| Waterbeach | |
| Symbol Location: | gb |
| Symbol: | rail |
| Borough: | Waterbeach, South Cambridgeshire |
| Country: | England |
| Grid Name: | Grid reference |
| Owned: | Network Rail |
| Manager: | Great Northern |
| Platforms: | 2 |
| Code: | WBC |
| Classification: | DfT category F2 |
| Original: | Eastern Counties Railway |
| Pregroup: | Great Eastern Railway |
| Postgroup: | London and North Eastern Railway |
| Years1: | 30 July 1845 |
| Events1: | Opened[1] |
| Footnotes: | Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
Waterbeach railway station is on the Fen line in the east of England, serving the village of Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire. It is 61chain1chain measured from London Liverpool Street and 63miles from ; it is situated between and stations. Its three-letter station code is WBC.
The station and most trains calling are operated by Great Northern, with limited peak services being operated by Greater Anglia.
Waterbeach station is unstaffed, and has only basic waiting shelters on each of the two platforms. All the station buildings have been demolished. The platforms are staggered on each side of a half barrier level crossing. Until electrification and the automation of the crossing, the platforms were located opposite each other.
Before electrification, British Rail services often did not stop at Waterbeach; or if they did, stops would be unofficial. However, since electrification, virtually all King's Lynn/Ely - Cambridge/London services have stopped there (the present timetable shows only three Monday - Friday in both directions not stopping there) passenger numbers surged, with people all across the area north of Cambridge in South Cambridgeshire using it as their primary station. As a result, passenger numbers are nearly as high as Downham Market, and the station sees a lot of parking problems.[2]
Plans to develop a New Town of 8,000 to 9,000 homes on the former Waterbeach Barracks site have been outlined by South Cambridgeshire District Council. As part of the proposal, there are plans to close the existing station and build a new station closer to the New Town.[3]
Great Northern operate all off-peak services at Waterbeach using EMUs.[4]
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
During the peak hours, the services to London King's Cross call additionally at and and all northbound services are extended to King's Lynn.
The station is also served by a number of peak-hour services operated by Greater Anglia. The station is served by two daily services from and one to as well as two daily services to and one from London Liverpool Street.