Fen Line Users Association

"Last mile" transport

Of all FLUA’s aims, the one on which we have made the least progress is the integration of train services with other public transport, particularly buses.

Driverless technology reduces the cost of operating a bus by over 60%. It is already operating in America and China, and in the UK has been trialled in Cambridge and elsewhere. Its use for public transport services will be permitted from 2027. We set out here (also as a PDF) how such services can be used together with rail to build a system that offers seamless transport to everyone.

Cambridge South

This new station gives travellers from Fen Line stations direct access to hospitals including Addenbrooke's and Papworth, and to employment on the Biomedical Campus. The site's Courtesy Bus service calls at the station.

The architecture is impressive but passenger facilities are minimal for such a large station, for instance there is no heated waiting room, which could be a problem in winter for people returning home from outpatient appointments if they only have one train an hour.

Ely area capacity enhancement

This important project includes re-dualling Ely North Junction, improving the track layout through Ely station, and replacing two river bridges which have a low speed limit due to their age and design. This would accommodate the 11 train paths per hour that are needed now to support the all-day half-hourly service to King's Lynn, and to move more of the freight from Felixstowe off the A14 and onto rail. It would also enable future projects that would increase capacity further. More information on the project here.

However, currently there is no funding allocated, and no prospect of funding in the near future.

Waterbeach stations

A new station is planned to open in 2028 to serve the new town at Waterbeach. This has always been referred to as "relocating" the existing station, but we think the existing station should stay open to continue to serve the village. The two stations would be about the same distance apart as Foxton and Shepreth (a mile by rail, a mile and a half by road) and have more footfall than those have. We detail here how that could work.

Great British Railways

The Railways Bill is working its way through the parliamentary process. To avoid the compensation costs that would be incurred by nationalisation, RoSCos and open access operators will continue in their present roles. The Act to allow train operators to be taken into public ownership was passed in 2024; Greater Anglia was one of the first, on 12th October 2025, and Great Northern followed it at the end of May 2026.

Cambridge area resignalling

There are two parts to this project (detail here). Mainly it is concerned with replacing life-expired signalling equipment, which we support in the hope that it will reduce the number of signalling failures.

However, it also includes work on a number of level crossings; there are six that Network Rail proposes to convert from half barriers to full barriers, to improve safety although level crossing fatalities in Britain are only one seventeenth of the European average. This would result in them being closed to road traffic for much longer than at present, which could be a particular problem at Waterbeach station, preventing passengers crossing the line to catch their trains, as already happens at Downham Market and Shepreth. We raised our objection at the public inquiry; the Inspector and the Secretary of State accepted our argument and refused permission for Network Rail to compulsorily purchase the land needed to make the change at Waterbeach. However, Network Rail is acquiring the land without using compulsory purchase powers, and intends to convert the crossing as part of a later stage of the project. We have as yet no date for when the next stage will be implemented.