Cambridge South new station construction progress.

[Farigiraf]

The CrossCountry stop will be especially useful for (basically) guaranteeing a seat on the Birmingham service, which, especially when 2 car instead of 3, is usually already full by Cambridge.

 

[Magdalia]

As a local I'm looking forward to convenient travel from Trumpington (Cambridge South) to the Science Park area around Cambridge North.

For the first time in history it is going to be possible to get from one side of Cambridge to the other in 10-15 minutes. That has the potential to be transformative.

Cambridge South with essentially have metro type frequencies to Cambridge (Central) 8-10 an hour (so approx every 6-8 minutes), with 5 an hour (approx every 12 minutes) to Cambridge North on and off peak.

The nearer it can get to "turn up and go" the better. Transport planning in Cambridge needs to have the south-north rail route as its backbone.

What will also be needed is through bus/rail ticketing so that, for example, someone living in St Ives or Northstowe can work on the biomedical campus travelling by guided bus to Cambridge North then train to Cambridge South.

The recent devolution White Paper suggests that, once Great British Railways is established, it will need to collaborate with Mayors on things like this.

It will be interesting to see how well used it is for cross-city use but given the congestion and very competitive time compared to buses, I suspect quite high.

but it is a bit limited by Cambridge station being poorly located for town and getting to Cambridge South being a bit of a faff by public transport - by the time you've got a bus to South you're on a bus to Cambridge central station anyway (probably via the busway) which will go onto town, so train is a little redundant.

Actually the bus will probably be in a queue in Hills Road taking half an hour between the old station and the biomedical campus. Punctuality and reliability of buses around the biomedical campus at peak times is dire. for all its drawbacks the train is going to be much more reliable than the bus.

 

[higthomas]

Actually the bus will probably be in a queue in Hills Road taking half an hour between the old station and the biomedical campus. Punctuality and reliability of buses around the biomedical campus at peak times is dire. for all its drawbacks the train is going to be much more reliable than the bus.

It's such a shame that the busway can only take single deckers. Ideally all the bus routes bar one would use it at peak times, given it avoids what you rightly point out is a horribly congested road. Annoying that the City Centre-Station bit is unavoidable.

 

[bspahh]

The CrossCountry stop will be especially useful for (basically) guaranteeing a seat on the Birmingham service, which, especially when 2 car instead of 3, is usually already full by Cambridge.

So long as your journey doesn't coincide with the start or end of day for 2600 pupils at Long Road Sixth Form College, or 800 at Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology

 

[Class 170101]

What will also be needed is through bus/rail ticketing so that, for example, someone living in St Ives or Northstowe can work on the biomedical campus travelling by guided bus to Cambridge North then train to Cambridge South.

Nope not convinced by that at all. They would just stay on the Guided Busway and their direct bus all the way.

The bus fare alone would also be cheaper than a combined train and bus fare.

 

[PG]

Nope not convinced by that at all. They would just stay on the Guided Busway and their direct bus all the way.

The bus fare alone would also be cheaper than a combined train and bus fare.

Okay Newcastle isn't Cambridge (obviously!) but the Tyne and Wear metro experienced passenger decline once bus operators were permitted to run into Newcastle following bus deregulation in the mid 80's. UK passengers dislike multi-mode journeys.

 

[bspahh]

Okay Newcastle isn't Cambridge (obviously!) but the Tyne and Wear metro experienced passenger decline once bus operators were permitted to run into Newcastle following bus deregulation in the mid 80's. UK passengers dislike multi-mode journeys.

In the 80's you couldn't check the train times and the state of the local traffic on your phone.

I don't know how much a ticket will be from Cambridge North to Cambridge South, but an anytime day return from Cambridge North to Cambridge is £3.80. If I had already paid a bus ticket, and the train ticket was just to save some time, I might not bother to pay that every day.

 

[higthomas]

Okay Newcastle isn't Cambridge (obviously!) but the Tyne and Wear metro experienced passenger decline once bus operators were permitted to run into Newcastle following bus deregulation in the mid 80's. UK passengers dislike multi-mode journeys.

