Soham station re-opening: could this be the catalyst for service improvements?

gingerheid · 28 Nov 2019

The Cambridge & Peterborough Combined Authority had signed a contract for the building of a new station at Soham, on the little used (by passenger trains) line between Ely and Bury St Edmunds (and which doesn't currently allow a direct link to Cambridge).

https://www.elystandard.co.uk/news/new-station-for-soham-could-be-open-by-2022-says-mayor-1-6362561

The initial plan is for a single platform station with potential to expand to two platforms were another line to be added.

Mayor James Palmer said: "People have been crying out for this, they've campaigned long and hard to get their station back, and we can't wait to get diggers on site. This will transform life in Soham."

In the ongoing absence of the Ely North improvements, with redoubling of the line under review, and with no concrete plans for upgrading Haughley Junction there's no sign of the franchise commitment for an hourly service on the line actually happening.

Further, with no curve allowing Newmarket to Soham services, with the line from Cambridge to Newmarket being mainly singled, with Cambridge station being congested, and with Network Rail believing that existing capacity on that line is sufficient until 2040, there's little sign of services to Cambridge that might truly unlock the potential of a new station.

It seems like it is headed for being a remarkably poorly served station that stands to be of limited use; I hope its existence creates pressure for the projects that will allow it to be useful and used to go ahead.

I was struggling to think of the last reopening in order to receive such a poor service. Even Beauly received a comparatively more useful service on reopening, and it only cost about 250k (in early 2000s prices) rather than £22m!

Moderator note: This thread is to discuss the wider issues of how the new station could be the catalyst for improvements to the service along the route; for updates regarding the actual station itself please see the following thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/soham-station-re-opening-progress-updates.195845/

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Midnight Sun · 28 Nov 2019

The curve been reopened was in the Cambridge Evening News,

https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/local-news/soham-train-station-cambridge-ely-16975611

Commuters in Soham will soon be much better connected to Cambridgeshire and beyond thanks to plans to build a new train station in the town.

The Soham area could be transformed with the opening of the station as well as plans to revive the “Snailwell loop” route.

Mayor James Palmer announced he wants to ensure construction on the station can start in September 2020.

He is backing a recommendation at the Combined Authority’s board meeting on Wednesday (September 25) to provide funding and approvals to bring the station to completion.

The first stage of construction will include a platform, footbridge, car park, waiting shelters, information screens and ticket machines.

Routes are expected to include the reopening of the “Snailwell loop”, a direct service from Ely to Soham and Cambridge, via Newmarket

Additionally, Greater Anglia will offer an hourly service via its Ipswich to Peterborough service, an increase from one every two hours.

Another recommendation to Wednesday’s Combined Authority Board is the proposal to continue work on a phase 2 of Soham station, which would include a second platform when the ‘double tracking’ of the line to Ely is complete.

Mayor James Palmer said: “Getting Soham connected back into the rail network was one of my earliest priorities and I’m pleased we are now in a position to sign off the necessary funding to get it built and operational.

“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. It would support the local economy, make growth sustainable, and significantly reduce congestion on local roads.

Additionally, Greater Anglia will offer an hourly service via its Ipswich to Peterborough service, an increase from one every two hours.

“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. It would support the local economy, make growth sustainable, and significantly reduce congestion on local roads.

“Our approach has been to challenge Network Rail to do better when it comes to the delivery of relatively simple projects like Soham Station. We have cut through the usual bureaucratic processes and ended up with a project where building work will start significantly ahead of schedule while also bringing the scheme in under budget.

“When I next meet with the transport minister, I will be raising Soham as prime example of not just the importance of the speedy delivery of public transport infrastructure for a community, but also its potential as a springboard for enhancing rail services for an entire area.”

Aureol Colin · 28 Nov 2019

I assume that "Snailwell Loop" refers to the western curve at Chippenham Junction. Of course any restoration would have to include redoubling Newmarket to Coldham Lane (Cambridge) before any meaningful service could be provided, and there would still be the Newmarket Tunnel choke point.

30907 · 28 Nov 2019

Aureol Colin said:
I assume that "Snailwell Loop" refers to the western curve at Chippenham Junction. Of course any restoration would have to include redoubling Newmarket to Coldham Lane (Cambridge) before any meaningful service could be provided, and there would still be the Newmarket Tunnel choke point.

The present capacity of Dullingham to Chippenham Jn is 6tph which is more than adequate, Dullingham to Coldham Lane 4tph which would be tight; partial redoubling west of Dullingham should suffice, unless there is an ambition for 4tph, when you would need the whole lot as far as Newmarket.
Incidentally, potential journey time via Ely is about the same as via Newmarket, so redoubling Soham to Ely might be a greater priority.

