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More info × Group 28 Thank you for subscribing! We have more newsletters Show Me No thanks, close See our Privacy Notice A Cambridge company is calling for £5million in government investment - to help put its proposed light rail scheme in the city on track. Cambridge Connect has written to Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, to ask for the cash to be included in the Autumn spending review. Cambridge Connect said the money was needed to pay for feasibility studies to test the viability of the proposed routes.
It said options for how the scheme would be financed, whether publicly or privately, also needed to be considered. The Cambridge Connect proposals would connect the city centre to other areas - with a small tunnel being used on one stretch of track. The first stage of the proposal, the so called Isaac Newton Line, would link Trumpington to Eddington via Addenbrooke's Hospital.
Read More: FlixBus launches first electric coach service between Cambridge and London Read More: Man airlifted to hospital after van crashes into Cambridgeshire house It would also connect to two of the city's railway stations - the main station and the currently under construction Cambridge South - and the Biomedical Campus. It believes the core of this network could be constructed within six years at a capital cost of between £700 and £800 million. After that, it is believed the network would cost around £35million a year to operate, based on comparisons to Nottingham, which operates a similar network.
Cambridge Connect said that with around 13 million estimated journeys a year, the network would cover its operational costs. Once the Isaac Newton Line was completed, there could be further extensions to other parts of the city. It is also proposed the scheme could reach further afield to places including Haverhill, Cambourne and Northstowe - and potentially as far as Huntingdon and St Neots.
The company claims the scheme is essential to tackle traffic congestion in Cambridge, as well as other factors including a growing population. It says similar light rail networks work in other European cities around the same size as Cambridge. Colin Harris, Director of Cambridge Connect, said: “We have now reached the point when our proposals deserve to be fully tested .
No strategy for the future of Cambridge can work without a radical modal shift away from the motor car. "Light rail can provide a core backbone of fast, reliable, clean and adaptable public transport that when integrated with other modes such as trains, buses, coaches and active travel will serve the whole community well while unlocking our full potential as a key centre for European science and technology. "Cambridge Connect is urging the Government to invest in these crucial studies to pave the way for a future-proof transport solution that meets the needs of a growing city and region”.
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