Cambridge
Station building in February 2025
General information
Location	Cambridge,City of Cambridge England
Coordinates	52°11′39″N0°08′15″E / 52.1942°N 0.1375°E /52.1942; 0.1375
Grid reference	TL462572
Managed by	Greater Anglia
Platforms	8
Construction
Architect	Sancton Wood, Francis Thompson
Other information
Station code	CBG
Classification	DfT categoryB station
History
Opened	29 July 1845
Passengers
2020–21	2.301 million
Interchange	0.123 million
2021–22	6.953 million
Interchange	0.389 million
2022–23	9.342 million
Interchange	0.481 million
2023–24	10.033 million
Interchange	0.712 million
2024–25	10.598 million
Interchange	0.579 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from theOffice of Rail and Road

Cambridge railway station is the principal station serving the city ofCambridge, inCambridgeshire, England. Situated at the end ofStation Road, it is 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the city centre. With over 10 million passengers passing through the station (2023–2024), it is both the busiest station in theEast of England region and the thirteenth busiest outside of London.^[1]

The station serves as the northern terminus for both theWest Anglia Main Line fromLondon Liverpool Street, and of theCambridge line fromLondon Kings Cross. The station is also the southern terminus of three secondary routes: theFen line toKing's Lynn, theBreckland line toNorwich and theIpswich–Ely line toIpswich.

The station is managed and served byGreater Anglia, with services also operated byGreat Northern,Thameslink, andCrossCountry. It is one of three railway stations in Cambridge, the others beingCambridge North, approximately 2.5 miles (4 km) away, and the under-constructionCambridge South.

Although the first mainline inter-city railway was theLiverpool and Manchester Railway, which opened in 1830,^[2] surveys for a railway through Cambridge had been conducted as early as 1822.^[3] After many failed attempts for a railway, theEastern Counties Railway (Ely, Brandon and Peterborough Extension) Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. lxii) was passed in 1844, which allowed theEastern Counties Railway to extend their line as far asEly via Cambridge^[4] from its terminus at Bishop's Stortford, which had been reached in May 1842.^[3]

The 1844 act also included an extension of the line north of Cambridge toBrandon, which ended the concept of a connection through toNorwich.Robert Stephenson was appointed engineer and, on 29 July 1845, the station opened with services operating from Bishopsgate station in London via Stratford and Bishops Stortford.^[5]

In the years following the opening of the main line from Cambridge through to Norwich in 1845, other railways were built to Cambridge. Initially, some of these planned to have separate stations but opposition from the university saw them all eventually using the same station. The first line to arrive was theSt Ives toHuntingdon line which opened in 1847 and was built by the East Anglian Railway. Services toPeterborough also commenced that year, with the opening of the line fromEly viaMarch to Peterborough, which also became the main route for coal traffic into East Anglia which was built by theEastern Counties Railway.^[6]

The following year, theEastern Counties Railway opened a line between St Ives and March which saw some passenger services although the coal traffic (mentioned above) was then diverted on to this route.

In 1851, a branch line fromNewmarket to Cambridge (Coldham Lane Junction) was opened which partly used the alignment of theNewmarket and Chesterford Railway which subsequently closed. In 1854, the Newmarket line was extended eastwards to meet theEastern Union Railway line atBury St Edmunds, allowing through running toIpswich.^[6]

An act of Parliament, the Royston and Hitchin Railway Amendment (Shepreth Extension) Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. cxix) was granted to theRoyston and Hitchin Railway to extend its line fromRoyston. Although Cambridge was its goal, Parliament sanctioned only an extension as far as Shepreth (as the Eastern Counties Railway had opposed the extension to Cambridge). The line was completed in 1851 and initially the GNR, who had leased theRoyston and Hitchin Railway in the interim, ran a connectinghorse-drawn omnibus service. This proved unsuccessful, so in April 1852 the line was extended to join the ECR main line south of Cambridge and was leased to the Eastern Counties Railway for 14 years with a connection to enable the ECR to run trains from Cambridge to Hitchin.^[7]

In 1862, theBedford and Cambridge Railway opened. Originally a local undertaking, it was soon acquired by theLondon & North Western Railway (LNWR), extended toBletchley, and saw services betweenOxford and Cambridge introduced on what became known as the "Varsity Line".

