroad and major predecessor of the BNSF Railway.
* Great ...
serves the station as part of its service from
London King's Cross, operating
Class 387 and
Class 700 electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...
s.
**The "Cambridge Cruiser" (termed 'Cambridge Express' from London) runs non-stop between London King's Cross and Cambridge. There is a half-hourly service in each direction.
**There are also half hourly stopping trains between Cambridge and London Kings Cross, calling at , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .
**Travelling northbound, there are half-hourly Great Northern services to
Fen Line stations, calling at (hourly) and of which half go forward to , , and . Off-peak these trains run non-stop between Cambridge and King's Cross; during peak hours additional stops are usually made. Some of these additional stops were phased out in First Capital Connect's May 2009 'Seats for You' timetable, since in some cases extra trains now run to call at the stops removed, such as Royston and Letchworth Garden City. A certain number of services to/from Cambridge start or terminate at Ely or King's Lynn.
**In total there are 4 Great Northern trains per hour each way between Cambridge and London King's Cross.
*
Thameslink
Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...
serves the station half hourly with a (semi fast to Central London) service to calling at Royston, Ashwell and Morden (hourly), Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Hitchin, Stevenage, Finsbury Park, , , , , , , , , , , and .
*
Greater Anglia serves the station with three routes:
**To
London Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street station, also known as London Liverpool Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in the north-eastern corner of the City of London, in the ward of Bishopsgate Without. It is the t ...
via the
West Anglia Main Line
The West Anglia Main Line is one of the two main lines that operate out of , the other being the Great Eastern Main Line, which operates services to Ipswich and Norwich via Colchester. It runs generally north through Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Har ...
. These services use
Class 317
The British Rail Class 317 is an electric multiple unit (EMU) passenger train constructed by British Rail Engineering Limited in two batches, 48 sets being produced in 1981–82 and 24 sets in 1985–87. They were the first of several classes ...
or
Class 379
The British Rail Class 379 ''Electrostar'' is an electric multiple-unit (EMU) passenger train designed and built by the rolling-stock manufacturer Bombardier Transportation. The trains are part of the company's extensive Electrostar family.
Th ...
electric multiple unit
An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a numbe ...
s. During the morning peak a few services start back from King's Lynn or Ely, and during the evening peak a few are extended beyond Cambridge to and King's Lynn. There are typically two services each hour, one stopping and one semi-fast. A few services to/from Cambridge end or start at Bishops Stortford.
**An hourly service between Cambridge and via the
Breckland Line
The Breckland line is a secondary railway line in the east of England that links in the west to in the east. The line runs through three counties: Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. It takes its name from the Breckland region of Norfolk, ...
. This uses
Class 755 units and usually departs from Platform 5. This service was started in 2002 by Anglia, which ordered four
Class 170s for use on the new service. Some services are extended to Stansted Airport
**An hourly service between Cambridge and . This uses
Class 755s
Bi-mode multiple unit
An electro-diesel multiple unit (EDMU) or bi-mode multiple unit (BMU) is a form of a multiple unit that can be powered either by electric power picked up from the overhead lines or third rail (like an electric multiple unit – EMU) or by u ...
s. One train a day continues to . These services usually depart from Platform 6.
Summary
Future services
East West Rail
A new East West Rail is being developed allowing travel from Oxford to Cambridge and onto Norwich and Felixstowe without needing to go via London, which has not been possible since the
Varsity line
The Varsity Line (or the Oxford to Cambridge railway line) was the main railway route that once linked the English university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, operated by the London and North Western Railway.
During World War II the line was ...
was closed in the 60s. The western section between Oxford and Bedford has already been given the go-ahead and partly built. The central section from Bedford to Cambridge is more difficult as parts of the Varsity route have been built on, for example by the
guided busway
Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of schedules even during rush hours. Unlike trolleybuses or rubber-tired trams ...
. The preferred route from a new , via (new station) then across the East Coast Main Line at a new station between and to the
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...
in Bedford. The government has committed £10 million of funding as part of the 2016 Autumn Statement to continue to develop the route.
Transport links
Local and regional bus services
Several local bus services by
Stagecoach in Cambridge
Stagecoach East is the divisional name for the bus operations of the Stagecoach Group in eastern England.
History
Under the control of the National Bus Company, ''Cambus Ltd.'' was set up when the Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was split in ...
and
Whippet Coaches
Whippet, formerly Go Whippet, is a bus and coach operator based in Swavesey, Cambridgeshire, England.
History
Whippet Coaches was founded in Huntingdonshire by bicycle salesman Henry Lee in 1919. The first Whippet coach was converted from an ...
stop immediately south-west of the main station building. There are 9 stops linking the railway with the city centre and other parts of Cambridge, including
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned large teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Camp ...
, and the surrounding area. The southern section of the
Cambridgeshire Guided Busway
The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, known locally as The Busway, connects Cambridge, Huntingdon and St Ives in the English county of Cambridgeshire. It is the longest guided busway in the world, overtaking the O-Bahn Busway in Adelaide, South Au ...
connects directly to the station, allowing buses to run from
Trumpington
Trumpington is a village and parish to the south of Cambridge, England. The village is an electoral ward of the City of Cambridge and a ward of South Cambridgeshire District Council. The 2011 Census recorded the ward's population as 8,034.
