Everything you need to know about Cambridge South station

Passengers will be able to travel to and from a new multimillion-pound railway station this weekend.

Cambridge South opens to the public on Sunday and is expected to welcome 1.8m passengers annually.

Here is everything you need to know about the station.

The Department for Transport said the station would link to the city's Biomedical Campus.

The campus, south of Cambridge, is home to Addenbrooke's Hospital and the Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, alongside a number of private companies including AstraZeneca.

Network Rail said the station would "provide better travel options and connectivity for 1.8 million customers, patients, visitors and employees when travelling to and from the Cambridge Biomedical Campus".

Peter Denton CBE, chairman of Cambridge Biomedical Campus Limited, said: "Cambridge South will deliver long-term growth and have an immediate impact for hospital visits and those seeking jobs and career opportunities within the world-leading life sciences, health, research and education organisations which we are lucky to have here."

It said the site would also support future East West rail services, which aims to connect Oxford, Milton Keynes, Bedford and Cambridge.

The station will see up to 20 services calling at it in peak hours.

It has two storeys with four platforms, ticket vending machines, lifts, retail space and facilities for pedestrians and cyclists and is connected to the local cycle network and next to the guided busway system.

It also features a "green roof" incorporating a wildflower meadow and a rainwater catchment system designed to store and gradually release water into the surrounding environment and nearby brook, the Department for Transport said.

In the last government's budget in 2020, it said it would build the railway station in Cambridge subject to planning permission, which was later granted in December 2022.

Construction started in January 2023. In June the same year the government agreed to fully fund the £250m project.

Alongside that pot of money, AstraZeneca, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridge Partnership contributed £5m.

Completion of the station was delayed from 2025 due to the £194m Cambridgeshire re-signalling project and the East Coast Main Line timetable rejig.

It was delayed a second time due to a sub-contractor going bust. It was meant to open early 2026, but this was delayed until Sunday.

Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, said: "This £250 million investment means a journey that once took over an hour – involving a train, a bus, a walk – is now a single 45-minute direct train from London.

"That's a real, tangible difference in people's lives."

The first service on Sunday is expected to arrive at a platform, travelling from Cambridge, at 06:35 BST.

The station will be managed and served by Greater Anglia, with other existing train operators expected to call at the site, Network Rail said.

Passengers can travel to London, Birmingham, Stansted Airport and international rail services via St Pancras.

It will also act as a direct link to the city's Biomedical Campus.

Jamie Burles, managing director for GBR Anglia, said: "Cambridge South will be a game-changer, providing a more sustainable travel option for workers and visitors at the biomedical campus and for local residents too, supporting regional growth and boosting connection to major cities and transport hubs across the UK."

Cambridge Liberal Democrats said its party campaigned in the 1990s for an "Addenbrooke's Station", the railway station that has now become Cambridge South.

Pippa Heylings, Liberal Democrat MP for South Cambridgeshire, said it was "wonderful to see it finally becoming a reality".

"The new Cambridge South station isn't just a nice-to-have. This is vital infrastructure, catching up with the growth that has happened."

Daniel Zeichner, Labour MP for Cambridge, said he was "thrilled" about the station opening.

"It will be transformative for many who work on the Biomedical Campus, as well as those attending and working at the hospitals," he said.

"It has been long in the making, and I pay tribute to all those involved."

Talking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's Chris Mann, Paul Bristow, Mayor for Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, said: "When Cambridge South opens next week I think that's going to transform how people get around.

"I think if we get some sort of smart ticketing on the buses and on our trains I think that will work."

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