We’re working hard to upgrade the signalling in Cambridge this Christmas and New Year period. This will help us prepare the railway for the new Cambridge South station we’re building, as well as help bring you more reliable trains.
Preparations for Cambridge’s newest railway station
From Wednesday 25 December 2024 to Sunday 5 January 2025, we’re carrying out major engineering works in the Cambridge area. For 12 days, our engineers will be working hard to prepare the railway for the new Cambridge South station currently being built.
Our teams will be upgrading the track, electrifying the overhead lines and renewing the switches and crossings – or the moveable track sections – at the nearby Shepreth Branch Junction. This work will also help make your journeys run more efficiently through here.
Engineers will also connect the last two lines running through the new station to the railway.
The new Cambridge South station is on track to open next year. It will bring you faster journeys between Cambridge, London, London Stansted Airport, Birmingham and Europe.
Cambridge re-signalling project
We’ll also be making the most of this period of closure to deliver the first stage of our signalling renewal programme for the Cambridge area.
This holiday period, we’ll replace a part of the 40-year-old signalling panel at the Cambridge power signal box with a new digital workstation. Our teams will also install signalling equipment between Cambridge and Ely. This will help our signallers run the signalling system more efficiently here – giving you better journeys.
Signalling systems are essential to the safe and efficient operation of the railway. The £194m re-signalling project aims to modernise the signalling system in Cambridge that’s approaching the end of its working life. This will help us give you and freight more reliable and efficient journeys.
Check before you travel
Lawrence Bowman, the route director for the Anglia region at Network Rail, said: “Our programme of engineering work this Christmas is critical for upgrading and maintaining the railway ahead of the new year. Our engineers, maintenance crews, contractors and surveyors will be out on track over the entire Christmas period delivering this important work.”
We’ll be closing parts of our railway in and around Cambridge during this period for our teams to carry out this work safely and efficiently. Many journeys around the Cambridge area and beyond will be affected as a result.
We urge you to check before you travel.