T ...
via the station to
St. Ives and
Huntingdon
Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district in Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver Cromwell was born there ...
. Buses also travel from the station out of the city to
Sawston
Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam about south of Cambridge. It has a population of 7,260.
History Prehistory
Although the current village of Sawston has only existed as anything more than a ha ...
and
Saffron Walden
Saffron Walden is a market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. The population was 15, ...
. A
taxi rank
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choice ...
is located just outside the main entrance.
Cambridge Cycle Point
Since February 2016, a 3-story cycle parking facility, with up to 2,850 spaces, has been open, named Cambridge Cycle Point. It is located in a building just to the north of the main station entrance. The ground floor of Cycle Point has a cycle shop.
Accidents
On 30 May 2015 the 09:14 GTR Great Northern service from London King's Cross failed to stop when entering a platform and collided at low speed with the stationary train it was due to couple with shortly after 10:00 BST. No damage was caused but three passengers were slightly injured.
Motive Power Depots
Main Shed
![Cambridge 2 Locomotive Depot 2067375 40ae0b3c](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Cambridge_2_Locomotive_Depot_2067375_40ae0b3c.jpg)
The Eastern Counties Railway opened a small
motive power depot
The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine she ...
at the station in 1845. This was replaced by a larger depot on the west side of the line at the north end of the station, in 1847 and this shed became a
Great Eastern Railway
The Great Eastern Railway (GER) was a pre-grouping British railway company, whose main line linked London Liverpool Street to Norwich and which had other lines through East Anglia. The company was grouped into the London and North Eastern R ...
shed in 1862. The shed was enlarged in 1913.
Cambridge was the principal shed of a main GE district and during World War 1 was recorded as having 101 drivers, 89 firemen under an inspector named G Dorrington. Repairs fell under a foreman fitter who had a staff of 70 men although responsibility for boiler repairs fell to the foreman boilermaker. There was also a wagon repair facility at the depot at this time led by a leading carpenter. Finally another foreman was charged with the day-to-day running of the depot as well as being responsible for the outstations such as King's Lynn, Ely, Mildenhall and seven others. A number of clerks would also have been employed at the depot.
At the end of 1922 the Great Eastern shed at Cambridge had an allocation of 178 locomotives being the second biggest shed on the Great Eastern after Stratford shed. The allocation consisted of:
Further enlargement and improvement of facilities took place in 1932. Most significantly a mechanical coaling plant was bought into use as well as the construction of a new lifting shop and modern sand dispensers.
Cambridge shed had two locomotives allocated for royal train workings at this time - Class D15 4-4-0s numbers 8783 and 8787 (known as the Royal Clauds) which were kept in pristine condition.
Following nationalization in 1948 the shed was operated by British Railways Eastern Region. It was allocated shed code 31A at this time.
In the 1950s there was a dedicated pool of four drivers (known as the Royal Link) based at Cambridge who operated the two royal engines which were cleaned regularly. The locomotives were Class B2 4-6-0s numbers 61671 ‘Royal Sovereign’ and 61617 ‘Ford Castle’. The link system - which was operated throughout British Railways at this time was a career progression and at Cambridge these included Pilot Links (shunting), Branch Goods, Mainline Goods, Branch Passenger and Express links as well as route specific links to Bletchley, the GN (Hitchin) and Kettering routes.
Cambridge shed received its first allocation of diesels in 1958.
The following year the last 2-4-0 locomotive in traffic on British Railways (Class E4 2-4-0 number 62785) was withdrawn from traffic and has been preserved in its GER guise of no 490 as part of the national collection. In 2018 it was on loan to
Bressingham steam museum near Diss.
The shed closed 18 June 1962 and the demolition of Cambridge's loco shed building, repair shops and loco hoists leaving the shed offices and stores buildings took place in 1965. Some of the track in the former loco yard next to platform 6 was kept as engine sidings, while the rest was made into a car park.
Other sheds
The Great Eastern Railway opened a small
motive power depot
The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine she ...
on the east side of the line at the south end of the station for its own and Great Northern Railway locomotives in 1879.
At the end of 1922 the Great Northern shed at Cambridge had an allocation of ten locomotives. The allocation consisted of:
This was closed by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1924, and used as a wagon works until it was demolished in 1985. The
Bedfordshire and Cambridge Railway opened a small
motive power depot
The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine she ...
on the west side of the line at the south end of the station in 1862. This was closed by the
London Midland and Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
on 2 December 1935, but remained in use, unofficially until 1951. The building was demolished in 1964.
References
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{{Railway stations served by Abellio Greater Anglia
Railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
Railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
Railway stations in Cambridgeshire
Grade II listed buildings in Cambridge
Grade II listed railway stations
Former Great Eastern Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1845
Railway stations served by CrossCountry
Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway
Greater Anglia franchise railway stations
Train driver depots in England
1845 establishments in England
East West Rail
DfT Category B stations