By the 1860s, the railways in East Anglia were in financial trouble and most were leased to the ECR; they wished to amalgamate formally, but could not obtain government agreement for this until 1862, when theGreat Eastern Railway was formed by amalgamation. Thus Cambridge became a GER station in 1862.^[8]

TheUniversity of Cambridge helped block later 19th-century attempts to create a central station.^[9]

The GER opened the cross-country line from Marks Tey via Sudbury and Haverhill to Shelford in 1865, which enabled the introduction of direct services to Colchester.^[6]

TheMidland Railway built a line from Kettering to Huntingdon which opened in 1866 and services ran to Cambridge using running powers over the Huntingdon to St Ives line. In 1866 theGreat Northern Railway (GNR) again applied to run services from King's Cross as the lease on the line to Hitchin was ending. Initially the GER opposed this but eventually agreement was reached and, from 1 April 1866, services started operating between Cambridge and King's Cross from a dedicated platform at Cambridge station.

In 1882, theGreat Northern and Great Eastern Joint Railway was opened. As well as becoming the major route for coal traffic from the north east to East Anglia, it saw the introduction of direct services between London, Cambridge and York. Goods trains generally passed Cambridge on dedicated goods lines to the east of the station. Between these and the station a number of carriage sidings existed.

The next line to open was in 1884, when the Fordham line opened, joining the main line towards Ely at Barnwell Junction. The following year the branch toMildenhall railway station opened and services operated direct from there to Cambridge.^[6]

Each of the four companies also had its own goods facilities in the station area and, except for the M.R., its ownmotive power depot. The G.E.R. maintained a special locomotive for theRoyal Train here for workings between London and Sandringham.

In the1923 Grouping, the GER amalgamated with other railways to form theLondon and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and Cambridge became a LNER station. The Midland and LNWR similarly amalgamated with other railways to form theLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS).

In around 1928, theLondon and North Eastern Railway re-signalled the station replacing its fivesignal boxes with two electrically controlled boxes, with the work carried out by the British Power Railway Signal Company.^[10]

Following nationalisation of the UK's railways, Cambridge station was operated by theEastern Region of British Railways.

East Anglia was one of the first areas in the UK where British Railways wanted to phase out steam operation in favour of diesel traction. From 1959, diesels started to take over operation of services with Cambridge engine shed closing to steam in 1962. Diesel shunters and DMUs were allocated to another shed on the opposite side of the line known as Coldham Lane.

The 1960s saw a series of closures and a number of the lines serving Cambridge were closed at this time.

First to go was the lightly usedline to Mildenhall, closed to passengers on 18 June 1962.

TheStour Valley Railway route toColchester via Haverhill and Sudbury closed on 6 March 1967 although theSudbury-Marks Tey section remains operational as a branch line. The Varsity Line to Oxford also saw passenger services to Bedford withdrawn during this year (on 30 December 1967) as did the line between March and St Ives.

Passenger services along theCambridge & St. Ives Branch managed to survive theBeeching Axe, but withBritish Rail citing heavy losses the final passenger service ran between St Ives and Cambridge on 5 October 1970. Despite campaigns to reopen the service during the 1970s, the only subsequent rail traffic on the line was a freight service toChivers inHiston which ran until 1983 and a contract to ferry sand from ARC atFen Drayton which continued until May 1992.^[11]

The line fromBishop's Stortford to Cambridge was electrified byBritish Rail in 1987, enabling electric trains to operate between Liverpool Street and Cambridge.^[12] The station also underwent a £650,000 refurbishment in 1987, funded jointly by BR Network SouthEast, the Railway Heritage Trust andCambridge City Council.^[13]

When the link toStansted Airport fromLondon Liverpool Street opened in 1991, theCambridge line became more important; all non-stop trains now take this route toLondon King's Cross, reducing congestion on the very busy stretch of theWest Anglia Main Line betweenLondon Liverpool Street and Bishop's Stortford.

The 1993 railways act came into force on 1 April 1994. Train Operating Units initially operated the services whilst the franchises were let.