If it didn't cost extra I think a lot of people would swap the tedious journey stuck in Cambridge traffic for a quick hop on the train.
But not sure many would at £3.80 per day extra.

 

[Magdalia]

Nope not convinced by that at all. They would just stay on the Guided Busway and their direct bus all the way.

The bus fare alone would also be cheaper than a combined train and bus fare.

If it didn't cost extra I think a lot of people would swap the tedious journey stuck in Cambridge traffic for a quick hop on the train.
But not sure many would at £3.80 per day extra.

There is no guideway through Cambridge, between Cambridge North and the main Cambridge station the buses are on congested roads. Staying on the bus means getting stuck in that congestion. Sometimes buses take an hour to get from one side of Cambridge to the other, the train will take 10 minutes.

In London, lots of people do combined bus and rail journeys, Cambridge needs to be the same. It is for Great British Railways and the Mayor to make it happen.

 

[bspahh]

Network Rail say this:

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/stories/upgrading-the-railway-in-cambridge-this-christmas/

This holiday period, we’ll replace a part of the 40-year-old signalling panel at the Cambridge power signal box with a new digital workstation. Our teams will also install signalling equipment between Cambridge and Ely. This will help our signallers run the signalling system more efficiently here – giving you better journeys.

Network Rail Anglia posted on twitter

We got a sneaky peak inside Cambridge signal box today to say goodbye to the old 1980s panel and hello to its new modern replacement, which will be connected after our resignalling works this Xmas.

 

[Bald Rick]

For the first time in history it is going to be possible to get from one side of Cambridge to the other in 10-15 minutes.

To be fair I have easily managed one side of Cambridge to the other in 10-15 minutes several times, either by car on a Saturday evening / Sunday morning, or by bike (with a following wind and favourable lights). But your argument is sound for most of the time!

 

[Adrian1980uk]

There is no guideway through Cambridge, between Cambridge North and the main Cambridge station the buses are on congested roads. Staying on the bus means getting stuck in that congestion. Sometimes buses take an hour to get from one side of Cambridge to the other, the train will take 10 minutes.

In London, lots of people do combined bus and rail journeys, Cambridge needs to be the same. It is for Great British Railways and the Mayor to make it happen.

Good coordination would mean the guided bus way busses drop at Cambridge North for a metro type shuttle into Cambridge and Cambridge south

 

[jfowkes]

Good coordination would mean the guided bus way busses drop at Cambridge North for a metro type shuttle into Cambridge and Cambridge south

Virtually impossible to achieve. While the busway itself benefits from speed, exact timings are very hard to achieve as buses from Huntingdon/St. Ives still have to fight normal road traffic to get onto it and once there dwell times are extremely variable depending on loadings.

 

[Magdalia]

Good coordination would mean the guided bus way busses drop at Cambridge North for a metro type shuttle into Cambridge and Cambridge south

Virtually impossible to achieve. While the busway itself benefits from speed, exact timings are very hard to achieve as buses from Huntingdon/St. Ives still have to fight normal road traffic to get onto it and once there dwell times are extremely variable depending on loadings.

It would be very easy to achieve with a dedicated St Ives-Cambridge North shuttle where the buses did not leave the busway.

To be fair I have easily managed one side of Cambridge to the other in 10-15 minutes several times, either by car on a Saturday evening / Sunday morning, or by bike (with a following wind and favourable lights). But your argument is sound for most of the time!

40 years ago I used to be able to cycle from the north edge of Cambridge to the main railway station in 12 minutes, but I would not have got to the hospital in 15 minutes.

That was in the days when there was a route that only had 2 sets of traffic lights, it would be impossible now.

And thanks to @bspahh for the Cambridge panel pictures.

 

[Jimcam]

Shepreth Branch Junction this morning. Realignment fully under way.

 

[camflyer]

For the first time in history it is going to be possible to get from one side of Cambridge to the other in 10-15 minutes. That has the potential to be transformative.

