Friday 11 July 2008

Croxley Rail Link soldiers on

Hertfordshire County Council are about to submit a new business case for to the Department for Transport, less than six months after the last one, and three months after that was rejected for not being "compliant". The cost has gone up from £95m to £150m, suggesting the original bid was rejected for underestimating costs.

All they need now if for the DfT to agree to fund the bulk of the cost (£120m), which is exactly the position they've been in since forever. They've received a boost in that the East of England Regional Assembly have given their backing, which may or may not be worth anything.

The scheme is to divert the Metropolitan Line's Watford branch to Watford Junction by building a 500m connecting viaduct to link it up with an mile-and-a-half long disused branch line (pictured), which will need to be rebuilt. The new route includes two new stations. Here's a diagram of all the bits and pieces on Google Maps.

[via uk.transport.london]

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope they will succeed!

Dazz285 said...

Don't hold your breath ;-)

Anonymous said...

Is there any chance that they'll give the Watford Branch a better service as a result?

What Watford really needs is the Bakerloo Line.

Anonymous said...

@Mr T - *ahem* what you surely meant to say was "Croxley Rail Link gathers momentum".

@anonymous - what Watford Junction needs is the Croxley Rail Link. And the Bakerloo Line. And a Chiltern Railways service to Milton Keynes Central via Rickmansworth and Aylesbury. But I won't hold my breath...

THC

Unknown said...

Its a classic example of the piss poor status of transport in this country that such a simple scheme has been held up for so long. It gives far more people from north west London and Ricky/Amersham etc direct access to Watford, which is the major regional centre. I fail to see what the Bakerloo line would achieve as it would at best increase the frequency on an existing route, it wouldn't add anything new

Anonymous said...

Now the next step is to build a bridge over the mainline tracks in Watford Junction and extend the link towards St. Albans Abbey.

;-)

Anonymous said...

Met to St. Albans?
H-m-m, that would be the first extension of Metro-land since 1932! ;-)