Julia · 28 Nov 2019

gingerheid said:
It seems like it is headed for being a remarkably poorly served station that stands to be of limited use; I hope its existence creates pressure for the projects that will allow it to be useful and used to go ahead.

There's too much catch-22 - projects that make sense in tandem both failing to get funding because the other isn't committed to yet. It's great news that Soham has finally got the go-ahead as it will provide justification for the (re)doublings to start being authorised.

And Soham-Cambridge via either Ely or Bury will be a lot faster than the #12 bus and more pleasant than the A14, so it should start picking up Cambridge commuters from day 1.

70014IronDuke · 29 Nov 2019

Julia said:
There's too much catch-22 - projects that make sense in tandem both failing to get funding because the other isn't committed to yet. It's great news that Soham has finally got the go-ahead as it will provide justification for the (re)doublings to start being authorised.

And Soham-Cambridge via either Ely or Bury will be a lot faster than the #12 bus and more pleasant than the A14, so it should start picking up Cambridge commuters from day 1.

Fully agree that this is great news. Somewhere in the archives is a thread from a few years ago where I advocated that the only chance for Wisbech reopening would be to reopen Soham and the North-West curve at Chippenham and run a Wisbech - Ely - Soham - Newmarket - Cambridge service.

If Soham and the curve get done, that would be a huge great start.

Must say though that I agree somewhat with the OP - as it stands, a 1 TP2H Ipswich - PBO service is rather minimal. And the problem is, a train ( = 2 services) is not infrequently cancelled. I suspect the folks at Manea have learned this to their cost.

RT4038 · 29 Nov 2019

30907 said:
The present capacity of Dullingham to Chippenham Jn is 6tph which is more than adequate, Dullingham to Coldham Lane 4tph which would be tight; partial redoubling west of Dullingham should suffice, unless there is an ambition for 4tph, when you would need the whole lot as far as Newmarket.
Incidentally, potential journey time via Ely is about the same as via Newmarket, so redoubling Soham to Ely might be a greater priority.

I don't think the Ely-Soham line was ever double track?

70014IronDuke · 29 Nov 2019

RT4038 said:
I don't think the Ely-Soham line was ever double track?

I think that is correct. Somewhere (perhaps in here) I read the LNER did plan to double it in the 30s, then Adolf came to power. Big shame. But then we've still got Ely North.

30907 · 29 Nov 2019

RT4038 said:
I don't think the Ely-Soham line was ever double track?

Correction noted. I should have said "improved."

bspahh · 29 Nov 2019

70014IronDuke said:
Fully agree that this is great news. Somewhere in the archives is a thread from a few years ago where I advocated that the only chance for Wisbech reopening would be to reopen Soham and the North-West curve at Chippenham and run a Wisbech - Ely - Soham - Newmarket - Cambridge service.

It was here https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/march-wisbech-reopening.118927/page-2#post-3038747

edwin_m · 29 Nov 2019

RT4038 said:
I don't think the Ely-Soham line was ever double track?

70014IronDuke said:
I think that is correct. Somewhere (perhaps in here) I read the LNER did plan to double it in the 30s, then Adolf came to power. Big shame. But then we've still got Ely North.

The report into the explosion during WW2 mentioned upthread makes clear that it was single at the time. According to the report into the derailment that demolished the Great Ouse bridge in 2007: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/547c9030e5274a42900001af/R022009_090127_Ely.pdf

The bridge was built for double track but only a single track was installed.

So possibly work started on the LNER's doubling? Given the number of airbases in the area and the evident use by munitions trains I'm a little surprised the doubling wasn't taken forward as a wartime priority.

However I recall from slight involvement in an investigation into doubling around ten years ago, that the ground conditions are absolutely horrendous and the widened embankment would probably just sink from view. Stephenson's techniques for Chat Moss probably aren't allowed on today's railway!

Ianno87 · 30 Nov 2019

30907 said:
The present capacity of Dullingham to Chippenham Jn is 6tph which is more than adequate, Dullingham to Coldham Lane 4tph which would be tight; partial redoubling west of Dullingham should suffice, unless there is an ambition for 4tph, when you would need the whole lot as far as Newmarket.
Incidentally, potential journey time via Ely is about the same as via Newmarket, so redoubling Soham to Ely might be a greater priority.

4tph (2toh each way) on the current single is *very* tight, and very inefficient with units, as trains need to cross between Coldham Lane and Cambridge, and sit at Cambridge for 27 mins as a result. Plus would basically require more trains to stop at Dullingham for pathing, which is overkill relative to demand.

Agree, extending Dullingham loop westwards somewhere would permit the existing hourly service to be doubled. Making Chippenham Jn quicker and/or a double lead spur might help too.

