Media Centre

‘one’ railway and First Capital Connect invest in station improvements at Cambridge

25 Jan 2008

National Express Group’s ‘one’ railway and First Capital Connect are investing in a number of station improvements at Cambridge, one of the busiest stations in the region.

In a joint partnership the train operators have opened a new Travel Centre at the front of the station for customers to make enquiries and for advance purchase ticket sales. A car rental booking facility will also be a feature. The new Travel Centre offers customers a convenient alternative to purchasing tickets from the busy Ticket Office. The concentration of advance purchase ticket sales in the new Travel Centre will help to reduce queuing times in the Ticket Office.

The new Travel Centre will be open from 07.30 – 20.00 on Mondays to Saturdays, and from 09.00 – 16.00 on Sundays.

A further improvement has seen ‘one’ railway fully refurbishing the customer toilets at the station and in conjunction with Network Rail the far end of the main station car park has recently been resurfaced.

Through the partnership between the two operators, new ticket gates have been installed to help improve security at the station and on-train in deterring instances of ticketless travel and crime and vandalism. Customers are reminded to retain their ticket to ensure ease of access through the barriers. Three of the ticket gates are wide-aisled and are designed to allow extra space for customers with bicycles, pushchairs and luggage to pass through easily. The ticket gates will be manned at all times by customer service staff.

James Reeve, Group Station Manager for ‘one’ railway said: “This package of improvements will enhance station facilities and demonstrates our commitment to invest with our partners to provide a better environment for our customers using Cambridge station.”

Andy Cope, Deputy Managing Director, First Capital Connect said: “Ticketless travel costs the railway industry around £200m every year and is hugely frustrating for fare-paying customers. This is the eleventh station on our network where we have installed gates since the start of our franchise. We are pleased to be working in partnership with ‘one’ to help introduce these improvements for our customers.”

Dave Rowney, Chief Superintendent, British Transport Police said: “The British Transport Police is delighted to support ‘one’ and First Capital Connect with the introduction of the automatic ticket gates at Cambridge station. Experience with gates installed at other stations demonstrates that they really have a positive impact on reducing crime and disorder.”

Notes to Editors

For further information about this press release, please ring the ‘one’ Press Office on 0207 549 5966/65/64 and ask for Peter Meades, Jill Casswell, Ellen Rossiter or Jonathan Denby. For urgent or out-of-office hours calls, please leave a message by ringing 07623 952612. We’ll get back to you as soon as we can.

National Express Group PLC is one of the major train operators in the UK with four rail franchises - c2c, Gatwick Express, National Express East Coast, and ‘one’ (including Stansted Express).

First Capital Connect is part of First Group plc. First Group is the UK’s largest rail operator with four passenger franchises – First Capital Connect, First Great Western, First Scotrail and First Transpennine Express – and one open access operator, Hull Trains.