First Great British Railways station, at Cambridge South, to open in June following delays

Cambridge’s long-delayed third railway station will finally open its doors to passengers on Sunday 28 June — and, the government has confirmed, it will be the first in the country to carry the full branding of Great British Railways (GBR).

Services on Great Northern, Thameslink, Greater Anglia and CrossCountry will begin calling at Cambridge South that morning, with a formal opening ceremony scheduled for the following day. The station, built with more than £250 million of government money alongside contributions from AstraZeneca, the Cambridge & Peterborough Combined Authority and the Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership, is expected to handle 1.8 million passengers every year.

First station to fly the GBR colours

Great British Railways is the centrepiece of the government’s plan to unify Britain’s fragmented rail network under a single public body, consolidating the roles of 17 separate organisations. Legislation to create the new entity is progressing through Parliament, and seven of the largest passenger franchises are already in public hands, accounting for roughly a third of all journeys. Full public ownership is expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

The new visual identity — a red, white and blue colour scheme based on the Union Flag, incorporating the familiar double-arrow symbol — was designed in-house by a small group of ministers and advisers within the Department for Transport in an effort to save money. The result has been described as uncertain, but it will be rolled out gradually from spring 2026, starting at Cambridge South. Alongside the GBR branding the station will also display a new Railway Clock, which the research briefing notes is “more professionally acclaimed” than the DfT-designed signage — though specific details of the clock’s design have not been provided. Railway clocks have historically been symbols of punctuality and standardised time in Britain, with many modern station clocks drawing influence from the classic Swiss railway clock designed by Hans Hilfiker in 1944.

Network Rail’s chief executive, Jeremy Westlake, said the station would “significantly improve travel and connectivity for campus staff, visitors, and the wider community for many years to come”, adding that the project reflected “the excellence of the work that is being undertaken in Europe’s largest biomedical facility”.

Connectivity and design of the new station

Situated beside the Cambridge Biomedical Campus (CBC) — Europe’s largest medical research centre — Cambridge South will offer direct trains to London, Brighton and Stansted Airport, as well as up to nine trains an hour into the centre of Cambridge itself. The station has been designed with sustainability and accessibility in mind: Network Rail expects 95% of passengers to reach it by public transport, walking or cycling. There will be no public car park; just 15 spaces reserved for disabled drivers, staff, taxis and pick-up/drop-off zones, alongside 1,000 bicycle parking spaces.

Construction began in January 2023, with J Murphy & Sons Ltd awarded the main £93.4 million contract in October that year. The station was originally due to open in 2025 but suffered two delays: first because of signalling upgrades across Cambridge and East Coast Main Line timetable changes, then, more seriously, because the contractor responsible for fitting out the electrics collapsed. The total cost has risen from an initial estimate of £173 million to around £228 million — an increase of roughly £55 million blamed on the subcontractor’s administration and additional signalling work. The government has confirmed its investment at “over £250 million”.

Economic impact of the Biomedical Campus

The Department for Transport said the adjacent Biomedical Campus is forecast to contribute between £12.7 billion and £18.2 billion to the UK economy by 2050, up from £4.7 billion annually today. For every £10 the campus generates, a further £10 is created elsewhere in the economy. The site already employs 23,000 people — making it Cambridge’s single largest employment site — and the DfT expects employment to double within the next decade. Every 10 direct jobs on campus support an additional 10.3 jobs across the UK.

The rail minister, Lord Peter Hendy, said the new station would “open up access to jobs, homes and world-class facilities for people across the region, boosting the growth of the Biomedical Campus as one of the most important engines of growth in the country”. He added: “As the first new Great British Railways branded station, the opening is an important milestone for our railways and a sign of the real change public ownership will deliver.”

East West Rail connection — still uncertain

Cambridge South is also intended to eventually serve the East West Rail line, which aims to re-establish a direct link between Oxford and Cambridge and unlock economic growth estimated at £103 billion along the corridor. However, the delayed start of initial services between Milton Keynes and Oxford — held up by a dispute with rail unions over driver-only operation — means direct trains between the two university cities are unlikely to begin in 2030 as originally hoped. Construction of the first stage (Oxford to Bletchley/Milton Keynes) was completed in 2024, but passenger services have not yet begun. Chiltern Railways has been appointed to operate that section. The second stage, from Bletchley to Bedford, is expected to deliver an hourly Oxford-to-Bedford service by 2030, while the route from Bedford to Cambridge is still under investigation.

HS2 contracts announced for Birmingham depot

In a separate development, HS2 Ltd has announced the award of an £856 million contract to build the high-speed railway’s main control centre and rolling stock depot on a disused 70-hectare site at Washwood Heath in Birmingham. The contract was won by a joint venture of Taylor Woodrow Infrastructure Ltd and Aureos Rail Ltd. The former industrial site, once home to the LDV and Metro-Cammell vehicle works, will be transformed into a major business and logistics hub, creating around 1,000 long-term jobs and approximately 500 temporary construction roles. Washwood Heath is one of the most deprived areas in the country, making the employment boost particularly significant.

The depot will include a Rolling Stock Maintenance Building, Carriage Wash, Automatic Vehicle Inspection Building, stabling sidings and a test track, as well as the Network Integrated Control Centre (NICC). The contract award follows what HS2 Ltd described as a “comprehensive reset” of the programme aimed at improving efficiency and reducing costs. Lord Hendy called it “another milestone in getting HS2 back on track”, saying the railway would “create thousands of jobs across the West Midlands — from the construction teams transforming this former industrial site, to the skilled workforce who will operate this state-of-the-art facility for decades to come”. The overall budget for HS2 is being reassessed, and the contract award was scrutinised by an independent review panel to ensure efficient delivery.