Waterbeach railway station

Waterbeach railway station is on the Fen line in the east of England, serving the village of Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. It is 61 miles 1 chain (98.2 km) measured from London Liverpool Street and 63 miles 29 chains (102.0 km) from London King's Cross; it is situated between Cambridge North and Ely stations. Its three-letter station code is WBC.

Waterbeach
The northbound platform at Waterbeach
LocationWaterbeach, South Cambridgeshire
England
Grid referenceTL500650
Owned byNetwork Rail
Managed byGreat Northern
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeWBC
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Original companyEastern Counties Railway
Pre-groupingGreat Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLondon and North Eastern Railway
Key dates
30 July 1845Opened[1]
Passengers
2015/16 0.421 million
2016/17 0.440 million
2017/18 0.430 million
2018/19 0.408 million
2019/20 0.378 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station and most trains calling are operated by Great Northern, with limited peak services being operated by Greater Anglia.

Waterbeach station is unstaffed, and has only basic waiting shelters on each of the two platforms. All the station buildings have been demolished. The platforms are staggered on each side of a half barrier level crossing. Until electrification and the automation of the crossing, the platforms were located opposite each other.

History
The northbound platform in 2004

Before electrification, British Rail services often did not stop at Waterbeach; or if they did, stops would be unofficial. However, since electrification, virtually all King's Lynn/Ely - Cambridge/London services have stopped there (the present timetable shows only three Monday - Friday in both directions not stopping there) passenger numbers surged, with people all across the area north of Cambridge in South Cambridgeshire using it as their primary station. As a result, passenger numbers are nearly as high as Downham Market, and the station sees a lot of parking problems.[2]

Future plans

Plans to develop a New Town of 8,000 to 9,000 homes on the former Waterbeach Barracks site have been outlined by South Cambridgeshire District Council. As part of the proposal, there are plans to relocate the station to a new site and extend the platforms to accommodate 12 car trains.[3]

Services

Great Northern

Great Northern serves Waterbeach on its Cambridge Cruiser services to London King's Cross and to King's Lynn. Services are usually operated by Class 387s or, on occasion, Class 365s.[4]

Trains run hourly in both directions during off-peak times. Up trains call at Cambridge North and Cambridge, then run non-stop to King's Cross via Royston and the East Coast Main Line. Down trains call at all stations to King's Lynn.

Greater Anglia

Greater Anglia also operates weekday peak services, with three trains running to London Liverpool Street in the mornings and three trains to King's Lynn in the evenings. The last of these London-bound services calls at all stations to Cheshunt, then Tottenham Hale, before reaching Liverpool Street. These are operated by Class 379s.[5] There are no weekend services.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Cambridge North   Great Northern
Fen Line		   Ely
  Greater Anglia
Fen Line
Limited services		  

References
  1. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 242. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  2. Brown, Raymond (20 February 2017). "New tactics to tackle bad parking as police flooded with complaints". cambridgenews. Archived from the original on 4 March 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.
  3. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 4 April 2017.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. "New trains on London to King's Lynn route". 23 May 2017. Archived from the original on 10 December 2018. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  5. Vehicle Change Notice Archived 28 December 2016 at the Wayback Machine Network Rail 14 April 2010

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