The Anonymous Widower

Worries About The Metropolitan Line Extension

The title of this article in the Evening Standard is Metropolitan line extension to Watford Junction could be axed due to £50m funding gap.

That obviously is causing worries.

In December 2016 I wrote Is The Croxley Rail Link To Be Given Lower Priority?, where I went through the design and concluded that a simler scheme might be enough and just as useful.

After looking at all the other possible new train services to Watford, which include.

• The Bakerloo Line Extension
• The London Overground
• Crossrail
• Southern
• London Midland
• Metropolitan Line Upgrade
• Chiltern Railways

I postulated if a lower cost link could be built.

And then I wrote this conclusion.

I believe that Watford will get a better train service, whether the Croxley Rail Link is built or not.

Politics will decide the priority of the Croxley Rail Link, with the left-leaning South Londoner Sadiq Khan on one side and right-leaning Bucks-raised Chris Grayling on the other. In some ways, Watford is a piggy-in-the-middle.

My feeling is that on a Londonwide  basis, that the Bakerloo Line Extension to Watford, solves or enables the solution of a lot of wider problems and the Croxley Rail Link is much more a local solution.

I think it could turn out to be.

• A mainly double-track route from Watford Junction to Amersham, but with portions of single track.
• No new electrification.
• Stations at Watford High Street, Watford Vicarage Road, Cassiobridge, Croxley and then all stations to Amersham.
• Four Class 710 trains per hour (tph), running on existing electrification and batteries between Watford Junction and Amersham.
• A redeveloped Watford station keeps its four tph to London.

It might even be simpler.

It would certainly by more affordable.

March 18, 2017 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Croxley Rail Link, London Underground, Watford