Metropolitan Line Extension Approved

[Ibex]

The Government have today approved the long awaited £120m project to extend the Metropolitan line from Croxley to Watford Junction.

The route partly runs along the disused branch from Croxley to Watford High Street and includes a new viaduct across Croxley Green, plus two new stations at Ascot Road and Vicarage Road.

A formal announcement is expected to be made tomorrow.

http://www.watfordobserver.co.uk/news/9417151.Croxley_Rail_Link_plan_approved_by_Government/

 

[Eagle]

Will there be services Aylesbury–Watford too?

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Excellent Does this spell the end for the current Watford LUL station?

 

[Eagle]

Excellent Does this spell the end for the current Watford LUL station?

Yes, I believe that Watford Met is to bite the dust... being as it wasn't anywhere useful in the town that's no big deal.

 

[Nym]

If the plans remain the same, as when I saw them, yes.

 

[swt_passenger]

Will there be services Aylesbury–Watford too?

They'd be possible but I don't think they are part of the published business case. This is what they said quite recently about services to/from Amersham:

"Whilst Croxley Rail Link does not prevent a service between Amersham
and Watford in the future, the project’s objectives will not be changed to
include it at this stage. The project is focusing its resources in achieving
the current preferred scheme. A separate business case and funding bid
would need to be completed to obtain the funding to offer an extended
service to Amersham."

Link below:

Excellent Does this spell the end for the current Watford LUL station?

What they said:

"The closure of Watford Met Station has always been part of the Croxley
Rail Link proposals...

However to provide the Croxley Rail Link funding bid with the greatest
chance of success, the most economically advantageous scheme
needed to be presented. Keeping Watford Met open in any capacity,
including running a split or shuttle service, would have a negative effect
on the scheme overall resulting in poorer service for all users reducing
the economic benefits of the rail link."

http://www.croxleyraillink.com/media/30562/response to key issues.pdf

 

[Eagle]

They'd be possible but I don't think they are part of the published business case.

They were certainly included in earlier versions of the plan.

 

[Ivo]

And how long has this fiasco been going on?

Waited on a long time for this; now let's see Hertfordshire et al actually get on with it.

 

[Zoe]

And how long has this fiasco been going on?

Waited on a long time for this; now let's see Hertfordshire et al actually get on with it.

I never did understand why Watford was excluded from Greater London when places like Romford were included.

 

[Eagle]

I never did understand why Watford was excluded from Greater London when places like Romford were included.

Probably the same person who decided to include Coventry in the West Midlands, despite the miles and miles of countryside between it and the leading edge of Solihull (which pre-NEC was further away than it is now).

Not that I'm complaining; means it's part of NWM so it has a decently-priced bus system.

 

[Ivo]

Probably the same person who decided to include Coventry in the West Midlands, despite the miles and miles of countryside between it and the leading edge of Solihull (which pre-NEC was further away than it is now).

Not that I'm complaining; means it's part of NWM so it has a decently-priced bus system.

But Greater London came nearly a decade before the West Midlands (1965 vs 1974 I believe)...

It may well be a distance thing. Several other areas that should in theory be a part of London aren't; it's not only Watford. Staines and Epsom aren't, for instance, and if anything they would have a better case.

I think I just about agree with Romford being in Greater London, but it's a very grey area. Wasn't there a suggestion that the area boundaries should be changed to match the M25 at some point? At present, a fair amount inside the M25 is not in Greater London, and one village - North Ockendon - is the reverse. There is also one location, Sewardstone, that has a London postcode (Chingford E4) but is not in Greater London, even though it is less than 12 miles from Charing Cross.

So many disparities...

 

[trentside]

And how long has this fiasco been going on?

Waited on a long time for this; now let's see Hertfordshire et al actually get on with it.

The proposals emerged before the complete closure of the Croxley Green branch (or effective closure, excluding the monthly bus service). I'd say it's been dragging on about 20 years now - nothing like getting on with things :roll:

I'm pleased this has finally got the go ahead.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

It may well be a distance thing. Several other areas that should in theory be a part of London aren't; it's not only Watford. Staines and Epsom aren't, for instance, and if anything they would have a better case.

Please... NO!!!

Epsom is going downhill fast enough as it is without being officially part of a London borough, which will only encourage the developers even more! We are already no longer the distinctive market town we were as recently as the 1980s and too much like any other cloned concrete jungle now.

If you're going to force Epsom into London, please at least have the decency to wait until I've saved up enough money to move further out away from London!

 

[DarkestDreams]

I've personally always classed anything within the M25 as being Greater London to be honest.

 

[jopsuk]

M25 in the north is mainly a fair bit closer to Charing Cross than in the south- most of the south and west is what was to be Ringway 4, whilst in the north it is Ringway 3.
The things is that the built up urban sprawl of London (which Epsom is very definitely in- the Greater London boundary in many places is also the boundary between house plots in the south and there's marked changes in the tarmac in, say, Stoneleigh where the boundary lies) is very much tilted to the south of the river, so Charing Cross as a central point isn't the geographic centre.

More than you could ever want to know about the Ringways