Northern M11 extension into the Fens is to be quietly allowed to die

[nowster]

This may or may not have been directly brought up before, but could there potentially be concern that given the topography of the area a new road or motorway might sink into the ground?

A piled raft might be possible. The M60 between junctions 20 and 21 is of that sort of construction because it's through peat bog ("Alkrington Moss" in the local lingo).

Unlike the M62 J11-12, "Alky Moss" isn't as lumpy either.

Chat Moss saw a lot more mining than Alkrington did.

However, compare https://goo.gl/maps/hJXddoWeahA2 with https://goo.gl/maps/fRr5RqnAivj Same place in Alkrington, but the bungalow was removed due to mine workings below becoming unstable.

[Owain]

It never looked like a realistic option really. However the A10 north of Cambridge needs some serious work and perhaps duelling this possibly all the way to Kings Lynn will help.

Straightforward resurfacing would be a start! When I drove it, the A10 between Ely and Kings Lynn had one of the worst surfaces I've ever experienced on a green-signed route!

I agree with posters suggesting that improvements to the A10, A16 and A47 would probably be more worthwhile than a new motorway in a bog. I'd suggest dualling all of them. ...oh, and A17.

If any motorway is needed, it would be better to upgrade the A1 between London and Yorkshire.

[Norfolktolancashire]

It always struck me as a rather unlikely project- dubious benefits, massive costs, huge opposition from the webbed feet community

Oi! I take that personally

I'd rather see the money spent on the A1 being updated to D3 expressway from Peterborough to the M62, along with improvements to the A46 linking Lincoln with the A1. The improved roads would attract traffic including HGV's away from the M1 route, leaving that road more capacity for East Midlands traffic.

[KeithW]

Why has a town the size of Soham not got a station any more, yet Dullingham does?! Would no doubt be unpopular with some but is a Newmarket Parkway near the triangular junction likely to have any merit?

It had one until 1965 , yoou can still see the location here. Looks like there is space for a park and ride.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/52%C2 ... 3277?hl=en

[roadtester]

One project that he has pushed and which is much closer to realisation is a new railway station at Soham.

https://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/news ... ke-9061482

Just looked at the lie of the land there - the old station site in Soham - where the line reduces to single - is still vacant, so no problem in putting a station there. But in terms of commuting from Soham to Cambridge, which is what many local residents would want, the missing side of the triangular railway junction to the north-east of Newmarket would have to be reinstated. The formation appears to be more-or-less intact. So why is this not being moved forward?

Interesting - without really thinking about it much and from a position of little expertise, I’d always assumed that Soham > Cambridge would be achieved by going via Ely which I’m guessing would be shorter/quicker than going via Newmarket, although it would, with the current track layout at Ely, involve the train reversing direction there.

[Mattptb]

It always struck me as a rather unlikely project- dubious benefits, massive costs, huge opposition from the webbed feet community

Oi! I take that personally

I'd rather see the money spent on the A1 being updated to D3 expressway from Peterborough to the M62, along with improvements to the A46 linking Lincoln with the A1. The improved roads would attract traffic including HGV's away from the M1 route, leaving that road more capacity for East Midlands traffic.

Certainly upgrading the A1 should be done regardless and I would argue widening the m11 to three lanes along its entire length is also neccessary.
Regarding the A46 I think this is where I feel the duelling of the A16 to Boston with this extended to the west of Boston to connect to the Humber bridge might alleviate some of the issues if traffic from the south could use this route to get to the Humber instead of driving up to Newark and then heading east.

[jgharston]

But the M11 is being extended to the A1....

[Al__S]

One project that he has pushed and which is much closer to realisation is a new railway station at Soham.

https://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/news ... ke-9061482

Just looked at the lie of the land there - the old station site in Soham - where the line reduces to single - is still vacant, so no problem in putting a station there. But in terms of commuting from Soham to Cambridge, which is what many local residents would want, the missing side of the triangular railway junction to the north-east of Newmarket would have to be reinstated. The formation appears to be more-or-less intact. So why is this not being moved forward?

Interesting - without really thinking about it much and from a position of little expertise, I’d always assumed that Soham > Cambridge would be achieved by going via Ely which I’m guessing would be shorter/quicker than going via Newmarket, although it would, with the current track layout at Ely, involve the train reversing direction there.

As it stands the new Soham railway station will only be served by Ipswich-Peterborough services, so serving neither Cambridge nor Newmarket

[roadtester]

Just looked at the lie of the land there - the old station site in Soham - where the line reduces to single - is still vacant, so no problem in putting a station there. But in terms of commuting from Soham to Cambridge, which is what many local residents would want, the missing side of the triangular railway junction to the north-east of Newmarket would have to be reinstated. The formation appears to be more-or-less intact. So why is this not being moved forward?

Interesting - without really thinking about it much and from a position of little expertise, I’d always assumed that Soham > Cambridge would be achieved by going via Ely which I’m guessing would be shorter/quicker than going via Newmarket, although it would, with the current track layout at Ely, involve the train reversing direction there.

As it stands the new Soham railway station will only be served by Ipswich-Peterborough services, so serving neither Cambridge nor Newmarket

Thanks - that said, a Cambridge or London journey via a change at Ely would still open up quite a lot of other opportunities from Soham.

[KeithW]

Thanks - that said, a Cambridge or London journey via a change at Ely would still open up quite a lot of other opportunities from Soham.

Reinstating the chord has been discussed

Soham
Soham (population 10,000) station was closed in 1965. Reopening the station would also serve Fordham (population 3,000). It would immediately benefit from services running between Ipswich and Peterborough. Reinstating the chord north-east of Newmarket would enable a direct service to Cambridge via Newmarket.

Recommendations
Commission a business case for reopening Soham Station and reinstating the Newmarket link.

