Soham railway station is a station on 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 ...

, serving the town of Soham in

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. The original station operated between 1879 and 1965. It was reopened in 2021.

History

Soham station originally opened on 1 September 1879. Soham railway station

On 2 June 1944, the station was destroyed in the

Soham rail disaster The Soham rail disaster occurred on 2 June 1944, during the Second World War, when a fire developed on the leading wagon of a heavy ammunition train. The wagon contained a quantity of high explosive bombs. The train crew had detached the wa ...

, when a munitions train carrying

high explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An exp ...

bombs caught fire and blew up, killing two and damaging over seven hundred buildings. The driver,

Benjamin Gimbert Benjamin Gimbert (6 February 1903 – 6 May 1976), an engine driver with the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), was awarded the George Cross and the Order of Industrial Heroism, as was his fireman James Nightall, whose award was posthu ...

, and fireman,

James Nightall Railwayman James William Nightall (20May 19222June 1944) was posthumously awarded the George Cross and the Order of Industrial Heroism for the gallantry he showed during the Soham rail disaster. Nightall was an LNER Fireman on a fifty-one wag ...

, were both awarded the

George Cross The George Cross (GC) is the highest award bestowed by the British government for non-operational gallantry or gallantry not in the presence of an enemy. In the British honours system, the George Cross, since its introduction in 1940, has been ...

for preventing further damage which would have occurred if the rest of the train had exploded. The signal box, also damaged in the explosion which resulted in the death of signalman Frank Bridges, is now preserved on the

Mid-Norfolk Railway The Mid-Norfolk Railway (MNR) is a preserved standard gauge heritage railway, one of the longest in Great Britain. Preservation efforts began in 1974, but the line re-opened to passengers only in the mid-1990s as part of the "new generation" o ...

. The station was closed to passengers on 13 September 1965, but the line remained open both as a passenger route and for a heavy service of freight trains running principally between

Felixstowe Docks The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk, is the United Kingdom's busiest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with a han ...

and the

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

. Following many years of local campaigning, a new station was opened, on the same site, on 13 December 2021, with services operated by Greater Anglia.

Reopening

First_day_of_Soham_railway_station_-_view_of_platform_from_footbridge

Since closure a local campaign had run to reopen the station.Soham Train Station Campaign
In February 2011 East Cambridgeshire District Council obtained funding for a study into a possible reopening. In January 2013

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 ...

released a five-year upgrade plan, which included reopening Soham station as part of improvements to the

Ipswich to Ely Line Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

. A Network Rail study concluded that building a new station on the existing infrastructure was feasible and that the current line could support an additional stop at Soham. Although Soham was unsuccessful in a bid submitted to the New Stations Fund second round, funding was obtained from the

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 ...

(CPCA) and Cambridgeshire County Council to progress the next stage of design work with Network Rail. Enabling works for the new station by Network Rail started in autumn 2020, and main construction started in March 2021. The station was opened in December 2021. There are no current plans for direct services to

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 ...

, but the CPCA has expressed support for the idea in a future phase of the project.

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

James Palmer said "the delivery of Soham station gives us a much stronger case to go to Government and Network Rail and lobby for the reinstating of the Snailwell loop which will provide a direct service between Ely, Soham, Newmarket and Cambridge".

Facilities

The station has a single platform capable of accommodating a four-car train. A stepped footbridge spans across the railway to an existing

right of way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

– as well as being

future proof Future-proofing is the process of anticipating the future and developing methods of minimizing the effects of shocks and stresses of future events. Future-proofing is used in industries such as electronics, medical industry, industrial desig ...

ed for a potential second platform and lifts. The station also has a drop off and pick up point, cycle parking and a 50 space car park.

Services

The typical off-peak service frequency is one train every two hours in each direction between and via . All services are operated by Greater Anglia using bi-mode trains.

References

External links

Soham On-Line
{{Railway stations served by Abellio Greater Anglia Railway stations in Cambridgeshire Former Great Eastern Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1879 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1965 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2021 Railway stations opened by Network Rail Reopened railway stations in Great Britain 1879 establishments in England 1965 disestablishments in England Soham Greater Anglia franchise railway stations