A number of different train operating companies (TOCs) have operated services at Cambridge station since privatization.West Anglia Great Northern^[14] which was initially owned byPrism Rail but then bought byNational Express, operated the West Anglia Great Northern franchise from January 1997 until March 2004. This covered services to both London Liverpool and King's Cross stations as well as King's Lynn. In April 2004 the Liverpool Street route became part ofNational Express East Anglia (NXEA) franchise whilst theGreat Northern route to King's Cross remained part of WAGN until March 2006 when it became part of theFirst Capital Connect franchise.

Services to Ipswich and Norwich were initially operated by Anglia Railways from January 1997 and these routes later became part of the NXEA franchise.

Services to and from the Midlands were operated byCentral Trains from March 1997.

In November 2007, the Central Trains franchise was split up with services through Cambridge becoming part of theArriva CrossCountry network.

The First Capital Connect franchise passed toGovia Thameslink Railway in September 2014.

On 1 April 1994,Railtrack became responsible for the maintenance of the national rail infrastructure.

Railtrack was succeeded byNetwork Rail in 2002, following financial difficulties.

The "CB1" area in front of the station buildings had been due for redevelopment by Ashwell Property Group. In December 2009 the developers went bankrupt and reformed under the name Brookgate. Part of the redevelopment scheme had included a £1 million contribution towards theCambridgeshire Guided Busway scheme passing through the area.^[15]

A new island platform was brought into operational use in December 2011.^[16]

In 2012, the station infrastructure was under scrutiny as it emerged passengers were forced to queue for over 40 minutes to purchase tickets.^[17]

In 2014, the station operatorAbellio Greater Anglia released plans to improve the station building at Cambridge as part of the CB1 project in the area. The works include a bigger concourse, more ticket gates and machines and a bigger ticket office.^[18] These opened in January 2017.

The station building, with its long classicalfaçade andporte-cochère (infilled during the 20th century), has been attributed to bothSancton Wood and Francis Thompson^[19] and is Grade IIlisted. The long platform (platforms 1 and 4) is typical of its period but was unusual in that (apart from a brief period in the mid-19th century) it was not supplemented by another through platform until platforms 7 and 8 were added in 2011. Two further platforms (9 and 10) are proposed to the east of the station to accommodate additional planned services. There were major platform lengthenings and remodellings of the main building in 1863 and 1908. The station layout was altered in 1896 by deviating the Newmarket line approaches.

At 514 yards (470 m), Cambridge has the third-longestrailway platform in the UK on the main railway network, afterColchester andGloucester. This platform is divided into Platforms 1 and 4 with ascissors crossover in the middle to divide it in two, which allows trains from either direction to pass those already stopped there.Bay platforms exist at both ends of the station: Platforms 2 and 3 at the southern end of the station and Platforms 5 and 6 at the northern end. Platforms 7 and 8 are located on an island platform on the eastern side of the station. These came into use in December 2011.^[16]

Platform 1 is a 12-car bi-directional through platform generally used for northbound services to Ely, King's Lynn and Cambridge North. It is also used for some southbound services to London King’s Cross and Stansted Airport and for some late evening terminating services.

Platforms 2 (10-car) and 3 (8-car) are south-facing bay platforms generally used for stopping services to and from London King's Cross.

Platform 4 is a bi-directional 12-car through platform generally used for northbound services to Ely, Norwich, King's Lynn and Birmingham New Street. It is also used for some early morning southbound services to Stansted Airport and for some terminating late evening services.

Platforms 5 and 6 are 6-car north-facing bay platforms generally used for services to and from Ipswich and Norwich (and occasional services to and from Birmingham New Street).

Platforms 7 and 8 are bi-directional 12-car through platforms generally used for southbound services to London King's Cross, London Liverpool Street, Stansted Airport and Brighton via London St Pancras International. These platforms are also used for longer terminating trains from London Liverpool Street and London King's Cross.^[20]

• Great Eastern Railway
  • Main line from London Liverpool Street to Norwich and King's Lynn
  • Cross-country services toBury St Edmunds viaNewmarket and toColchester
  • Cross-country services via Ely,March and the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Line to northern England
  • Branch line toSt Ives and beyond
  • Branch line toMildenhall
• Great Northern Railway
  • Services to London King's Cross via Hitchin, including theCambridge Buffet Car Expresses
• London and North Western Railway
  • Cross-country "Varsity Line" toOxford
• Midland Railway
  • Services via St Ives toKettering

This section needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2021)

v t e Railways around Cambridge
Legend
Fen Line Cambridge North Cambridge & St Ives branch River Cam Cambridge & Mildenhall Line Ipswich–Ely line (viaDullingham) Cambridge LNWR goods Varsity Line Cambridgeshire Guided Busway Cambridge South Cambridge line Shelford Stour Valley Railway West Anglia Main Line

Cambridge is served by several operators.

