A new £200m station being built in Cambridge will have storage space for 1,000 bikes, but no plans are in place to build a car park.
The four-platform station is partly being built to accomodate the Cambridge Biomedical Campus which is expected to provide 27,000 jobs by 2031.
By that year, it is thought that there will be 4,000 new homes built across the Cambridge Southern Fringe.
To keep up with the demand and to alleviate congestion in the city, Network Rail is building a third station in Cambridge.
The station will include capacity for 1,000 cycle parking spaces, as well as access to the station for pedestrians and cyclists on both sides of the railway.
However, one notable feature that the station won’t include is a car park.
While the station will have a few bays for Blue Badge holders, as well as staff and drop-off/pick-up areas, the focus will be on cycling, walking and taking public transport as part of the area’s local transport strategy.
One of the key aims of Cambridge South is to reduce environmental impacts by providing an “alternative, greener option to access the biomedical campus by rail, reducing carbon emissions from car use while helping to ease existing levels of congestion in the city of Cambridge”.
Some local residents have not been onboard with the lack of car spaces at the new station.
One resident told The Times that it is yet another example of Cambridge being “anti-motorist” and would use the station only if there was a car park, while another said to the Daily Mail not having a parking option is “crazy” and that people may resort to parking on nearby streets and cause chaos.
Network Rail says the new station will provide a better transport option and connectivity for 1.8 million passengers, including patients, visitors and employees when travelling to and from the biomedical campus.
The station will be managed and served by Greater Anglia, but other train operators are expected to call at the new station subject to agreement.
By this summer, Network Rail expects Cambridge South to be “sustainably complete” and then open for use by early 2026.
When the station was first announced as being built next to the nature reserve Hobsons Park, a planning inspector and local councillors criticised the effect it would have on the natural environment.
However, Network Rail said in December 2023 they entered an agreement with Cambridgeshire County Council to restore habitats disrupted during construction and create a local biodiversity net gain of 10 per cent.
This includes planting open grassland and wildflower meadows, while the station itself will contribute to the net gain with a green rainwater catchment system roof and solar panels to generate electricity.
The railway system would connect with Stansted Airport, London, the Eurostar at St Pancras and Birmingham International Airport.
Kristin-Anne Rutter, executive director at Cambridge Biomedical Campus Limited, said when the plans were announced: “Currently, there are around five times as many visits to the site as there are car parking spaces.
“We have to find ways of making it easier for the thousands of staff, NHS patients and visitors arriving daily to get here without needing to use a car.
“This is a campus dedicated to improving human health, so anything that has the potential to cut air pollution and take pressure off our local roads is also very welcome.”
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “The station design was based on the Cambridge Local Plan 2018, focussing on sustainable transport and promoting modal shift to access the station, and takes account of its position in Cambridge’s Green Belt.
“The new station will be connected to the local cycle network with 1,000 spaces for cycles, blue badge bays, and is located next to the guided busway system, providing visitors with more sustainable transport options from the local park and ride facilities or the city centre.”
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