Waterbeach railway station is on the Fen line in the east of England, serving the village of Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. It is 61 miles 1 chain (98.2 km) measured from London Liverpool Street and 63 miles 29 chains (102 km) from London King's Cross; it is situated between Cambridge North and Ely stations. Its three-letter station code is WBC.
Waterbeach  | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The northbound platform at Waterbeach in March 2014 | |||||
| General information | |||||
| Location | Waterbeach, South Cambridgeshire England | ||||
| Grid reference | TL500650 | ||||
| Owned by | Network Rail | ||||
| Managed by | Great Northern | ||||
| Platforms | 2 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | WBC | ||||
| Classification | DfT category F2 | ||||
| History | |||||
| Original company | Eastern Counties Railway | ||||
| Pre-grouping | Great Eastern Railway | ||||
| Post-grouping | London and North Eastern Railway | ||||
| Key dates | |||||
| 30 July 1845 | Opened[1] | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019/20 |  0.378 million | ||||
| 2020/21 | 0.100 million | ||||
| 2021/22 |  0.265 million | ||||
| 2022/23 | 0.309 million | ||||
| 2023/24 | 0.332 million | ||||
| |||||
The station and most trains calling are operated by Great Northern, with limited peak services being operated by Greater Anglia.
Waterbeach station is unstaffed, and has only basic waiting shelters on each of the two platforms. All the station buildings have been demolished. The platforms are staggered on each side of a half barrier level crossing. Until electrification and the automation of the crossing, the platforms were located opposite each other.
Waterbeach railway station is planned to be relocated north to support the development of the Waterbeach New Town, with completion expected by 2027.[2]
History
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Before electrification, British Rail services often did not stop at Waterbeach; or if they did, stops would be unofficial. However, since electrification, virtually all King's Lynn/Ely - Cambridge/London services have stopped there (the present timetable shows only three Monday - Friday in both directions not stopping there) passenger numbers surged, with people all across the area north of Cambridge in South Cambridgeshire using it as their primary station. As a result, passenger numbers are nearly as high as Downham Market, and the station sees a lot of parking problems.[3]
Future relocation
editWaterbeach railway station is planned to be relocated approximately 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) north of its current location to support the development of a new town on the former Waterbeach Barracks site.[4] The new station will be closer to the planned housing development, which is expected to include 8,000 to 9,000 homes.[5]
The relocation was originally to be managed by the developer, but the Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) assumed responsibility for the project in 2022 after the developer was unable to secure commercial funding. Funding includes a £23 million repayable grant from Homes England and a £20 million contribution from the GCP.[6] Planning permission for the station was granted in 2020, with construction scheduled to start in 2026 and completion expected by 2027.[2]
Services
editGreat Northern operate all off-peak services at Waterbeach using Class 387 EMUs.[7]
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[8]
- 2 tph to London King's Cross (non-stop from Cambridge)
- 2 tph to Ely of which 1 continues to King's Lynn
During the peak hours, the services to London King's Cross call additionally at Royston and Letchworth Garden City and all northbound services are extended to King's Lynn.
The station is also served by a number of peak-hour services operated by Greater Anglia. The station is served by two daily services from and one to Norwich as well as two daily services to and one from London Liverpool Street.
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Great Northern | ||||
| Greater Anglia Peak Hours Only | ||||
References
edit- ^ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 242. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
- ^ a b "Waterbeach railway station relocation delayed to 2027". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ Brown, Raymond (20 February 2017). "New tactics to tackle bad parking as police flooded with complaints". cambridgenews. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ May 2019, Mark Wilding 14. "Green light for 6,500-home Cambridgeshire new town". www.planningresource.co.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Funding of £23m approved to relocate Waterbeach train station". www.bbc.com. Retrieved 29 November 2024.
- ^ "New trains on London to King's Lynn route". 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
- ^ Table 17, 25 National Rail timetable, May 2022
External links
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- Train times and station information for Waterbeach railway station from National Rail