The Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro (CAM) was a rapid transit proposal in

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 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. It suggested that the project would be delivered between 2023 and 2029. Proposed by

Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority is a combined authority covering the ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire in the East of England. The authority was established on 3 March 2017. The authority is led by the directly elected May ...

mayor James Palmer in 2017, it was scrapped when he lost the 2021 election to

Nik Johnson Nik Johnson (born ) is a British Labour Co-op politician and paediatrician who has served as the mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough since 2021. Early life and medical career Nik Johnson was born in Northumberland in 1969. He grew up ...

, who cancelled the project.

Background

Cambridge had a tram system,

Cambridge Street Tramways Cambridge Street Tramways operated a horse-drawn tramway service in Cambridge, England, between 1880 and 1914. History When railways reached Cambridge in the 1840s, the main station was built around from the city centre, as a result of sustai ...

, between 1880 and 1914, after which it was replaced by buses. The mayor of the newly created Combined Authority made the introduction of a light rail scheme, partly running underground, a priority on his election in 2017. The strategic business case for the project was approved in March 2019. It claimed that the project, priced at £4 billion, could lead to the creation of 100,000 jobs and 60,000 new homes. One CAM Ltd was established in September 2020. The company is entirely owned by the Combined Authority and is responsible for developing and delivering the project. Its board is chaired by

Robert Mair Robert James Mair, Baron Mair, (born 20 April 1950) is a geotechnical engineer and Emeritus Sir Kirby Laing Professor of Civil Engineering and director of research at the University of Cambridge. He is Head of the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infr ...

. In October 2020, it was announced that three shortlisted companies would each be given £200,000 to develop "creative and feasible" concepts for the system. These were revealed in March 2021, created by

Mott MacDonald The Mott MacDonald Group is a consultancy headquartered in the United Kingdom. It employs 16,000 staff in 150 countries. Mott MacDonald is one of the largest employee-owned companies in the world. It was established in 1989 by the merger of M ...

Egis Group Egis is an international company active in the consulting, construction engineering and mobility service sectors that design and operate intelligent infrastructure and buildings. Egis operates in 120 countries and has 16,200 employees. History ...

, and Dromos Technologies. Each concept is said to cost £2 billion to implement. In March 2021, the Labour candidate in the Combined Authority said it had spent £2.5 million on the project so far. The Labour mayoral candidate

stated that he would scrap the project if he was elected. Upon his successful election to the post he re-confirmed that the project was scrapped.

Proposal

The project is envisioned to connect

Cambridge North railway station Cambridge North railway station is a railway station located in the Cambridge suburb of Chesterton, close to Cambridge Science Park. The station is on the Fen Line, which runs from Cambridge to King's Lynn. It connects to the Cambridgeshire ...

with the city centre, the northern entrance of the

science park A science park (also called a "university research park", "technology park”, "technopark", “technopole", or a "science and technology park" (STP)) is defined as being a property-based development that accommodates and fosters the growt ...

near

Arbury Arbury is a district and electoral ward of the city of Cambridge, England. The ward borders the following other wards (from North, proceeding clockwise): Histon, King's Hedges, West Chesterton, Market and Castle. History The area has been occu ...

, and the disused railway stations at Haverhill and

Linton Linton may refer to: Places Australia * Linton, Victoria Canada * Linton, Ontario * Linton, Quebec United Kingdom England * Linton, Cambridgeshire * Linton, Derbyshire * Linton (near Bromyard), Herefordshire * Linton (near Ross-on-Wye), Her ...

. The proposed scheme would run for 88 miles and include 7 miles of tunnels beneath the city. Branches would run from the core to

Alconbury Alconbury is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. Alconbury is situated within Huntingdonshire which is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire as well as being an historic county of England. Alconbury lies approximately ...

St Neots St NeotsPronunciation of the town name: Most commonly, but variations that ''saint'' is said as in most English non-georeferencing speech, the ''t'' is by a small minority of the British pronounced and higher traces of in the final syllable ...

(potentially interchanging with

East West Rail East West Rail is a major project to establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. In particular, it plans to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keyne ...

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. Th ...

, Haverhill, Mildenhall and

Waterbeach Waterbeach is an expanding village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018. History Early periods Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Rom ...

. In May 2020, a report was published which proposed halving costs from £4 billion to £2 billion by using smaller vehicles, allowing for narrower tunnels. In March 2021 three proposals were received for consideration. * an 84 stop Autonomous Network Transit using small vehicles that provide non-stop service with 24-hour availability * a phased introduction starting with two route initial routes using vehicles, carrying up to 110 passengers, running autonomously but with a safety driver. The further development of a five route network would have full driverless operation with the potential for on-demand service using 20 passenger vehicles. * a fully automated system using bi-directional, battery powered, two-car vehicles. In May 2021 the newly elected mayor said he was focused instead on a "revamped bus network" but would not yet abandon the work done.{{cite news , title=Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro has cost almost £10m so far , url=https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/news/cambridgeshire-autonomous-metro-has-cost-almost-10m-so-far-9201496/ , access-date=24 July 2021 , publisher=Cambridge Independent , date=31 May 2021

References

External links

Official website
Transport in Cambridge Proposed transport infrastructure in England