CrossCountry serves the station with a once-hourly service in each direction betweenStansted Airport andBirmingham New Street viaLeicester, although some trains start at Cambridge.^[21] These services are operated usingClass 170 diesel multiple units.^{[22][better source needed]}

Great Northern serves the station as part of itsGreat Northern route. All trains used areClass 387 electric multiple units.

The typical off-peak service is as follows:^[23]

• 1 tph to London King's Cross, calling at all stations on theCambridge line before running semi-fast to London Kings Cross. This increases to a twice-hourly service during peak times.
• 2 tph to London Kings Cross, which either run non-stop or with limited calling points on the Cambridge line.
• 2 tph to Ely, of which one continues to Kings Lynn (calling at all stations).

Thameslink serves the station with a twice-hourly semi-fast service toBrighton viaSt Pancras International. All trains are 12-carClass 700/1 electric multiple units.^[23]

Greater Anglia serves the station with three routes:

• ToLondon Liverpool Street via theWest Anglia Main Line. A few services to/from Cambridge end or start at Bishops Stortford.
• An hourly service between Cambridge andNorwich via theBreckland Line. Some services are extended to Stansted Airport via Whittlesford Parkway and Audley End.
• An hourly service between Cambridge andIpswich viaBury St Edmunds.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Ely		CrossCountry Birmingham to Cambridge		Stansted Airport orTerminus
Foxton orRoyston		Thameslink Hitchin to Cambridge Line		Terminus
London King's Cross		Great Northern Fen Line		Cambridge North
Foxton
Whittlesford Parkway orTerminus		Greater Anglia Breckland Line
Whittlesford Parkway orShelford		Greater Anglia West Anglia Main Line		Cambridge North orTerminus
Terminus		Greater Anglia Ipswich to Ely Line		Dullingham orNewmarket
	Future Services
Cambourne		East West Rail Oxford-Norwich		Ely
		East West Rail Oxford-Ipswich		Cambridge East
	Disused railways
Lord's Bridge Line and station closed		British Railways Varsity Line		Terminus
Histon Line and station closed		Great Eastern Railway Cambridge to Huntingdon
	Historical railways
Harston Line open, station closed		British Railways Cambridge Line		Terminus
Barnwell Junction Line open, station closed		Great Eastern Railway Cambridge to Mildenhall
Terminus		Newmarket and Chesterford Railway		Cherryhinton Line open, station closed

A new East West Rail route is being developed, allowing travel between Oxford and Cambridge without needing to go via London, which has not been possible since theVarsity line was closed in the 60s. The section between Oxford andBletchley is complete. The first test train ran on 22 October 2024 and scheduled passenger services were expected to start in 2025.^[24] (As of January 2026^[update], services have still not commenced, due an industrial dispute.) The section from Bedford to Cambridge is more difficult as parts of the Varsity Line route have been built on and thus an entirely new alignment is needed. The preferred route runs from a newCambridge South, via newCambourne andTempsford stations and thence to Bedford.^[25] The government has committed £10 million of funding as part of the 2016 Autumn Statement to continue to develop the route.^[26]

In November 2025, the East West Rail company proposed that a newCambridge East railway station be built on the line to serve theCambridge Airport site, which has been identified as a location for redevelopment as a new suburb of the city.^[27]

Several local bus services byStagecoach in Cambridge andWhippet Coaches stop immediately south-west of the main station building. There are 9 stops linking the railway with the city centre and other parts of Cambridge, includingAddenbrooke's Hospital, and the surrounding area. The southern section of theCambridgeshire Guided Busway connects directly to the station, allowing buses to run fromTrumpington via the station toSt. Ives andHuntingdon. Buses also travel from the station out of the city toSawston andSaffron Walden. Ataxi rank is located just outside the main entrance.

