Permanent Way... and Not So Permanent Way

摘要

AFTER closure of the Cambridge (Chesterton Jet) to St Ives line to passengers on October 5,1970, the former Great Eastern Railway route - immortalised in the Flanders and Swann song 'Slow Train'-remained open until 1992 for aggregate traffic when it was closed and the track subsequently removed. In 2001 a proposal was put forward to reuse the former trackbed as a guided busway, a key feature of a wider multi-modal study for the busy route between Huntingdon and Cambridge. It was a controversial proposal which led to more than 2,700 objections and a public enquiry, but the scheme was approved. Construction began in 2007, with the first bus running on August 7,2011. However, the project was not without its critics, who called it a 'white elephant' and preferred a railway or tram route. The RM reported the opposition at the time. Cambridgeshire County Council's determination to complete the project was not helped by a rise in costs from £116millonto£181 million, coupled with construction delays and contractual disputes related to cost overruns.