Following on from a post back in February, I had a brief go at imagining what an underground light rail system for Cambridge would look like (after all, Cambridge needs a bit more political ambition and vision). Maybe, with at least £1billion potentially being unlocked soon for transport in the Greater Cambridge area, something like this could be implemented – I certainly hope that it at least generates debate about the sorely needed transport investment in and around the city. While I haven’t done all of the analyses that I’d like1 (I’m not getting paid for this, unsurprisingly), I have tried to connect up a number of the hotspots highlighted on the map here with key transport links, attempted to avoid historic buildings (points at which the Cam can be crossed are somewhat limited by this) and given some thought to splitting the project into lines which also represent key stages2. As noted on the proposal summary below, I have assumed a deep-level system – a cut-and-cover system would add the additional constraint of generally following roads3.
What an underground DLR-style railway for Cambridge might look like.
- For example, distances between stations, potential users served by each station, station locations and depot location(s). [↩]
- The Central line is obviously the key cross-city route, and both it and the North line would be easier to do sooner rather than later as they connect key points which do not yet exist and for which the plans have not been finalised: North-West Cambridge, Northstowe, West Cambridge (the site exists, but there’s still considerable space that hasn’t been used), Cambridge Science Park (the station, rather than the science park itself, so it’s useful for Cambridge Business Park too) and Cambridge Station (not all of the new development has been approved, and there is considerable space on the opposite side of the railway tracks to the station side). [↩]
- If the system were cut-and-cover, I think I would stick to roughly the same overall plan but some route details and stations may be changed. [↩]
