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Cambridge South station has been in the works for the best part of the decade. A new rail hub to the south of the major university city was proposed in 2017 and finally properly funded in 2022. Originally the plan was to open in December 2025, though that was pushed back due to city-wide signalling upgrades. But now, finally, Cambridge South has an opening date.
The station will be Cambridge’s third (after the North and central hubs) and is expected to be used by 1.8 million passengers per year. Operated by Greater Anglia, it will have nine trains per hour to Cambridge and 20 hourly services in total during peak times. It’s on both the Cambridge Line (which runs between the city and Hitchin in Hertfordshire) and the West Anglia Main Line (which goes from London to Cambridge).
In all, Cambridge South will have received £250 million from the government. That cash has gone towards building a four-platform hub with waiting areas and space for retail, plus lifts and accessible loos. This being Cambridge – a famously pro-pedal city – it will have a whopping 1,000 cycle parking spaces.
The station will be primarily for commuters and locals, serving Addenbrooke’s Hospital, the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – home to research centres for the likes of the NHS, GSK, Cancer Research UK and AstraZeneca – and the suburb of Trumpington. It’ll have direct trains to London, Brighton, Birmingham and Stansted Airport.
What about benefits for tourists? Well, there aren’t too many attractions in the immediate area around Cambridge South, unless you’re particularly fond of medical research. The station will be a short cab ride from south-of-Cambridge attractions like IWM Duxford, Wandlebury Country Park and the Wimpole Estate.
Excitingly – well, for train geeks – Cambridge South will mark a special milestone for the Great British Railways, the government’s newly launched state-owned railway company. When it opens on June 28, it’ll become the first new GBR branded station.
In the future, Cambridge South could get more services. The East West Rail project, which is under construction and set to link Oxford and Cambridge, will feature the station as a stop.
Plus: The longest outdoor tubing slide in the UK will open this month.
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