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SOHAM TOWN FORUM |
Soham Train Station Campaign
Working Group
Chris Scurrah (Soham
On-Line)
Peggy Gibbon (Soham Town Councillor)
George Ginn (Soham Town Councillor)
Peter Beer (Resident)
1879
- Railway and Station Built
The long awaited Railway arrived in Soham and brought new commercial prosperity.
2nd
June 1944 - Soham Train Explosion
Soham
Station was destroyed after a train carrying bombs caught fire and
exploded on the 2nd June 1944. A platform was rebuilt within days of the
destruction of the Station.
Early
1960's - Dr Beeching axes Stations across Britain
Soham
Platform was closed down in 1965 instigated by Dr. Beeching's plan to
close stations all over the county during the early 1960's. The chord between Soham and Newmarket was removed soon after which served as the
direct route between Soham and Cambridge.
There have been no train services at Soham for over 40 years although
passenger trains pass by 14 times a day, 7 in each direction. It is also
interesting to note that since the station at Soham was closed in 1965, the population of Soham and road traffic have
increased by more than two thirds.
Soham's
Population
Soham's current population is 10,200 residents with only one real option to get to Cambridge -
BY ROAD. The latest house building program in Soham over the next 2
years equates to the construction of around 1,000 new dwellings. This
will increase the population of Soham by 1/10th to around 11,500
residents along with the associated increase in cars and road
traffic.
Bus
Services
The Stagecoach 12 bus services between
Ely, Soham, Fordham, Newmarket & Cambridge are hardly being used and
evening services have been axed.
Re-installing
a Rail Service to Cambridge
The average cost of building a Railway
Station/Platform is around £1.5 Million. The last estimated costs
that were made in 1996 for upgrading the
existing line between Ely and Newmarket and building a station in Soham was £12 Million which
would have
included the following:-
Double Tracking the Railway Line between
Soham and Ely, A Station/Platform at Soham, Re-installing the missing
chord between Soham and Newmarket and installing points and signalling
along the route.
Responses
Network Rail said they supported the idea
but had no funds and said that the local councils could help pay for it.
East Cambridgeshire District Council support the idea.
Cambridge County Council said it would
be unviable without a link to Cambridge and are only interested in
improving bus services.
James Paice, MP for South East
Cambridgeshire, supported the idea and said some market research was
needed.
John Powley, Cambridge County Councillor for
Soham, is strongly against the re-opening of a station in Soham. He
quoted in the local press that Soham Train Station Campaigners were
living in cloud cuckoo land as it was unviable and will never get
built.
One Railway have already increased
services between Peterborough and London Liverpool Street which pass through Soham and
services run 14 times a day, 7 times in each direction but cannot stop
at Soham as there is no station.
Network Rail have
also stated that they are interested in putting more
freight on the line between Ipswich and Peterborough (going past Soham. In the last report back in 1994/1995 they said if they wanted to
increase freight on the line they would have to double track between Soham and Ely anyway but would rather the local councils pay for it as
part of putting a station at Soham. Since then rail freight and
passenger services have increased quite considerably.
There is also the question of the house
building program for the next two years in and around Soham (1,000 per
year until 2010).
More Houses=More
People=More Cars &Traffic
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