Mayor James Palmer says funding for a new station at Cambridge South is “very welcome and long overdue” after it was announced in today’s budget.
The Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough welcomed the announcement by chancellor of the exchequer Rushi Sunak that the station will be completed by 2025 - five years ahead of the original schedule
Mayor James Palmer said: 'We are pleased that our case to disentangle Cambridge South station from East West Rail, which is not planned for at least another 10 years, has been listened to.
'We are also pleased that the time it will take to deliver a train station for the increasingly important biomedical campus has been halved as a result.
'This is a victory for the tens of thousands of workers and visitors who travel to work and hospital appointments every single day who currently have no choice but to drive.
'We will not rest in continuing to lobby government and Network Rail to deliver Cambridge South train station urgently, on time and on budget.'
The Department for Transport (DfT) first published its proposals three years ago for a new railway station in the south of Cambridge, serving the Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
Over the next four years, 3,750 new jobs are expected to be created.
It is envisaged that by 2031 new housing developments across the southern fringe comprising an estimated 4000 new homes shall be constructed.
Cllr Lewis Herbert, leader of Cambridge City Council Councillor Lewis Herbert, also welcomed the funding announcement.
'Budget confirmation of funding for Cambridge South station is long awaited and hugely welcome,' he said.
'It's a critical part of the jigsaw needed to create an efficient, low carbon transport network across our city, and it'll prompt even faster growth in rail travel across greater Cambridge and beyond.
'And it's so badly needed by thousands of employees, patients and hospital visitors who will gain a reliable non-car alternative to get to Addenbrookes and the Biomedical Campus every day.'
He added: 'Like much else in today's budget, the detail will only be clear when the fine print is published.
'We want to see exactly how much will be funded, when will it open and will it also provide an integrated transport hub there too, essential to ensure effective bus, cycle and walking access to and from the new station.'
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