Meerkat · 30 Nov 2019

Crayons would take the line through the airport development (smugly remembers being told the airport would never close for housing...) round the back of Cherry Hinton with a station covering both those places whilst getting rid of the Cherry Hinton level crossings. Do any services still terminate/drop units at Cambridge that could go to Soham if Newmarket line was electrified?
Back in reality, if the Newmarket line gets busy with trains will the Six Mile Bottom A1304 LC be an issue - that road must get pretty busy for race meetings

gingerheid · 30 Nov 2019

Something that cut through the airport site and joined up with the old Mildenhall line would be a nice dream

Bald Rick · 30 Nov 2019

Meerkat said:
Crayons would take the line through the airport development (smugly remembers being told the airport would never close for housing...) round the back of Cherry Hinton with a station covering both those places whilst getting rid of the Cherry Hinton level crossings. Do any services still terminate/drop units at Cambridge that could go to Soham if Newmarket line was electrified?
Back in reality, if the Newmarket line gets busy with trains will the Six Mile Bottom A1304 LC be an issue - that road must get pretty busy for race meetings

All the level crossings are an issue. Some more so than others.

Class 170101 · 1 Dec 2019

30907 said:
The present capacity of Dullingham to Chippenham Jn is 6tph which is more than adequate, Dullingham to Coldham Lane 4tph which would be tight; partial redoubling west of Dullingham should suffice, unless there is an ambition for 4tph, when you would need the whole lot as far as Newmarket.
Incidentally, potential journey time via Ely is about the same as via Newmarket, so redoubling Soham to Ely might be a greater priority.

Ianno87 said:
4tph (2toh each way) on the current single is *very* tight, and very inefficient with units, as trains need to cross between Coldham Lane and Cambridge, and sit at Cambridge for 27 mins as a result. Plus would basically require more trains to stop at Dullingham for pathing, which is overkill relative to demand.

Agree, extending Dullingham loop westwards somewhere would permit the existing hourly service to be doubled. Making Chippenham Jn quicker and/or a double lead spur might help too.

Not sure that there is as much capacity as that. I would suggest an extra train in one direction or the other is the best possible on current infrastructure.

I should also add that the station construction works seem to be pencilled in for 2021.

backontrack · 4 May 2020

70014IronDuke said:
Fully agree that this is great news. Somewhere in the archives is a thread from a few years ago where I advocated that the only chance for Wisbech reopening would be to reopen Soham and the North-West curve at Chippenham and run a Wisbech - Ely - Soham - Newmarket - Cambridge service.

If Soham and the curve get done, that would be a huge great start.

Must say though that I agree somewhat with the OP - as it stands, a 1 TP2H Ipswich - PBO service is rather minimal. And the problem is, a train ( = 2 services) is not infrequently cancelled. I suspect the folks at Manea have learned this to their cost.

In that case, why not reopen Fulbourn while we're at it?

eastdyke · 4 May 2020

bspahh said:
On 1 May 2020, Network Rail submitted an application for permitted development of Soham station to East Cambridgeshire District Council

Improving the railway in Anglia - Network Rail

We’re carrying out a huge programme to increase the number of trains on time, reduce delays and improve connections into our cities and towns.

www.networkrail.co.uk

Thanks!
From which I note the bold statement:

Greater Anglia has already committed within its franchising agreement to increase the frequency of trains from two-hourly to hourly.

LOL

cle · 4 May 2020

A shame if this isn't doubled while people are on site - of course a strategic route for freight, but as mentioned, precursor for Ely North and for further growth out of Cambridge - which is clearly bursting for more services in every direction! Wisbech just being one of many mentioned.

Ianno87 · 4 May 2020

backontrack said:
In that case, why not reopen Fulbourn while we're at it?

Barely justifies a half hourly bus service the short distance to Cambridge (was 4 per hour only 2 years ago), suggest station not justified unless there's going to be significant housing expansion in the area.

cle said:
A shame if this isn't doubled while people are on site - of course a strategic route for freight, but as mentioned, precursor for Ely North and for further growth out of Cambridge - which is clearly bursting for more services in every direction! Wisbech just being one of many mentioned.

ISTR space will be left for the second track (and platform) through the station.

Bald Rick · 4 May 2020

cle said:
A shame if this isn't doubled while people are on site - of course a strategic route for freight, but as mentioned, precursor for Ely North and for further growth out of Cambridge - which is clearly bursting for more services in every direction! Wisbech just being one of many mentioned.

