A Cambridge underground metro system, with an overground network linking villages and towns to the city, could be coming to Cambridge as early as 2025. Chris Tunstall, Transport Director at The Greater Cambridge Partnership, said news would be announced soon of a new study detailing transport options for the city when speaking at our Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Economic Growth Conference last week. The information came out on Friday, which backs the vision for a ‘revolutionary’ new underground system in the city within seven years, and has been endorsed by Mayor James Palmer of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority.

The overground network could be finished as early as 2021, with tunnelling for an underground metro potentially being completed by 2025. The ambitious project would reduce traffic travelling into the centre of Cambridge, and make it easier for skilled workers within the region to travel. Transport was highlighted as a key area to deliver economic growth at our conference with a need to make sure the villages and towns surrounding Cambridge are more easily connected to the city.

The network could cost as much as £4.6billion and could use innovative transport technology such as driverless trains. The report found that using driverless trams which – crucially – would go underground and wouldn’t run on rails would be the cheapest option to deliver the revolutionary change to the city which would ensure huge opportunities for the region. The building of the network would likely come from a combination of public and private funding. The route proposed would extend to towns and villages including stops at Mill Road, Newmarket Road, Orchard Park and The Cambridge Science Park.

Mayor James Palmer welcomed the report, stating that a ‘bold solution’ was needed to solve the congestion in the city centre and issues further afield. Speaking at our Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Economic Growth Conference he said ”We need to improve the way we move around the county, which will further feed housing and growth in our economy”.