The Anonymous Widower

The New Station With Wildflowers And No Car Park

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

A new railway station with solar panels and wildflowers on the roof and no car park has been hailed as an example of sustainable transport

These three paragraphs, explain the thinking behind the design.

Cambridge South station, on Francis Crick Avenue, at the city’s Biomedical Campus, is expected to be completed by early 2026.

Designer and architect Jan Kroes said the site, which sits next to a nature reserve, would “fit in within the green belt”.

Network Rail said the site would be next to a guided busway system and connect with local cycleways and footpaths.

Regularly, when I lived nearly twenty miles from Cambridge, I would drive to Whittlesford Parkway station, which has 348 parking spaces and take the train to London.

This Google Map shows the area to the South-East of Cambridge.

Note.

1. Cambridge is towards the North-West corner of the map.
2. Newmarket, which has a population of nearly 16,000, is towards the North-East corner of the map.
3. Haverhill, which has a population of nearly 30,000, is towards the South-East corner of the map.
4. Whittlesford Parkway station, is towards the South-West corner of the map close to the Imperial War Museum at Duxford
5. I used to live at Great Thurlow between Newmarket and Haverhill.

The only railway stations on this map are Cambridge, Cambridge North, Dullingham, Newmarket, Shelford and Whittlesford Parkway.

As bus services are pretty thin on the ground, if you live to the bSouth-East of Cambridge, I can understand if there has been surprise, at the lack of parking at the new Cambridge South station.

• If you are travelling to London or Stansted Airport, you can still use Whittlesford Parkway, which has parking.
• But if when the East West Railway opens, you will need to use Cambridge or Cambridge South stations.
• Now that Cambridge North station is open, travelling to Norwich by train may be easier, unless there is not enough parking at Cambridge North station.

When I lived in the area, the most common excuse for not using the train, was the problems of parking at the stations.

I predict, that parking will be added to Cambridge South station.

March 10, 2025 - Posted by AnonW | Environment, Transport/Travel | Architecture, Cambridge South Station, East West Railway, New Stations, Parking, Wildflowers