whittlesfordok
Member
- Joined
- 20 Jan 2014
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- 101
Look like it on as top story in Cambridge News today all private money as well.
I can't post link to story.
I can't post link to story.
CambridgeNews said:A new railway station in the south of the city could be built without any public money as an investment company looks to develop the site.
A meeting was held on Monday to explore the possibility of private funding for a new station near Addenbrooke’s. Investment company, John Laing Infrastructure is looking at the viability of developing the site themselves. It is hoped private funding would accelerate the development of the station.
A nice shiny new station ... With no trains stopping!
Well it did happen at Southend Airport station for a while.
No other station in the Anglia region has in my opinion cried out for a station more. Superb for commuters on both routes to London, a link to Stansted Airport & a direct connection to one of the most important hospitals in the country. It simply cannot fail from day one. Being thinking this for 20 odd years.
Can't see it being too brilliant for commuters to London, given the limited plans for parking places (which I generally agree with) meaning it'll only really serve Trumpington and bits of South Cambridge which are reasonably well-served by the central station. Brilliant for anyone going the other way, though, given the hospital and the Biomedical Campus both attracting commuters (and patients/visitors etc on the hospital's part).
I only think it will really work if every train stops there, though, which essentially requires full four tracking from Shepreth Branch junction. A station with a mediocre service as a stepping stone to this would be a good thing alone, though.
Staff and patients would be able to use the train e.g. from Royston and Audley End. I think Thetford, Bury St Edmunds and certainly Ely are in the catchment area for patients trevelling to the hospital so ideally the Norwich & Ipswich trains would extend to Cambridge South.
Parking would be a bad idea. The new Addenbrookes Road, built from the M11 to the hospital, already grinds to a half at peak times. The road capacity is all used up- adding parking would make that worse.
the bridges (for the busway and the road) and the Astra Zeneca developments have been built with spans and space safeguarded for a four track station. I think if you wanted that to go through to Cambridge station Long Road bridge would need rebuilt. There's already four tracks under Hills Road (one of which is currently a sand trap/buffers) and the formation is wide enough.
A station built as twin island, one for GN and one for WA, would be most likely. Far more expensive would be an arrangement to minimise crossing moves with an Up flyover, allowing the Cambridge Express and Cross Country airport services to skip it (but still have 4x Thameslink, 2-3x West Anglia, 1xGA Airport and even 1-2x East-West services calling there)
An expensive arrangement with an up island, down island, fast lines through the middle (with platform faces) and a flyover for Kings cross services:
Morning peak (0700-0900) there are 8 or 9 trains per hour on this stretch. 4 to Kings Cross, 3 or 4 to Liverpool Street, and one to Stansted. Rest of the day, less services than this. If we can't stop 8 or 9 trains per hour at a straightforward intermediate station without conflicts that we aren't doing very well at controlling the railway.
One of the troubles with a number of recent schemes (the proposal at Brent Cross on the Midland is another, wanting platforms on the fast lines that will hardly ever be used but which double the cost of the scheme) is the over-gold plating that takes place once projects are announced.
Edit: Also - re jopsuk's sketch -- would two-up two-down actually be of much use, considering the amount of trains that turn around at Cambridge? For example, having a pair of WA platforms would allow all WA trains to run into 7/8 at Cambridge and turn back without much movement required. The main benefit is the cross country service, admittedly, but I'm not sure if allowing it a clean run would make up for the local service potential snarl.
A new station on the existing line would still be a bit of a walk to most of the Hospital. To get rail connected, what would be really useful is a shuttle (tram style) from Cambridge (original) actually INTO the site. A single shuttle could be run each way up to 4 times per hour. Not looked but would there be room for a single line parallel to the existing route on the east side which could then bend into the site?
Could be one heck of lot less expensive than a new station etc. and actually more benefit to users.
There is space next to the railway line for a dedicated shuttle service between the station and the hospital, which can run 4 times an hour.
http://www.thebusway.info/pdfs/tt/U.pdf
I don't think there is much chances of getting a light rail/tram instead of the guided buses for that route for a while yet.
Integrated ticketing between the trains and buses would be of more help. However, given that the busway companies have their own specific return tickets, that might just be a dream.
A lot of the AstraZeneca staff have moved South of Cambridge and for them, an Addenbrookes station would mean that they wouldn't have to go in and out of the centre.
My experience of medical staff was that nurses did 12 hour shifts, shift changes at 7am and 7pm, three shifts a week. Therefore they tend to live much further away than working five days. In a hospital in London the staff seemed to come from places like, ironically, Cambridgeshire or Norfolk.
Doctors commonly visit multiple hospitals during a day as well as other offices in one day. Regular public transport is completely inappropriate.
"Integrated ticketing" - alternatively known as PlusBus and available in Cambridge for many years - and the Busway has been going for at least 5 years now. You do see a lot of peak hour interchange of staff getting off the busway from Addenbrooke's and heading to catch trains, so it's not exactly unpopular.
My experience of medical staff was that nurses did 12 hour shifts, shift changes at 7am and 7pm, three shifts a week. Therefore they tend to live much further away than working five days. In a hospital in London the staff seemed to come from places like, ironically, Cambridgeshire or Norfolk.
Doctors commonly visit multiple hospitals during a day as well as other offices in one day. Regular public transport is completely inappropriate.
You are quite right about the nursing staff. They have this curious idea that awaking sick people (called patients) at 0530 - 0600 with crashing trolleys and washbasins, so that these chores are finished by the time the day staff appear, is somehow beneficial to their patients' health. When I was a patient, I used to find I was just nodding off at that moment, after the constant interruption of the night time issues of fellow patients. Literally, being on a ward is one long nightmare.
However the time of day is not out of this world to get to work, so one could expect services for them to be up and running by 0600, say.
The problem is the fact that so many of these hospital sites were takeovers of previous sanitary and mental institutions that were purposely built away from built up areas. I don't know the history of Addenbrooke's.
The point about remote village expansion is also well-made.
No idea if they now love the train but I know the university stopped the railway being built closer to the town centre (as it was then) because trains were dirty!
It's always interesting to hear about how the stigmas of the past have effectively constrained us to this day.
I thought the University opposed the original plans in 1850s to build the station near the city centre as it would be a distraction to the students.