The expected date for when work on the new Waterbeach Station will be completed has been pushed back a year.

The Greater Cambridge Partnership (GCP) is now forecasting that the new railway station will be completed in 2026, rather than in 2025 as had originally been hoped for.

The new station will replace the existing Waterbeach Station and is required to be built before thousands of new homes can be built as part of Waterbeach New Town.

Last month the GCP said the work to complete the full business case for the project had been delayed after the rail industry had asked for additional survey work to be undertaken.

At the time, the partnership said it still expected the project to be completed in 2025 despite the delay.

However, a report presented to the GCP joint assembly meeting this week (February 15) said the forecast completion date for the new railway station is now 2026.

The report said the GCP is aiming to submit a full design package to Network Rail for review by the end of this month.

The GCP agreed to take on the project to relocate Waterbeach Station in June 2022.

At the time the Partnership said the scheme was expected to cost £37million to complete, but accepted there was a risk these costs could increase.

Building the new railway station was a condition of South Cambridgeshire District Council’s approval of plans to build 4,500 new homes as part of the Waterbeach New Town development.

The relocation project had been expected to be led and funded by developers, however the GCP was told in 2022 that this was no longer considered to be viable.

The GCP agreed to take on the project in order to “unlock” the Waterbeach New Town housing, and the developer RLW Estates proposed to contribute £17 million towards the cost of relocating the station.

Timeline of the Waterbeach Station relocation project:

  • January, 2021 – South Cambridgeshire District Council approves outline permission for 4,500 homes as part of the Waterbeach New Town. One of the conditions of the approval is the requirement for a new railway station to be built.
  • June 9, 2022 – GCP announces plans to take on the relocation project, but concerns are raised over the financial risk.
  • June 30, 2022 – GCP executive board agrees to take on the project.
  • August 2022 – Some people in Waterbeach raise concerns about the station being moved further away from them.
  • February 2023 – ‘Work begins’ on the new station as 83 markers are placed in the ground to start work ahead of the planning permission expiring.
  • January 2024 – GCP announces delays to planning work for the new station, but still forecasts 2025 completion.
  • February 2024 – GCP pushes back the forecast completion of the new railway station to 2026.