Government agrees to fund £200m Cambridge South station

Rail minister Huw Merriman said it was an "incredibly ambitious" project

The government has agreed to fully fund a new £200m railway station.

Work has already begun on the Cambridge South station, next to the city's Biomedical Campus.

It is expected to serve 1.8 million passengers a year, making it easier for people to get to the research site from the main Cambridge station and as part of the new East-West Rail line.

Visiting the site, rail minister Huw Merriman said it was an "incredibly ambitious" project.

"But it's something that we want to do. This will help deliver the workforce for Cambridge," he added.

The station, which will be Cambridge's third with its central station and Cambridge North, is expected to be open within two years.

Construction of the site is said to have created 300 new jobs.

Work has already begun on the £200m scheme

Like East-West Rail, for which the proposed route of the final stretch was recently announced, the government is funding infrastructure projects which could encourage greater investment in science.

It said it saw Cambridge as a key part of its aim to make Britain a "science superpower by 2030".

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Katie Frost, Network Rail's route director for East Anglia, said: "Rail continues to be an environmentally sustainable form of transport and I know the minister's announcement will be welcomed by the customers and communities we serve across Cambridgeshire and beyond."

The Cambridge South station is being built next to the city's Biomedical Campus

Once open, it is expected to serve 1.8 million passengers a year

Kristin-Anne Rutter, executive director at Cambridge Biomedical Campus Ltd, added: "We are delighted that the Cambridge Biomedical Campus is to get its own railway station in less than two years' time.

"Better public transport links will be critical in fulfilling our vision of a more sustainable campus."