Putting Wisbech back on the railway map

The issues surrounding level crossings have, according to Wakefield, been “exhaustively examined”. This is no small matter on the A47 - NR could insist on building a new bridge from a safety perspective, even though this would massively inflate the costs.

“The rules for level crossings would mean relatively cheap modifications to the current equipment for speeds up to 55mph-60mph,” says Wakefield.

“There is a school of thought that up to four crossings per hour of the A47 level crossing by DMUs would make little difference to the movement of traffic on it, as there is already a busy roundabout 400 metres to the west interrupting flow.”

At the next roundabout to the east, the busy A1101 that leads into Wisbech town centre crosses the A47. Wakefield suggests that train movements would actually help the A1101’s flow of traffic, as a result of breaks in the A47 flow caused by the level crossing.

However, it seems that those who say a bridge is necessary now (rather than wait for the A47 upgrade) are in the ascendancy. A bridge has been built into the business case for the line, with which Wakefield has been heavily involved.

The proposed train service would be hourly, and was initially proposed to be Wisbech-March-Peterborough, although alternative new services have since been suggested that would directly link Wisbech with Cambridge (this would not prevent good connections with CrossCountry and Greater Anglia trains to Peterborough).

The envisaged likely service pattern, based on work by Mott McDonald, has indicated that two trains an hour throughout the day to Cambridge would be the best fit.

“There are concerns about capacity through the Ely junctions,” notes Wakefield, although NR wants to undertake work to improve capacity here. He adds: “The new station at Cambridge Science Park (or Cambridge North) is seen as fundamental to the project.”

Workshops held in Wisbech by the Wisbech 2020 team showed people want both Cambridge and Peterborough as destinations, while other routes have also been considered. 

The half-hourly King’s Cross-Kings Lynn service currently being planned for 2017/2018 will divide or join four-car portions at Ely, rather than as presently at Cambridge. This is expected to alleviate overcrowding between Ely and Cambridge.

It’s also been suggested that when Birmingham-Felixstowe electrification is announced, Wisbech should be included, with the four-car train portion that is detached at Ely continuing as a local service to Manea, March and Wisbech. That raises the subject of rolling stock - until now, it has been assumed that any re-opening to Wisbech would entail a DMU-operated railway.

“All kinds of vehicles have been examined, starting with a Parry People Mover shuttle to March through to a Class 153 or two,” says Wakefield.

In the meantime, local stakeholders are adamant that a quality service from Wisbech to Cambridge will work, and that nothing less will do.

Says Wakefield: “Railfuture’s work shows that if the railway is really to make a difference to relieving traffic gridlock into Cambridge, a huge uplift in capacity via Ely is required.

“Currently the entire service south of Ely is hugely overwhelmed, even though services are relatively frequent. Currently there is only an hourly service from March to Cambridge, often full and standing at March.”

A Wisbech-March-Manea-Ely-Cambridge service would extend the travel to work zone of Cambridge to Wisbech, but only if the capacity and speed is there from day one.

“This railway has got to work hard,” proclaims Wakefield. In other words, older DMUs or rebuilt London Underground trains of a type now being offered to various franchises may not be appropriate for the sort of service that is required.

Ultimately, it all boils down to costs, which will make or break the project. Funding of several million pounds has either been spent or committed for the initial business case study and the subsequent GRIP studies.

Wakefield is optimistic that final funding will be announced in the East Anglian franchise Invitation To Tender, in a similar manner to how Corby was reconnected to the network at Kettering. That would indeed prove the value of rail franchising in these times of austerity.

The project is currently at NR’s GRIP 3 stage, funded by government grants announced before the General Election and funnelled through the county council. Mott McDonald is undertaking the detailed work on this and GRIP2. The costs will be identified more clearly in the engineering study and GRIP3. 

“GRIP2 identified a very positive benefit:cost ratio that covered a town centre station in Wisbech, a bridge over the A47 Wisbech bypass, and two trains an hour to and from Wisbech-Cambridge,” says Wakefield.

“An initial figure of around £50m was being spoken of that included the usual contingency of up to 60%.” If spent, that would be far inflated from the 2009 estimates.

By way of comparison, Wakefield points to the Welsh Assembly Government’s approval of £40m to be spent on the doubling of seven miles of the Newport Gwent-Ebbw Vale branch, which (as well as track and signalling) includes additional platforms for the two stations en route.

Favourable comparisons can be made with other re-opening projects - and the higher than projected passenger numbers that have followed. Wakefield points to Stirling-Alloa, as well as to Corby-Kettering closer to home. The £295m Borders Railway re-opening in September (at around 30 miles, the largest-scale reversal of any of the Beeching closures) will also be well worth watching.

With estimated costs considerably increased from the Connecting Communities estimate of £12m, the danger is that this relatively intact line, albeit with the need to replace and upgrade mothballed infrastructure to modern standards, will become more expensive than it needs to be.

But if appropriate and sensible savings can be made - re-using what is available (substantial station infrastructure remains in place at March, for example) - then there is every chance that with careful planning and a sound business case, Wisbech could be reconnected to the national network sooner than we think.

• This feature was published in RAIL 776 on June 10 2015