It will certainly be interesting to see how it increases collaboration between businesses and university/public institutions north and south. Currently it really isn't worth the hassle going from the Milton science park to an event at Addenbrookes or vice versa.

 

[WesternBiker]

Shepreth Branch Junction this morning. Realignment fully under way.

Great to see they're making swift progress - thanks for sharing. I see the A10 is also closed, for the renewal of the level crossing at Foxton.

 

[cle]

It will certainly be interesting to see how it increases collaboration between businesses and university/public institutions north and south. Currently it really isn't worth the hassle going from the Milton science park to an event at Addenbrookes or vice versa.

I have a feeling it will be fairly transformational once people realize there are so many tph between the stations (also with Waterbeach/Ely?) - and the corridor sets in.

Presumably it will lead to more development too.

 

[bspahh]

Network Rail Anglia posted on twitter

They posted a few more images

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

The use of the bigger curved screens is an improvement but I bet for the signallers they prefer the panels.

 

[68000]

The use of the bigger curved screens is an improvement but I bet for the signallers they prefer the panels.

This is the new Alstom MCS Infinity system, it was meant have integrated video feeds for the Level Crossing CCTV but that got ditched. It looks like the integrated NR screens for Trust and CCF got ditched as well (in the example above)

 

[bspahh]

The lights have been now been switched off for Ely Station North Level Crossing, 6 years after it was blocked off

 

[Steve Harris]

They posted a few more images

You sure the whole NX panel was 40 years old ? I thought Ely wasn't added to Cambridge PSB until circa 1990. (It was certainly added after my visit to CA PSB in the mid 80's when panel only went to just north of Cambridge).

Thanx for the photo's btw, brings back memories of my visit of "Stearnies" worplace (ex Shelford and Cambridge signaller).

 

[a good off]

Ely was resignalled in April 1992.

 

[bspahh]

You sure the whole NX panel was 40 years old ? I thought Ely wasn't added to Cambridge PSB until circa 1990. (It was certainly added after my visit to CA PSB in the mid 80's when panel only went to just north of Cambridge).

No. I was just quoting the tweet from Network Rail Anglia.

Ely was resignalled in April 1992.

Cool

 

[Steve Harris]

Ely was resignalled in April 1992.

Thanx. I didn't think all of the NX panel was 40 years old (just some of it).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Dec 2024 ==

No. I was just quoting the tweet from Network Rail Anglia.

Arh. No worries. Just the typical hype BS then you see from quite a few high profile organisations who should know better. As the saying goes, why let facts get in the way of a good story ! Lol.

 

[Maltazer]

Thanx. I didn't think all of the NX panel was 40 years old (just some of it).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 28 Dec 2024 ==


Arh. No worries. Just the typical hype BS then you see from quite a few high profile organisations who should know better. As the saying goes, why let facts get in the way of a good story ! Lol.

They never said the entire thing was 40 years old. They could even have just kept quiet, got on with the work and not given out any detail at all. But why let facts get in the way of a good whine eh?

 

[Freightmaster]

Out of curiosity, why is the Cambridge to Cambridge North section closed until next Thursday;
I thought all the work taking place was south of Cambridge??



MARK

 

[Magdalia]

Out of curiosity, why is the Cambridge to Cambridge North section closed until next Thursday;
I thought all the work taking place was south of Cambridge??



MARK

The resignalling work includes all of the Cambridge station area. The north end restarts on 2 January but the south end only on 6 January.

 

[Steve Harris]

They never said the entire thing was 40 years old. They could even have just kept quiet, got on with the work and not given out any detail at all. But why let facts get in the way of a good whine eh?

What's wrong with wine ? Afterall it is Christmas and some people like a drink at this time of year.

Btw when I was at school my English teacher taught me that saying "40 year old signalling panel" infers that the whole panel is 40 years old ! If you think it doesn't mean the whole thing isn't 40 years old you probably didn't get taught very well. Either way, you need to blame the teaching profession rather than the whine !! (As the statement is poor english whichever way you cut it).