London Underground have been given the go ahead to deliver the Croxley Rail Link, which will see Metropolitan line trains serving Watford Junction and Watford High Street stations, as well as two new stations on the route, linking the line with West Coast mainline National Rail services from Watford Junction station.
London Underground has confirmed that it will take over delivery of the Croxley Rail Link after an agreement was reached with the Department for Transport (DfT) and Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) over funding.
Construction work to re-route and extend the Metropolitan line to Watford Junction is planned to start later this year. The plan, which is part of a major investment designed to support the growth and regeneration in the area, includes creating new links to Watford General Hospital, Croxley Business Park and Cardiff Road Industrial Estate.
Two new stations will be created at Cassiobridge and Watford Vicarage Road, served by trains every ten minutes to and from central London during peak hours. The existing Watford station will close following the opening of the new stations, and the first trains are expected to run on the extended line by 2019.
David Hughes, LU’s Director of Major Programme Sponsorship, said: “Until now the Croxley Rail link project has been managed by Hertfordshire County Council, who along with Government are providing the bulk of the project funding. Late last year, faced with significant project slippage and cost escalation, the Government asked us to consider stepping in and taking over responsibility for delivery of the scheme. We were clear that a suitable funding package needed to be in place before we would be prepared to take this on.
“As announced in the Budget, those discussions have now concluded, and the Mayor has confirmed that LU should take on overall delivery responsibility for the project. We have agreed to contribute £16m, which is the approximate cost of the additional train services required to support the link when it opens in 2019.”
