Murphy starts on new Cambridge station as project handed £200m

J Murphy has started preparatory works on a new Cambridge station as the project received £200m in government funding.

The four-platform station, due to open in two years’ time, will improve access to the Cambridge Biomedical Campus – Europe’s largest centre of medical research and health science – as well as support rapid growth in the area south of Cambridge’s city centre.

A main contractor for the station is due to be appointed in July, with around 300 jobs being expected to be made through the construction phrase.

Announcing the government funding, rail minister Huw Merriman said the advantages of improved transport links would be felt across the city and beyond.

“This brand-new station will not only benefit local passengers but deliver a major boost to the entire city, improving connectivity to a world-leading academic hub while unlocking local business and growth opportunities across the region,” he said.

“This is just another step in our efforts to create a thriving, well-connected, passenger-focused rail network to support communities for generations to come.”

The new facility, expected to serve 1.8 million passengers a year, will be Cambridge’s third station, acting as a key transport link between the biomedical campus and international gateways such as Stansted Airport and the Eurostar.

It will also form part of the proposed route of the future East West Rail line, which would connect Oxford and Cambridge.

Katie Frost, Network Rail’s route director for Anglia, said the creation of a station to serve the “vitally important and growing” biomedical campus was a significant development.

“Rail continues to be an environmentally sustainable form of transport and I know the minister’s announcement will be welcomed by the customers and communities we serve across Cambridgeshire and beyond,” she said.

Cambridge Biomedical Campus Limited executive director Kristin-Anne Rutter said the new station would make the campus more sustainable by allowing staff, patients and visitors to access its facilities without a car.

“This is a campus dedicated to improving human health, so anything that has the potential to cut air pollution and take pressure off our local roads is also very welcome,” she added.