If We Have More Electric Cars Do We Need More Parkway Stations?
We are all being encouraged by carrot-and-stick methods to change to zero-carbon vehicles.
And it’s not just from Government and environmental activists!
I was recently asked on a train, if I drove an electric car, by the guy sitting opposite me at a table. He told me, that his ten-year-old BMW needed replacing and his daughters were pestering him to get an electric car.
- He had looked into it and said he could afford one.
- However like many, he was worried about the battery range.
- He also said charging at home would not be a problem, as he lived in a house with parking for three cars and could install his own grid-to-vehicle charger.
- I asked him what he did and like my late wife; C, he was a family barrister.
C would drive thousands of miles a year to Court from our house in Suffolk in her Porsche Boxster, to places like Bedford, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Milton Keynes, Norwich, Southend and Yarmouth. Only when she went to London did she use a train from Whittlesford Parkway station.
There are a lot of people like family barristers, where their profession dictates that they travel long distances by car to a variable place of work.
Purchase of an electric car, for some drivers may turn out to be a worrying one, as will they always find a charger at the other end of their journey, to charge the vehicle to get home.
I can see parkway stations like Whittlesford developing into electric parkway stations, where most parking spaces have a charger.
- Parking could be booked, as in many railway car parks.
- Some stations could probably host one or more wind turbines.
- The vehicle batteries with the appropriate grid-to-vehicle technology could be used as grid storage.
Get the technology and the locations right and I can see more parkway stations being developed.
It might also be the sort of infrastructure project that a financial institution like L & G might finance.
Beeching Reversal – Reopening Sawston Station
This is one of the Round 3 bids of Beeching Reversal projects that the Government and Network Rail are proposing to reverse some of the Beeching cuts.
Sawston is a village in South Cambridgeshire, which is shown in this Google Map.
Note.
The West Anglia Main Line and the A1301 road both run North-South to the West of the village.
The railway calls at Whittlesford Parkway station at the bottom of the map.
The A505, which is a main route between West Suffolk and the M11 and the A1 (M) runs across the bottom of the map.
The new Sawston station is proposed to be in Mill Lane close to the old Spicers factory.
This second Google Map shows the area of the proposed station.
Note.
- There would appear to be space for a station.
- The site is not far from the Western edge of the village.
- There is already a comprehensive road junction, that would serve the station.
This third Google Map shows the area of the Whittlesford Parkway station.
Note.
- The station running North-South towards the West of the map.
- The large car-park to the East of the station.
- The smaller car-park to the West of the station.
- The station has a Holiday Inn hotel.
I have used the station hundreds of times and I believe that it could be made into a first class transport hub for commuters and visitors to Cambridge.
- It has good road connections to North Hertfordshire, West Suffolk and North West Essex.
- It has large amounts of car parking, that ten years ago was rarely full.
- A step-free footbridge with lifts, needs to be added.
- There needs to be better bus connections to local villages.
- There needs to be a bus connection to the Imperial War Museum Duxford.
I don’t believe massive amounts of money would be needed to realise the full potential of this station.
Services through Whittlesford Station And The Proposed Site Of Sawston Station
Currently, the following services run through Whittlesford station in the Off Peak.
- Greater Anglia – 2 tph – Liverpool Street and Cambridge North
- Greater Anglia – 1 tph – Stansted Airport and Norwich
- CrossCountry – 3 tpd – Stansted Airport and Birmingham New Street
Note.
- tph is an abbreviation for trains per hour.
- tpd is an abbreviation for trains per day
- All Greater Anglia services call at Whittlesford Parkway, Cambridge and Cambridge North stations and will probably call at Cambridge South station, when it opens.
- The CrossCountry service only calls at Audley End station between Stansted Airport and Cambridge.
I believe that the minimum services should be as follows to provide an adequate service, after the opening of Cambridge South station.
- 4tph – Whittlesford Parkway and Cambridge North stopping at Cambridge South and Cambridge.
- 2 tph – Liverpool Street and Cambridge North stopping at Whittlesford Parkway, Cambridge South and Cambridge.
- 1 tph – Stansted Airport and Norwich stopping at Whittlesford Parkway, Cambridge South, Cambridge and Cambridge North.
- 1 tph – Stansted Airport and Birmingham New Street stopping at Whittlesford Parkway, Cambridge South, Cambridge and Cambridge North.
There could even be a Cambridgeshire Metro serving all stations between Stansted Airport and Ely.
- All services could be run by electric or bi-mode trains.
- Possible stops would be Elsenham, Newport, Audley End, Great Chesterford, Whittlesford Parkway, Shelford, Cambridge South, Cambridge, Cambridge North and Waterbeach.
- As they do now some fast services would skip smaller stations.
- More important stations like Audley End, Whittlesford Parkway, Cambridge South and Cambridge North would get a 4 tph service to Cambridge
- Other stations would get an appropriate service.
- I would also like to see two fast tph between Cambridge and King’s Lynn, Liverpool Street, Norwich, Peterborough and Stansted.
I think that such a timetable would be possible, if the performance of Greater Anglia’s new trains were to be used to the full.
Could An Extra Stop Be Added At The Proposed Site Sawston Station?
Each extra stop adds extra time to the timetable.
Consider.
- The faster Liverpool Street and Whittlesford Parkway takes sixty minutes with six stops.
- The slower Liverpool Street and Whittlesford Parkway takes seventy-four minutes with twelve stops.
- Greater Anglia’s trains through Whittlesford Parkway and the proposed Sawston station will probably be 100 mph Class 720 trains.
I think it would be reasonable to assume that every extra stop would add 120-150 seconds to the journey time.
As Cambridge South station will be added anyway, will passengers mind up to five minutes added to the timetable?
I doubt with the faster accelerating trains, that there would be a problem about an extra stop at Sawston, but the lengthening of journey times between Cambridge and London may be a problem.
A Possible Alternative Solution
Could there be a possible alternative solution based on improving facilities and services at Whittlesford Parkway station?
- The service at Whittlesford Parkway station would be increased to 4 tph to Cambridge North, with stops at Shelford, Cambridge South and Cambridge.
- The service at Whittlesford Parkway station would be increased to 2 tph to Stansted Airport, with stops at Audley End.
- A step-free bridge with lifts must be installed.
- An improved bus-service between Sawston and Whittlesford Parkway is needed.
- An improved bus-service between the Imperial War Museum Duxford and Whittlesford Parkway is needed.
- Both bus services could be back-to-back and probably should be run every fifteen minutes.
- As it serves a museum, why not run some heritage buses in the Summer?
- There should be good cycling provision between Whittlesford Parkway station and Sawston and other surrounding villages.
I very much feel, that improving Whittlesford Parkway station, may be a better value solution, than building a new station at Sawston!
Conclusion
Building a new station at Sawston may not be the best way to improve public transport in the area.