Cambridge railway station

Cambridge railway station serves the city of Cambridge in eastern England. It stands at the end of Station Road, off Hills Road, 1 mile south-east of the city centre. It is the busiest railway station in the East of England, used by 7.66 million passengers in 2009/10.

Several routes start at the station including the West Anglia Main Line to London Liverpool Street, the Fen Line to King's Lynn, the Breckland Line to, services to on the Ipswich to Ely Line, and the Cambridge Line, heading southwards and following an alternate route, to London King's Cross, via. These routes are electrified at 25 kV AC overhead, except for the Ipswich to Ely and Cambridge to Norwich lines, which are diesel-operated. The station has the third-longest platform in England. Ticket barriers are in operation.

History
The Eastern Counties Railway opened to Cambridge in 1845. The station building, with its long classical façade and porte-cochère (infilled during the 20th century), has been attributed to both Sancton Wood and Francis Thompson and is listed Grade II. The long platform (platforms 1 and 4) is typical of its period but was unusual in that (apart from a brief period in the mid-19th century) it was not supplemented by another through platform until platforms 7 and 8 were added in 2011. There were major platform lengthenings and remodellings of the main building in 1863 and 1908. The station layout was altered in 1896 by deviating the Newmarket line approaches.

The University of Cambridge helped block later 19th-century attempts to create a central station. It also took powers to prevent undergraduates travelling by train.

Historically, services from the station included:


 * Great Eastern Railway
 * Main line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich and King’s Lynn
 * Cross-country services to Bury St Edmunds via Newmarket and to Colchester
 * Cross-country services via Ely, March and the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Line to northern England
 * Branch line to St Ives and beyond
 * Branch line to Mildenhall


 * Great Northern Railway
 * Services to London King's Cross via Hitchin, including the Cambridge Buffet Car Expresses


 * London and North Western Railway
 * Cross-country "Varsity Line" to Oxford


 * Midland Railway
 * Services via St Ives to Kettering

Each of the four companies also had its own goods facilities in the station area, and, except for the M.R., its own motive power depot. The G.E.R. maintained a special locomotive for the Royal Train here. Under the London and North Eastern Railway in the 1920s signal boxes in the station area were converted to electric operation.

The line from Bishop's Stortford to Cambridge was electrified by British Rail in 1987, enabling electric trains to operate between Liverpool Street and Cambridge.

When the link to Stansted Airport from London Liverpool Street opened in 1991 the Hitchin-Cambridge Line became more important; all non-stop trains now take this route to London Kings Cross, reducing congestion on the very busy stretch of the West Anglia Main Line between London Liverpool Street and Bishop's Stortford.



The "CB1" area in front of the station buildings had been due for redevelopment by Ashwell Property Group. In December 2009 the developers went bankrupt and reformed under the name Brookgate. Part of the redevelopment scheme had included a £1 million contribution towards the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway scheme passing through the area.

Platforms
Plan of current platforms

At 514 yd, Cambridge has the third-longest railway platform in the UK, after Colchester and Gloucester. This platform is divided into Platforms 1 and 4 with a scissors crossover in the middle to divide it in two, which allows trains from either direction to pass those already stopped there. Bay platforms exist at both ends of the station: Platforms 2 and 3 at the southern end of the station and Platforms 5 and 6 at the northern end). Platforms 7 and 8 are located on an island platform on the eastern side of the station. These came into use in December 2011.

Platform 1 is a 12-car bi-directional through platform generally used for northbound services to Ely, King's Lynn and Birmingham New Street. It is also used for some early morning southbound services to London King's Cross and London Liverpool Street and for some late evening terminating services.

Platforms 2 (10-car) and 3 (8-car) are south-facing bay platforms generally used for services to and from London King's Cross or London Liverpool Street (with some Sunday services to Stratford).

Platform 4 is a bi-directional 10-car through platform generally used for northbound services to Ely, King's Lynn and Birmingham New Street. It is also used for some early morning southbound services to London King's Cross and London Liverpool Street and for some terminating late evening services.

Platform 5 is a 6-car north-facing bay platform generally used for services to and from Norwich (and occasional services to and from Birmingham New Street).

Platform 6 is a 6-car north-facing bay platform used for services to and from Ipswich (with occasional services to and from Harwich International).

Platforms 7 and 8 are bi-directional 12-car through platforms generally used for southbound services to London King's Cross, London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport. These platforms are also used for longer terminating trains from London Liverpool Street and London King's Cross.

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Services
Cambridge is served by several operators.


 * CrossCountry serves the station with its Birmingham New Street to Stansted Airport service, via Leicester and Peterborough. This is operated using Class 170 diesel multiple units. There is an hourly service in each direction.


 * First Capital Connect serves the station as part of its service from London King's Cross. This uses Class 317 or Class 365 electric multiple units. Class 365 units usually work the Cambridge Cruiser and semi-fast services.
 * The "Cambridge Cruiser" (termed 'Cambridge Express' from London) runs non-stop between London King's Cross and Cambridge. There is an hourly service in each direction.
 * There are also hourly semi-fast trains between Cambridge and London, calling at Royston, Baldock, Letchworth Garden City, Hitchin, Stevenage and Finsbury Park.
 * There is an hourly stopping train to London King's Cross, calling at all stations between Foxton and Hitchin, then Stevenage, Knebworth, Welwyn North, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, Potters Bar and Finsbury Park.
 * At London King's Cross, stopping trains are often displayed as operating to Foxton, the last station before Cambridge, though the train does actually continue in service to Cambridge. This is done when users will arrive earlier by waiting for the next non-stop service. Likewise, stopping trains from Cambridge to King's Cross are often displayed as running to Finsbury Park.
 * Travelling northbound, there are hourly FCC services to Fen Line stations, calling at Waterbeach, Ely, Littleport, Downham Market, Watlington and King's Lynn. Off-peak these trains run non-stop between Cambridge and King's Cross; during peak hours additional stops are usually made. Some of these additional stops were phased out in FCC's May 2009 'Seats for You' timetable, since in some cases extra trains now run to call at the stops removed, such as Royston and Letchworth Garden City.
 * In total there are approximately 3 FCC trains per hour each way between Cambridge and London Kings Cross.


 * Greater Anglia serves the station with three routes:
 * To London Liverpool Street via the West Anglia Main Line. These services use Class 317, Class 379 or occasionally Class 315 electric multiple units. During the morning peak some services start back from King's Lynn or Ely, and during the evening peak some are extended beyond Cambridge to Ely and King's Lynn. There are typically two services each hour, one stopping and one semi-fast. On Sundays some services do not go to London Liverpool Street, instead calling at all stations to Stratford via Tottenham Hale.
 * An hourly service between Cambridge and Norwich via the Breckland Line. This uses Class 170 Turbostar units and usually departs from Platform 5. This service was started in 2002 by Anglia, which ordered four of these trains for use on the new service. On rare occasions these services use older Sprinter units.
 * An hourly service between Cambridge and . This uses Class 153, Class 156 or rarely, Class 170 diesel multiple units. One train a day continues to Harwich International. These services usually depart from Platform 6.

Transport links
Several bus services stop outside the main station building, linking the railway with the city centre and other parts of Cambridge, including Addenbrooke's Hospital. Buses also travel from the station out of the city to Sawston, Saffron Walden and Imperial War Museum Duxford to the south and Histon and Impington and Cottenham to the north. A taxi rank and a large area for bicycle parking are also located outside the station, although only a small number of free spaces are available for cycles. Bicycle rental is available from a shop adjacent to the station.