Combined Authority seals deal for Network Rail to build Soham station

Combined Authority seals deal for Network Rail to build Soham station

A new station to reconnect Soham with the rail network will improve economic growth, jobs and investment in the area, and give Soham people freedom of travel from their doorstep for the first time since the old station was axed in 1965.

The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority this week contracted Network Rail to build the new station and footbridge, car and cycle park, plus access road with bus turning circle.

The route, to be operated by Greater Anglia, is on the Ipswich to Peterborough line, and would call at Bury St Edmunds and Ely.

The initial plan is for a single platform station with potential to expand to two platforms were another line to be added. The new station is expected to cost £21.8 million and the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority has already spent £2.7 million drawing up plans for the scheme.

The Mayoral Combined Authority scheme will now power ahead to detailed design. Work on site is scheduled to start next year.

Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Mayor James Palmer said:

“People have been crying out for this, they’ve campaigned long and hard to get their station back, and we can’t wait to get diggers on site. This will transform life in Soham but it’s just one of many rail improvements the Combined Authority is making across the region. Soham today, but there are big plans for Manea, Whittlesea, Wisbech and March as part of regenerating Fenland rail, getting faster, more frequent and later-running services, and linking communities to the jobs, schools, and leisure activities that give choice and make life richer and more fun.”