The previously delayed Cambridge South Station is expected to open in late June, as the first new station to form part of the government’s nationalised Great British Railways service.

According to the Department for Transport (DfT), the station is expected to begin services on 28 June.

The station was built with a £250 million investment from the government, alongside £5 million in contributions from AztraZeneca, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority, and the Greater Cambridgeshire Partnership. Once completed, it will be the third station operating in Cambridge.

Cambridge South Station will be located next to the University’s Biomedical Campus, Europe’s largest medical research centre. It is expected to connect direct trains to Brighton, London, and Stansted Airport, as well as up to nine trains an hour to Cambridge City Centre.

Rail Minister Peter Hendy said the station will “open up access to jobs, homes and world-class facilities for people across the region, boosting the growth of the Biomedical Campus as one of the most important engines of growth in the country”.

Hendy added: “As the first new Great British Railways branded station, the opening is an important milestone for our railways and a sign of the real change public ownership will deliver.”

The station was initially meant to open in 2025. However, its opening was delayed, partly due to an electrical subcontractor on the project going into administration. The primary contractor, J Murphy & Sons, maintained oversight over the project amid the delays.

The station will be decorated with the official branding for Great British Railway (GBR), and feature the second of GBR’s new signature station clocks – a 1.8 metre high circular digital screen, displaying the time in black, white, and red, emblematic of the former GBR colour scheme. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said the branding change represents “a new railway, casting off the frustrations of the past and focused entirely on delivering a proper public service for passengers”.

DfT said that the Biomedical Campus is forecast to generate £18.2 billion for the British economy by 2050. Some of this growth is expected to come from the predicted rise in the number of employees on the Biomedical Campus to 40,000, due in part to the improved access provided by new transport links.

The opening forms part of the government’s plans to partly re-nationalise the country’s railways, in line with their 2024 manifesto.