One question that occurs to me is would this in addition to the planned East West Rail Link and new Thameslink Services end up producing capacity problems for Cambridge Railway Station ?

[thatapanydude]

As it stands the new Soham railway station will only be served by Ipswich-Peterborough services, so serving neither Cambridge nor Newmarket

Ipswich to Peterborough is only 1tp2h. So in my opinion opening Soham is pointless unless the IPS to PBO service becomes hourly or the chord at Newmarket Junction opens.

Even if you relayed the track at Newmarket Junction, you can't currently extend any existing London services and you would probably have to re-double the track as well from Newmarket to Cambridge!

Ideally the London to Cambridge Greater Anglia services should be extended to Ely via Newmarket and Soham with new stations at Cherry Hinton and Fulbourn but this will mean the fleet must be bi-mode or the route via Soham must be electrified. All of this will be a bit expensive but worth doing in my opinion!

[Glenn A]

The M11 extension to the Humber Bridge was first mentioned in the Yorkshire Post in November 1986 and John Prescott, who was a Hull MP then, was keen to get it into the Labour Party manifesto in 1987. The arguments for would that it would provide a faster link from Hull to the South and remove pressure on the A1.

[Phil]

One project that he has pushed and which is much closer to realisation is a new railway station at Soham.

https://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/news ... ke-9061482

Just looked at the lie of the land there - the old station site in Soham - where the line reduces to single - is still vacant, so no problem in putting a station there. But in terms of commuting from Soham to Cambridge, which is what many local residents would want, the missing side of the triangular railway junction to the north-east of Newmarket would have to be reinstated. The formation appears to be more-or-less intact. So why is this not being moved forward?

Why has a town the size of Soham not got a station any more, yet Dullingham does?! Would no doubt be unpopular with some but is a Newmarket Parkway near the triangular junction likely to have any merit?

Because of historic train service patterns and the 1962 transport act which meant closures could be blocked if they would cause excessive hardship*

The Soham line lost its local passenger service in the early 1965 when the Beeching axe was in full swing (despite promises by the Labour poarty that they would halt it when winning the 1964 election and thus even if it had remained open the only trains which could have stopped were the infrequent (in those days) Manchester - Harwich express services which wouldn't have been much use to commuters to Cambridge.

The line through Dullingham by contrast was planed to retain 'modified' passenger services by Beeching and by the time BR got round to implementing said 'modifications' the mood amog the political classes had changed slightly and thus local politicians were successful in preventing its closure. The full details are available on this page about a neighbouring station that didn't survive http://www.disused-stations.org.uk/s/si ... ndex.shtml

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transport_Act_1962

[jgharston]

The M11 extension to the Humber Bridge was first mentioned in the Yorkshire Post in November 1986 and John Prescott, who was a Hull MP then, was keen to get it into the Labour Party manifesto in 1987.

It's almost there! M11 - Huntingdon - A1(M) - A1 - Newark - A46 - Lincoln - A15 - BAM!

Just a short section of single carriageway on the Lincoln western bypass (isn't that due to be dualled?) and then the SC A15 up to the M180. Dual the A15, wipe hands, job done.

[Scratchwood]

The M11 extension to the Humber Bridge was first mentioned in the Yorkshire Post in November 1986 and John Prescott, who was a Hull MP then, was keen to get it into the Labour Party manifesto in 1987. The arguments for would that it would provide a faster link from Hull to the South and remove pressure on the A1.

Ironic really when 10 years later in government he was the minister drastically cutting road building!

[Ruperts Trooper]

well the B1050 from Bar Hill to Northstowe is being duelled. But turning that into an upgraded through route seems foolhardy, even the finished Bar Hill interchange is unlikely to cope with the traffic once Northstowe is completed.

Dueled/Grade Seperated A10, A47, A16 and A17 would seem to me to do most of what's needed. Upgraded A141 and A142 (no need for duel/GSJ with these though)

Any or all of those may be desirable but none of them address the specific issue of opening up the hinterland of Cambridge towards Wisbech in order to uncork the massive development potential that would bring in the context of the growing strength of the regional economy.

The current journey across the Fens is tortuous and open to disruption by frequent flooding at Welney Wash. Any sort of permanent all-weather route would do the job - it doesn't have to be a full blue-line extension of the M11.

There are also hopes for a reopening of the old railway line to Wisbech to open up journey possibilities such as Cambridge commuting.

It certainly is tortuous! I was at Welney when I heard of yesterday's closure of A14 westbound at Brampton Hut with traffic diverted along the already congested A605 - a quick look at the road atlas gave no obvious alternative so I let the satnav work it out as it automatically recalculates when traffic conditions change - ended up going up to Guyhirn, then A47 to Leicester, taking so long the rush hour was in full swing!

[Berk]

I’m tempted to ask what your visit was for.

[Euan]

The M11 extension to the Humber Bridge was first mentioned in the Yorkshire Post in November 1986 and John Prescott, who was a Hull MP then, was keen to get it into the Labour Party manifesto in 1987. The arguments for would that it would provide a faster link from Hull to the South and remove pressure on the A1.

Ironic really when 10 years later in government he was the minister drastically cutting road building!

That is quite odd, almost like there is an unwillingness to take responsibility for a potentially useful road. It's probably another case of being easier said than done.

[Micro The Maniac]

Ironic really when 10 years later in government he was the minister drastically cutting road building!

Pork-barrel politics at its finest...

"I want a super-duper road into my constituency"

Edit: typo corrected

[Chris Bertram]

Ironic really when 10 years later in government he was the minister drastically cutting road building!

Port-barrel politics at its finest...

"I want a super-duper road into my constituency"

I like port as much as the next man, and a barrel wouldn't go amiss, but the usual phrase is "pork barrel".