Building a station is rather different skills than doubling a railway! Besides, there is a long consents process to go through to get the line doubled (it’s years away) and there is no point doing it unless Ely is sorted.

edwin_m · 4 May 2020

The ground conditions are apparently awful so doubling will be a major job. As far as I can tell the line has always been single so there isn't even an old formation to build on.

cle · 4 May 2020

Bald Rick said:
Building a station is rather different skills than doubling a railway! Besides, there is a long consents process to go through to get the line doubled (it’s years away) and there is no point doing it unless Ely is sorted.

The on-site is clearly a reference to closures/possessions, and benefits of sharing those - rather than a granular declaration of skill sets.

It's fairly obvious, given plans and that it has been spoken about for years, to look at what else might be doable.

Ely, yes that is the main problem, but there would be the ability for passing or flighting more easily this way, it would still enable flexibility. And you could say that for freight and Felixstowe, Ely is less useful if this line is still single! One of them needs to be done first...

Bald Rick · 4 May 2020

cle said:
The on-site is clearly a reference to closures/possessions, and benefits of sharing those - rather than a granular declaration of skill sets.

It's fairly obvious, given plans and that it has been spoken about for years, to look at what else might be doable.

Ely, yes that is the main problem, but there would be the ability for passing or flighting more easily this way, it would still enable flexibility. And you could say that for freight and Felixstowe, Ely is less useful if this line is still single! One of them needs to be done first...

I’m sorry, the reference to possessions wasn’t obvious to me. But the argument is still the same - possessions for building a station are relatively simple - especially a single platform station. A few Sundays at most. Doubling the line will be months of weekends, or possibly a multi-week total block.

The single line section is only 7 minutes, and trains can be flighted at a closer headway than that; yes it is a constraint but solves absolutely nothing unless Ely is done.

arb · 5 May 2020

backontrack said:
In that case, why not reopen Fulbourn while we're at it?

Ianno87 said:
Barely justifies a half hourly bus service the short distance to Cambridge (was 4 per hour only 2 years ago), suggest station not justified unless there's going to be significant housing expansion in the area.

If at the old location of Fulbourn station then I'd agree with you - hard to justify. But if you can get a new station somewhere between Cherry Hinton and Fulbourn, that would seem to have more going for it than either of the old stations. e.g. could you get a station on the land behind the big Tesco supermarket, near where the line crosses Fulbourn Old Drift? Then you'd have two village catchment areas, not one. There's land for a car park. Plenty of buses from the local area already stop there (every 10 minutes to the city centre, much more frequent than Fulbourn). There's an existing an off-road footpath/cycle path passing the supermarket. So it would be much easier to get local people using the train for travel to London/elsewhere, rather than having to get a bus to the central station. There's a couple of big business parks within walking distance (so opportunity to grab some of the commuting into Cambridge market). A couple of hospitals nearby, admittedly small and specialist (not Addenbrooke's scale!), but that will also give a small number of people who need to travel to the area.

(Arguably this is going off topic ... is there a thread for potential Cherry Hinton/Fulbourn stations anywhere...?)

Western Lord · 5 May 2020

edwin_m said:
The ground conditions are apparently awful so doubling will be a major job. As far as I can tell the line has always been single so there isn't even an old formation to build on.

South of Soham the line was doubled in 1938, north to Ely was always single.

70014IronDuke · 5 May 2020

backontrack said:
In that case, why not reopen Fulbourn while we're at it?

I thought I'd included that in the 'Grand Plan' at the time. Though possibly at a better location, as posted by @arb down thread.
But yes, Ely North needs sorting out before any of this could happen.

DynamicSpirit · 5 May 2020

Bald Rick said:
The single line section is only 7 minutes, and trains can be flighted at a closer headway than that; yes it is a constraint but solves absolutely nothing unless Ely is done.

Presumably the Ely problem is only relevant if additional trains run past Ely to the bottleneck at Ely North Junction. If the aim of doubling was to allow an hourly service Ipswich-Ely, or a Cambridge-Soham-Ely service, then would you still need to do anything at Ely?

Bald Rick · 5 May 2020

DynamicSpirit said:
Presumably the Ely problem is only relevant if additional trains run past Ely to the bottleneck at Ely North Junction. If the aim of doubling was to allow an hourly service Ipswich-Ely, or a Cambridge-Soham-Ely service, then would you still need to do anything at Ely?

Well you’d certainly have to do something at Ely Dock Junction to create the new connections to the main line. And it would be a very, very expensive project to get an hourly service.

camflyer · 26 Jun 2020

TheDavibob said:
Planning permission granted:

https://twitter.com/MayorJPalmer/status/1276508570603991041

The link in the linked tweet refers only to the planning application submission, discussed here already.

Good news. Hopefully this will increase the likelihood of the Snailwell curve being reinstated, only a short piece of track but which would have a lot of benefits for opening up routes in the region.

Soham station re-opening: could this be the catalyst for service improvements?

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