Since February 2016, a 3-story cycle parking facility, with up to 2,850 spaces, has been open, named Cambridge Cycle Point.^[28] It is located in a building just to the north of the main station entrance. The ground floor of Cycle Point has a cycle shop.

On 30 May 2015 the 09:14 GTR Great Northern service from London King's Cross failed to stop when entering a platform and collided at low speed with the stationary train it was due to couple with shortly after 10:00 BST. No damage was caused but three passengers were slightly injured.^[29]

The Eastern Counties Railway opened a smallmotive power depot at the station in 1845. This was replaced by a larger depot on the west side of the line at the north end of the station, in 1847 and this shed became aGreat Eastern Railway shed in 1862. The shed was enlarged in 1913.

Cambridge was the principal shed of a main GE district and during World War 1 was recorded as having 101 drivers, 89 firemen under an inspector named G Dorrington. Repairs fell under a foreman fitter who had a staff of 70 men although responsibility for boiler repairs fell to the foreman boilermaker. There was also a wagon repair facility at the depot at this time led by a leading carpenter. Finally another foreman was charged with the day-to-day running of the depot as well as being responsible for the outstations such as King's Lynn, Ely, Mildenhall and seven others. A number of clerks would also have been employed at the depot.^[30]

At the end of 1922 the Great Eastern shed at Cambridge had an allocation of 178 locomotives being the second biggest shed on the Great Eastern after Stratford shed. The allocation consisted of:^{[31][page needed]}

Further enlargement and improvement of facilities took place in 1932. Most significantly a mechanical coaling plant was bought into use as well as the construction of a new lifting shop and modern sand dispensers.^[32]

Cambridge shed had two locomotives allocated for royal train workings at this time - Class D15 4-4-0s numbers 8783 and 8787 (known as the Royal Clauds) which were kept in pristine condition.^[33]

Following nationalization in 1948 the shed was operated by British Railways Eastern Region. It was allocated shed code 31A at this time.

In the 1950s there was a dedicated pool of four drivers (known as the Royal Link) based at Cambridge who operated the two royal engines which were cleaned regularly. The locomotives were Class B2 4-6-0s numbers 61671 ‘Royal Sovereign’ and 61617 ‘Ford Castle’. The link system - which was operated throughout British Railways at this time was a career progression and at Cambridge these included Pilot Links (shunting), Branch Goods, Mainline Goods, Branch Passenger and Express links as well as route specific links to Bletchley, the GN (Hitchin) and Kettering routes.^[34]

Cambridge shed received its first allocation of diesels in 1958.^[35] The following year the last 2-4-0 locomotive in traffic on British Railways (Class E4 2-4-0 number 62785) was withdrawn from traffic and has been preserved in its GER guise of no 490 as part of the national collection. In 2018 it was on loan toBressingham steam museum near Diss.

The shed closed 18 June 1962 and the demolition of Cambridge's loco shed building, repair shops and loco hoists leaving the shed offices and stores buildings took place in 1965. Some of the track in the former loco yard next to platform 6 was kept as engine sidings,^[36] while the rest was made into a car park.^[37]

The Great Eastern Railway opened a smallmotive power depot on the east side of the line at the south end of the station for its own and Great Northern Railway locomotives in 1879.

At the end of 1922 the Great Northern shed at Cambridge had an allocation of ten locomotives. The allocation consisted of:^{[31][page needed]}

This was closed by the London and North Eastern Railway in 1924, and used as a wagon works until it was demolished in 1985. TheBedfordshire and Cambridge Railway opened a smallmotive power depot on the west side of the line at the south end of the station in 1862. This was closed by theLondon Midland and Scottish Railway on 2 December 1935, but remained in use, unofficially until 1951. The building was demolished in 1964.^[37]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toCambridge railway station.

• Train times andstation information for Cambridge railway station fromNational Rail
• Historic England."Details from listed building database (1343683)".National Heritage List for England.

• Transport in Cambridge
• History of Cambridge
• Railway stations in Cambridgeshire
• Grade II listed buildings in Cambridge
• Grade II listed railway stations
• Former Great Eastern Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1845
• Railway stations served by CrossCountry
• Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway
• Railway stations served by Greater Anglia
• Train driver depots in England
• 1845 establishments in England
• East West Rail
• DfT Category B stations
• Cambridge line
• Fen line

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