Cambridge Chesterton (Science Park) Station given go ahead.

[Rational Plan]

http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/lat...asier_with_new_station_in_cambridge_1_1216185

Saw this on another site.

Cambridgeshire County Council has been given Government approval for a *station at Chesterton to be called *Cambridge Science Park.

St Ives will be linked to the station via the guided bus, which will be extended, and a stop created at the station, which will include services into London on the Cambridge-King’s Lynn line.

Buses from St Ives will take about 25 minutes to get to the new station where there will be a choice of three trains an hour to either King’s Cross or Liverpool Street – journeys expected to be 11 minutes shorter than commuters using the station at Huntingdon.

CCC, as previously reported in The Hunts Post, is likely to foot the £26million cost of building the station, but it expects to regain the investment via the franchise running the services.

A county council spokesman said: “As part of the station plans we will extend the busway to the Cambridge Science Park rail station, either extending the busway or just having a dedicated road just for buses.

“It will mean quicker journeys from St Ives to London as the buses will go straight to the station and cut out the traffic through town.”

Rail Minister Theresa Villiers said: “We welcome councils looking at innovative ways of bringing transport improvements to their local area and look forward to working with Cambridgeshire County Council on moving this project forward.”

A spokesman for CAST:IRON added: “We are happy with any expansion to the railway network, but it is somewhat disingenuous to call this station “Cambridge Science Park”.

“Its prior name of Chesterton Parkway was more honest about its location and likely use, it is too far from Milton Road to easily serve the houses and commuters in the north of Cambridge.

“It remains to be seen how well bus services will serve the new station as its location is not (and cannot be) convenient for the route of any through bus services, guided or otherwise.

“Had the railway to St. Ives been reinstated, there would have been a direct service to London from all stations on the route to St. Ives without requiring a shift from bus to rail or vice versa. The cross-Cambridge transit time would have been a fraction of the current guided bus service.”

Sigh, Bitch Bitch Moan Moan. That ship has sailed and Cast Iron should shut down as that branch line is now a busway and it is never going to be converted to a heavy rail branch. For people catching a train the new station is going to be well served by buses from all over North Cambridge, not just the direction of the busway.

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Home/Cambridges-new-railway-station-to-open-in-2015-21022012.htm

This article has more information and less negativity.

Construction of a second railway station in Cambridge has been given the green light by the Government – meaning it should open in 2015.
The long-awaited station, which will be built at Chesterton sidings and will be called Cambridge Science Park, should boost the local economy and enable travellers to catch trains to London and the rest of the country without having to battle through city centre traffic.
Transport minister Theresa Villiers has confirmed she will make the next operators of the King’s Cross line use ticket income to repay the £26 million construction bill, providing the project generates enough revenue. Cambridgeshire County Council will provide the initial costs of building and that work is planned to start in early 2014.
Cllr Nick Clarke, the authority’s leader, said the scheme will deliver a “really great new station and transport interchange”.
He said: “While there is still a lot to do, we are committed to do all we can to make it happen.”
The station will have three platforms, and will be served by at least four hourly southbound trains, two of which will terminate at King’s Cross, while the third will serve London Liverpool Street and a fourth from Norwich will terminate in Cambridge.
There will be three northbound trains each hour, to Ely, King’s Lynn and Norwich, and it is likely trains on the Birmingham New Street to Stansted Airport route will also stop there.
The guided busway will be extended into the site from Milton Road, providing a link to St Ives and Huntingdon, while car and cycle parking will also be provided.
Cllr Tim Ward, Cambridge City Council’s executive councillor for sustainable transport, said: “This is exciting news and a major step forward in delivering a new station for Cambridge.
“The city council has supported this project for a long time and welcomes the opportunities this will bring for the wider area and Cambridge as a whole.”
It is thought 2,800 passengers would use a station in Chesterton daily, generating £10 million of ticket revenue annually and cutting city centre congestion.
The station would provide a quick link to the capital for businesses in the Science Park area and also for the new town of Northstowe.
The county council was set to approve funding for the project today and a detailed business case will be put before the cabinet on March 6.
Dave Ward, Network Rail’s route managing director, said: “We look forward to working with the county council on this project which will be real boost to rail services in Cambridgeshire and deliver long-lasting benefits for people in the area.”

 

[jopsuk]

So, the Kings Cross -Cambridge only service to be extended to Chesterton and one of the Liverpool Street services to be extended to Ely? Or perhaps the other way round? Would, off-peak (and before Thameslink changes things) leave the south bays at Cambridge being used by one Liverpool Street service- I'd assume the slower one- and two Kings Cross (slow and semi-fast)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Sigh, Bitch Bitch Moan Moan. That ship has sailed and Cast Iron should shut down as that branch line is now a busway and it is never going to be converted to a heavy rail branch.
.

CASTIron have every right to stick around, the decision Cambs CC took was appauling, for me personally the conversion is the worst public transport decision I can remember. I hope to high heaven that the guided busway fails miserably, sadly I doubt that will happen.

I also prefer their choice of name too!

 

[Aictos]

So, the Kings Cross -Cambridge only service to be extended to Chesterton and one of the Liverpool Street services to be extended to Ely? Or perhaps the other way round? Would, off-peak (and before Thameslink changes things) leave the south bays at Cambridge being used by one Liverpool Street service- I'd assume the slower one- and two Kings Cross (slow and semi-fast)

Sorry to be bias but as I feel the West Anglia route is slow enough at the moment due to no fault of it's own then I feel the semi fast Cambridges from the GN ie the ones which don't stop at the villages should terminate at the new station, the Cambridge Cruiser should be extended to Ely which would be much better.

 

[jopsuk]

it's just guesses on my part- but I'd have thought that running the Express/Cruiser to Ely would require extra stock, whilst going to Chesterton and back should be just about doable within the current turn-around time.

If it was me in charge with a bigger budget (and an assumption that the busway was there to stay) I'd look at building a station big enough for all trains from the south not continuining through to terminate at, with the carriage sidings relocated to be accessed through the terminatinng platforms. Cambridge main station could then be reconfigured to handle a useage pattern where only trains from Norwich and Ipswich were terminating.

 

[Rational Plan]

CASTIron have every right to stick around, the decision Cambs CC took was appauling, for me personally the conversion is the worst public transport decision I can remember. I hope to high heaven that the guided busway fails miserably, sadly I doubt that will happen.

I also prefer their choice of name too!

Oh get over it, the busway is proving to be very popular and certainly support a much more frequent service than half hourly shuttle to the outskirts of St Ives could provide. Cast Iron has no purpose anymore, the line is now built on. Unless they become a general rail pressure group that has widespread support then they will be easily dismissed as monomaniacs. Their submissions to future transport plans quietly filed under looney submissions .

 

[tbtc]

Good news (regardless of what they call the station - maybe it is too far from Milton Road to be called Cambridge Science Park, but the current station in the city isn't exactly slap bang in the middle either...

**

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-17100964

New buses will increase the frequency of services on Cambridgeshire's guided busway, according to operator Stagecoach.

The company - one of two serving the route which links Huntingdon with Cambridge and Addenbrooke's Hospital - said it had ordered eight new vehicles.

Regional director Andy Campbell said demand for the service had encouraged the company to increase the fleet

If CASTIron are interested, I've got some spilt milk they can cry about if they want...

 

[Flywaver]

I hope this is planned right and the platforms are off the main line so we can bypass this station on XC..