Derailed Cambridge service finally goes live

We are sorry to announce that the bus due on platform one is running approximately two years late.

Cambridge travellers will today finally be able to use a long-awaited tram-style service that has been marred by mammoth delay and a reported cost of £151m – a £64m overspend.

The Cambridge Guided Busway will operate a single-decker bus on converted rail lines that once stretched across the fenlands from Cambridge to Huntingdon and St Ives.

Campaigners wanted a full rail service but were told a bus link across the same 16-mile route would be cheaper. Almost immediately after work began in 2009, it was hit by delays.

Floods and bad weather were partly blamed, with contractors finding it difficult to lay concrete on waterlogged ground. Cambridge County Council and its contractors BAM Nuttall have since fallen out over the cost. Their dispute is due to be settled in the High Court.