Peterborough: time to think bigger

Thank you to Philip Haigh for an informative item on plans for Peterborough station (RAIL 966).

I wonder if Peterborough should be more ambitious and look at adding extra stations for the city, as is being done in Cambridge? We might see the following new stations:

■ Peterborough North Parkway - where the A15 crosses the line to Spalding, also on the cycle route from Market Deeping and Glinton to Werrington.

■ Walton - at the cycle bridge over Marholm Road.

■ Fletton, off the High Street (A1129), where there is access via a Network Rail track.

All three would help take pressure off the main Peterborough station and remove traffic from local roads, as passengers from many parts of the city would have easier journeys to the new stations. As for train services, these could simply be halts on existing services.

A more ambitious scheme would extend the Thameslink trains to Peterborough North. This would need electrification of the Werrington dive-under and a crossover to allow trains to reverse at the new North station.

A bonus would be that Thameslink trains would not have to cross the East Coast Main Line on the flat to turn round, but instead would run north through the dive-under and then return on the Up side of the tracks.

The time saved in removing two- or three-minute waits outside Peterborough for trains from the south would instead be used to provide the extended service.

Would this also make for more reliable services? There might even then be improvements in LNER and other services, as better paths might be created on the main line.