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]

Croxley Rail Link rejected again

The Watford Observer reports that the latest business case for the Croxley Rail Link has been declared "non compliant" by the DfT, due to Transport for London not committing to an amount to contribute. But the DfT are still willing to talk to the council about what went wrong.

The picture is the closed Croxley Green station with a Metropolitan Line train going past if you squint hard enough. Took me ages to take that.

Croxley Rail Link to be rejected again shortly

Or, if you're an optimist like the Watford Observer, it just "edged closer to approval". Hertfordshire County Council have just rolled the dice once more by submitting the project's business plan to the Department for Transport, in their latest bid to get the required funding.

They want £95 million to divert the Watford branch of the Metropolitan Line to Watford Junction, via the disused Croxley Green branch. It requires 500m of new connecting viaduct and 1.5 miles of replacement track on the branch line, figures very similar to the East London Line's northern extension (and likewise involves the probable closure of an unlikely looking existing tube station).

The project is not terribly exciting, completely irrelevant to Londoners, and doesn't have a great chance of happening. But it is the only extension of the tube network on the table right now.

The London Gaps Map: now with labels

A few months ago I posted the London Gaps Map, which shows the quarter and half mile catchment areas of every tube, rail, DLR and Tramlink station, and highlights the bits of London that don't have any stations nearby. But it was pretty useless because I didn't bother to label it.

I've corrected that in this version, labelling various stations and also adding the Thames, which should be a big help figuring out which stations the other dots represent.

For good measure, I've also shown the roures the East London Line extension and the Croxley Link, two projects that will fill in a couple of gaps (or will and probably never will, respectively).