Cambridge & Peterborough: New Train Routes
8 June 2012, 12:16 | Updated: 8 June 2012, 12:42
Direct train services from Cambridge and Peterborough could run to areas south of London from 2015.
The new services could run to destinations including Gatwick Airport and Brighton.
The new routes would be part of major changes to railways in southern England being investigated by the Department for Transport (DFT).
The DFT is looking into plans to replace multiple rail franchises across the south of the country with a single franchise.
It would mean one operator would be in charge of train services across the south of England.
A consultation document published by the DFT reveals that train services from north of London, including Cambridge and Peterborough, would start running into St Pancras.
They would then run straight through London and out towards destinations in the south of the country.
A public consultation into the proposals is running until the 23rd of August.
Cambridge MP Julian Huppert has told Heart he supports the proposals.
Mr Huppert said: "Lots of people currently have to travel into London King's Cross or Liverpool Street to connect to other routes.
The prospect there could be through routes to Brighton or elsewhere provides more opportunities to travel by train more easily.
There would be better connectivity; People would have more options and could get more easily to where they want to go by train, which is a faster way of travelling in many cases than by car.
It is also more relaxing; you can work or read a book on a train which obviously you can't do in a car, and it's also environmentally more sustainable."
Above picture courtesy of Network Rail.