Cambridge South secures authorisation for station opening

The Office of Road and Rail (ORR) has given the final seal of approval for Cambridge South station to enter in to public service on Sunday, June 28.

The authorisation to open the new station by the ORR  is the last major milestone, after over three years of construction.

GBR Anglia has been working with the independent safety regulator for Britain’s railways for over a year to co-ordinate efforts to check the station is fully compliant with all strict safety standards required to bring a brand new station into operation.

Working closely with principal contractor Murphy, the construction team has made sure that all the ORR’s requirements have been met to demonstrate that the new, modern station is fit for purpose for customers expected to use the station each year.

By authorising the station to open on Sunday, June 28, it will provide better travel options and connectivity for 1.8 million customers, patients, visitors and employees when travelling to and from the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC), a growing community of science and health care specialists at Europe’s largest medical research facility.

Customers will begin to benefit from easier and more sustainable journeys, travelling directly to work or visiting the Addenbrooke’s or the Royal Papworth hospitals from towns and cities across East Anglia including Ely and Norwich, and further afield such as London, Birmingham and Brighton.

The new station will also be directly connected to major international transport hubs such as Stansted Airport, Gatwick Airport and St Pancras International.

There will be frequent services between Cambridge and Cambridge South, with up to nine trains per hour between the two stations at the busiest times.

This includes services operated by Greater Anglia, Great Northern, Thameslink and CrossCountry.

Emily Heria, the senior sponsor on behalf of GBR Anglia said: “Gaining the authorisation from the ORR to open Cambridge South is a massive achievement and reflects all the hard work done by everyone involved in the project.

“We are all so excited to open the new station on Sunday 28 June and can’t wait to welcome our first customers and see their reaction to their new railway station. We hope they will be as proud of their new station as we are to have built it”