A huge upgrade by Govia Thameslink Railway will be carried out on Cambridge's train depot and will bring both servicing facilities and stabling for the new fleets of Thameslink, Great Northern and Greater Anglia trains.
The city centre train depot has been expanded to accommodate the longer Thameslink services which have been brought into service between Cambridge, London, Gatwick Airport and Brighton.
The enhanced depot will also include facilities to clean and prepare trains for passenger service.
During the weekend of the 11th and 12th of December will see the railway junction between the depot and the mainline rebuilt which unfortunately means that the mainline will need to be closed.
Network Rail will utilise the closure to complete maintenance and preparation work for future work on the re-signalling scheme for the area.
Reduced services during these dates will run between London and Cambridge with journeys that would normally go through Cambridge, such as between Ely and Royston, will see passengers needing to use rail replacement bus services between Cambridge or Royston and Cambridge North.
The following train services will be running:
- One Thameslink train per hour between London King's Cross and Cambridge – calling at Finsbury Park, Potters Bar, Hatfield, Welwyn Garden City, Welwyn North, Knebworth, Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock, Ashwell & Morden, Royston, Meldreth, Shepreth, Foxton and Cambridge.
- One Thameslink train per hour between Brighton and Cambridge via St Pancras International via St Pancras International, calling at Finsbury Park, Stevenage, Hitchin, Letchworth, Baldock, Ashwell & Morden, Royston and Cambridge.
- One Great Northern train per hour between Cambridge North and King's Lynn calling at Waterbeach, Ely, Littleport, Downham Market, Watlington and King's Lynn.
- Two Greater Anglia trains per hour between London Liverpool Street and Cambridge
- One Greater Anglia train per hour between Cambridge North and Norwich
- One Greater Anglia train per hour between Cambridge North and Ipswich
- One Cross Country train per hour between Ely and Birmingham New Street
Bus services:
- A regular shuttle rail replacement bus service will operate between Cambridge and Cambridge North.
- Great Northern will also run a bus service between Royston and Cambridge North, connecting with the Fen Line services to and from King's Lynn. This is to avoid longer-distance customers needing to travel through Cambridge and to provide a faster journey time.
Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director for Great Northern and Thameslink, said: “We thank everyone for their patience during this essential work to support our improved train service.
“Keeping Cambridge open and our customers moving over the weekend is important to us and we are working closely with our industry partners, the local transport authorities and bus operators to make journeys as smooth as possible.
“VisitCambridge and the local shopping centres are also helping us by sharing the key travel information. Details of train times will be available in online journey planners from late November.”
Jamie Burles, Managing Director of Greater Anglia, said: “We realise this is very inconvenient for customers. Cambridge station will be busy on that weekend and we advise people to plan ahead and allow more time for their journeys.
“We will make sure that customers can still complete their journeys, but there will be fewer trains and some services will be replaced with buses, so it is very important that people check before they travel using our app or website.”
Ellie Burrows, Network Rail's Route Director for Anglia, said: “This work is necessary to improve rail services in the region. We've planned maintenance works to take place during the same closure to minimise the impact on passengers. Passengers are advised to check how this will affect their journeys before they travel.”
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And perhaps Great Northern should inherit the Class 379s as more Class 720s are being delivered and some have entered service on the West Anglia main line.