Important facts about the station (kindly provided by Greater Anglia).

The station building

• The station cost £50 million and is almost 5,000 square feet.
• There are three platforms, all long enough for 12-carriage trains:
  • Platform 1 - London bound (coming from Ely/Norwich)
  • Platform 2 - Ely/Norwich (coming from Kings Cross/Liverpool St)
  • Platform 3 (bay platform) - London bound (coming from Liverpool St) as trains from London terminate here and turn back around towards London.
• The design incorporates Cambridge’s hi-tech heritage, with cladding using Game of Life pattern by Cambridge mathematician John Conway
• Solar panels on the cycle park supply 10% of all station power
• It was built by Network Rail and designed by Cambridgeshire County Council
• Three toilets – free to use
• Two retail units – a coffee shop and a shop to be let out as concessions, opening shortly

Trains and passengers

• Expecting 3,000 passenger journeys a day
  • 13% of customers currently using Cambridge station expected to transfer to Cambridge North
  • We expect the split between outward and inward commuters will initially be 75-25
  • As surrounding business parks and employment areas expand, we expect numbers of inward commuters to grow
• Station’s catchment area includes Chesterton and northern part of Cambridge, plus villages along the busway towards St Ives.
• Good links with A10 and A14, will draw customers in from Waterbeach, Newmarket, Burwell, the Swaffhams, Stretham, Wilburton and Haddenham.
• We also expect a widening of the catchment area to include Fen Ditton and Barnwell, once the Chisholm Trail bridge across the river is built.
• Four Greater Anglia trains an hour (one in each direction of Norwich-Cambridge and  Cambridge North to London)
• Four Great Northern trains an hour including two per hour to London Kings Cross (stopping train starting at Cambridge North and new fast Ely to Kings Cross service)
• Monday – Friday The first Greater Anglia service to depart Cambridge North for Liverpool Street will be the 06:04, arriving 07:25. The last Greater Anglia service from Liverpool Street to Cambridge North will be the 22:28, arriving 23:57

 Staff

• 15 staff  - 11 new recruits
• Train dispatchers on each platform and welcome host in foyer to help customers buy tickets and with enquiries

 Tickets and fares

• Cambridge season ticket holders can use their season tickets at Cambridge North
• Cambridge North to London Liverpool Street advance single from £7
• Cambridge North to Norwich off-peak day return £17.70
• Three ticket machines, but we will install more if necessary (No ticket office)
• Ticket machines will ultimately have latest software so people can buy tickets 28 days in advance, buy tickets for any journey, renew season tickets

Transport links

• 1,000 cycle park spaces and cycle gutters on stairs, can be expanded for up to 2,000 bikes in the future
• Connects with local cycle routes
• 450 car park spaces – over 12,000 square metres - size of two football pitches – 600,000 paving slabs
• Car park - £5 all day, £3 on Saturdays & Sundays for first three months, rising to £8 peak/£5 off peak
• Car park designed so that extension through decking is possible
• Car park managed by NCP
• Car park customers can only pay for car park by phone
• Taxi rank – and permits issued for hackney cabs
• Connects to guided busway  and local buses:
  • Citi 2
  • Route N to Longstanton park and ride, Cambridge city centre and St Ives park and ride
  • Route D between Huntingdon and Cambridge city centre
  • Route A – Sundays only – between Trumpington park and ride and St Ives, and some outlying villages such as Somersham and Bluntisham

Accessibility

• Disabled access to all platforms
• Level access into ticket hall and lifts from there to footbridge and platforms
• Fully staffed – staff available to help customers with special needs, although to make sure we meet all needs we ask those customers to contact our helpline with 24 hours’ notice of travel.
• Disabled toilet but no adult changing room as these are only available at the largest stations such as London Liverpool Street.
  

The Cambridge North Station’s (CNS) opening has led to changes to its Citi 2 and busway routes.
 
Citi 2 - service NO longer serve the Science Park as of Sunday 21st May and has been heading towards the new train station down Cowley Road. It will return along this road and then turn left on to Milton Road to continue its regular route. New stop are located adjacent to the old Park & Ride (P&R) site.
 
Route N is a brand new Cambridgeshire guided busway service now stop at the CNS. This service operates between the Longstanton P&R site and Cambridge city centre, with peak departures continuing to St. Ives P&R. The route also serve the stops on Milton Road closest to Mitcham's Corner.
 
Route D is a brand new busway journeys are additional peak time departures that serve the new railway station. Buses operate at peak times only between Huntingdon and Cambridge city centre.
 
Route A will serve the station on Sundays. The buses travel between the Trumpington P&R site and St. Ives. Some services serve outlying villages, such as Somersham and Bluntisham.

Citi 2 and busway timetables, can be found here.

United Nations Development Agency is working with Chinese bike share operator ofo to raise public awareness about climate change. UNDP and ofo have also said that they will establish a scholarship program for environment research and start-ups offering green products and technologies. They plan to create campaign messages about how every person can reduce CO2 emissions. In addition, ofo will share abandoned bikes with children in rural areas to improve their access to education. For the full UN press release, click here

Most of us don’t start our day thinking about potentially getting hurt in our travel. But that’s not the case for many bicyclists and pedestrians who joined the Kinder Institute’s "near-miss" study in Texas, USA.

The study collected information on volunteers’ travel during one week in March, including their origins and destinations, travel mode and detailed accounts of near-misses and close calls on the road in which they narrowly avoided collisions. Out of 187 people who recorded their trips within the week, about one-third reported 133 near-miss incidents they experienced or witnesses.

Many of these near-miss incidents were attributed to a lack of awareness by other road users (usually, those traveling at faster speeds). Participants illustrate how either as pedestrians or bicyclists, they actively anticipate near-misses in their trips and try to avoid them by wearing brightly colored clothing or closely watching actions of those traveling at faster speeds (usually automobile drivers).

The study also offers insight on how some near-misses lead to subsequent physical intimidation and verbal attacks on pedestrians and bicyclists. Participants in the Kinder Institute study reported being targets of yelling, tailgating, and dangerous overtaking by motorists. When a driver yells at, threatens, or assaults bicyclists and pedestrians, the actions highlight the contradiction between the law – which protects the right of bicyclists and pedestrians to use the road – and the longstanding notion that roads are built exclusively for automobiles.

The near-misses that bicyclists and pedestrians sometimes experience may affect their future travel decisions and prompt them to avoid roads they know are dangerous. That, in turn, could reduce the number of collisions at particular intersections. This analysis is particularly important for those looking to improve street conditions and design for bicyclists and pedestrians. For the full article, click here