The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority (CPCA) has just published the long-awaited reports from Network Rail setting out the Business Case for a railway shuttle service from Wisbech to March. This will be discussed at the next meeting of the CPCA Transport and Infrastructure Committee on Monday 4th November 2024.
The plans to reopen the line have been progressing for over a decade, and in 2020 a CPCA commissioned business case was produced showing a good benefit to cost ratio of up to 3 for a scheme with a half hourly direct heavy rail or tram-train service to Cambridge.
At the time it was assumed that the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) project would provide extra capacity through Ely to allow this new service. Unfortunately, the EACE project was, and still is, stalled awaiting government funding so in 2022 it was decided to study if there was a business case for a simple shuttle from Wisbech to March, and it is this study that has just been published.
The good news from the study is that the previous costs for reopening the line were reasonably accurate. The less welcome news is that reducing the reopening to a shuttle has a serious effect on the Benefit to Cost Ratio, caused by the longer journey time, unappealing and time-consuming change of trains in March onto the relatively poor rail service to Cambridge, and fewer people travelling.
We therefore call for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority commit to building the railway back to Wisbech, initially as a temporary shuttle service, but with a definite future plan, when the capacity at Ely is enhanced, of train service of at least once an hour direct to Cambridge and eventually, to Peterborough, matching the strong business case from 2020.
This will enable sustainable growth in Wisbech through the proposed new town suburb and will also benefit economic growth in Peterborough and Cambridge.
Wisbech is the only major town in Cambridgeshire without a railway station. Towns approaching its size, St Neots, Huntingdon, Ely, all have railway stations that are used by thousands of their residents each day for journeys long and short. Wisbech by contrast is in urgent need of this quality infrastructure to begin to make it thrive once again and enable its residents to simply enjoy the mobility their fellow county residents take for granted. People want a new station and service that inspires pride.
