More trains could stop after £3m station upgrade

The Whittlesey station improvements include automation of the level crossing gates, longer platforms and a new footbridge

A £3m upgrade to a town’s railway station could help get more trains to stop there "and not just pass [through]", a district council said.

Fenland District Council has accepted the funding from the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority to move forward with work to improve the Whittlesey railway station.

Chris Boden, Conservative council leader, said he hoped the improvements "would help encourage more people to use the station".

The authority has been hoping to improve the station for a number of years, with a masterplan created in 2013 setting out the ambition to create a new station car park, extend the platforms, and build a new pedestrian footbridge.

The combined authority funding would help in the station improvements including automation of the road gates, lengthening of the platforms, and the provision of a footbridge to link the two platforms.

A report presented to the council’s cabinet said “smaller projects” had been completed at the station, including providing a second ticket machine and two new shelters.

Conservative councillor Alex Miscandlon said he supported the new funding as the station had "suffered for a number years of underinvestment".

Mr Boden said the station was facing a "chicken and egg situation".

"The poor facilities and the short and disjointed platforms discourage people from using the station, therefore additional trains are not put on... because there are so few trains that are put on and the service is so infrequent, people do not tend to use the station," he said.

"It is not that we lack trains passing through; the problem is too many passenger trains do exactly that - they pass through and they do not stop.

"That will be a big battle ahead, a battle we have been fighting for some time, but these proposals will assist in ensuring that battle is eventually won."

A feedback event for residents will be hosted by Hereward Community Rail Partnership at Whittlesey Town Council offices on Queen Street on 28 June.

It will be part of a series of events aimed at gathering input about the station's redevelopment.