Cambridge Connect 🇺🇦

Today we release our new video profiling light rail as a backbone of mass transit to support the Cambridge region. The network would connect key residential, commercial, education & health centres, joined up w trains, buses, active travel & Park & Rides: vimeo.com/948283462

It’s important that past mistakes are not repeated. It’s time to make practical and tangible progress on the mass rapid transit this region so badly needs. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

⭐️CAMBRIDGE SOUTH STATION⭐️ On a trip to see #Cambridge South Station with Network Rail & AstraZeneca - it is really taking shape with a planned opening in June 26 💪 Looking forward to a world class station gateway leading into the world-leading Cambridge Bio-Medical Campus 🚉

The UK has a mass transit gap. Only 9 British cities have a tram or metro, compared to 30 French cities and 60 German ones. Every French city with a population greater than 150,000 has a mass transit system. If Dundee, Peterborough or Newport were French, they would have a tram.

There's a new Lords amendment that will give Mayors the power to approve new underground or tram projects instead of waiting 3+ years to get the Transport Secretary to sign off. That means Tracy Brabin could approve the Leeds tram or Sadiq Khan could approve the Bakerloo Line Extension. This amendment needs to be adopted. Mayors know their area best. They should be able to pledge to voters that they will build new infrastructure and then be able to approve, fund and deliver it. In Spain and France, local leaders have all the power to deliver local transport. In turn, they build projects 2x faster and for less than half the price.

Delivery of EWR could be accelerated by simplifying the line direct into Cambridge South & instead serving Cambourne by light rail as per Cambridge Connect. Faster, cheaper, more flexible & better connections. Lower environmental impact. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

As we wait to see whether Damocles’ sword falls on Coton Orchard, Cambridge’s future plan is out for consultation. From the sky, the story is stark: the city swelling into its green edges, herding our wild kin into ever smaller, ever more fragile patches… #SaveCotonOrchard

In @CambridgeIndy we launch our #SciTechAwards, discuss #Cambridge tourism levy & explore 20-year vision for 50,000 homes. Mass transit for city, royal visit, @CUBotanicGarden Lights pic special, columns from @paulbristow79 @pippaheylings @CambridgePPF @CllrTimBick

#RAILEAST Dec 2025 issue (24 pages) from @RailfutureEA can be read at railfuture.org.uk/east/rail-east…. Lots of articles including the opening of Beaulieu Park station and behind the scenes of the NET tram system in Nottingham. Details of our Cambridge meeting on Sat 6 Dec at 14:00

🏙️ Cambridge could see 50,000 new homes over the next 20 years – a “Second Cambridge”! Read our blog, explore the plan, and join the conversation before the public consultation opens 1 Dec 2025: cambridgeppf.org/doubling-the-s…  #GreaterCambridge #LocalPlan

🚊ELY JUNCTION - RAIL MINISTER🚊 Met the Rail Minister to talk Ely Junction & the need for faster & more frequent trains between #Peterborough, #Fens, #Ely & #Cambridge 🙏 The business case right now is built on freight only. With the case for passengers - it’s unarguable 💪🚊

🧵British cities outside of London vastly underperform their European counterparts Part of this is accounted for by lower housing density and almost non existent mass transport, like metros and trams So why not build more trams? Because in Britain we make it twice as expensive

A Visitor Accommodation Supplement can enable the Cambridge light rail scheme we’ve proposed, including the tunnel. The Mayor of the Combined Authority should implement it without delay to deliver on 2025 election promise. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

To mark National Tree Week and the close of the Public Inquiry, the Coton Tree of Hope will be planted by Sir Partha Dasgupta, Cambridge economist and President of Wildlife Trust BCN, a leading voice on the value of nature and a steadfast supporter of the campaign to #saveCotonOrchard. @guardian theguardian.com/environment/20…

Railfuture welcomes today's news that there will be more passenger services on East West Rail and also the arrival of Cambridge East station. Read on at railfuture.org.uk/display4184

Uppsala, Sweden, with a population similar to Cambridge, plans to invest £650M in a 17 km tramway with the aim of opening in 2029. It will connect residential, business & University areas with the main rail line & transport hubs - excellent plan! mainspring.co.uk/industry-news/…

Valencia invests in metro and light rail mainspring.co.uk/industry-news/…

Excellent and extremely worthwhile double yellow line on Station Road Cambridge