From eWatford Observer 29/03/08


Croxley Rail Link hits the sidings



Plans to finally build the Croxley Rail Link have again hit the skids
after the Department for Transport dismissed the latest bid as "non-
compliant" with its funding criteria.

The development, which would link the Metropolitan Line to Watford
Junction, has received backing from Hertfordshire County Council,
Watford MP Claire Ward and the East of England Regional Assembly, as
well as Watford Borough Council.

However, the government has rejected the business case because it has
still not received financial backing from Transport for London (TfL).


TfL said in 2005 that it would commit up to £18 million to the
project. However, because TfL will not guarantee how much cash it will
provide for the £95 million project the Government will not commit any
money to it either.

The Department for Transport has, however, agreed to meet with the
county council to discuss the project.

The bid was backed by a letter signed by Mayor Dorothy Thornhill, Ms
Ward and Robert Gordon, leader of the county council.

And Mayor Thornhill says if the three can continue to show the same
level of cross party solidarity the case can still be won.

She said: "Somebody actually wants to talk to us about this and I'm
sure that if we show the same level of solidarity we can prove the
rail link is important.

"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the
people of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."


5:21pm Saturday 29th March 2008

.................................................. ..

.................................................. ..

John Burke

WRUG

On Apr 2, 10:48 am, wrote:
"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the
people of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."

Unless they're travelling to harrow or some other nearby suburb , why
would someone get the met from watford junction and be taken on a tour
of north west london when they could get a direct train to euston
instead?

B2003

The Croxley Link line will be a fantastic success when built because
Watford's people will be able to get to Rickmansworth and the Chiltern Line
(Amersham / Aylesbury etc.) by quick tube thus avoiding the horrendous the
road traffic along this busy corridor. You have to do a rush hour bus trip
from Watford to Rickmansworth to really understand how choked this area is
with traffic. Also and at last Chiltern line passengers can hook up with the
WCML.

Bring it on!

"Boltar" wrote in message
...
On Apr 2, 10:48 am, wrote:
"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the
people of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."

Unless they're travelling to harrow or some other nearby suburb , why
would someone get the met from watford junction and be taken on a tour
of north west london when they could get a direct train to euston
instead?

B2003

On Apr 2, 9:30*am, "Mitch" wrote:
The Croxley Link line will be a fantastic success when built because
Watford's people will be able to get to Rickmansworth and the Chiltern Line
(Amersham / Aylesbury etc.) by quick tube thus avoiding the horrendous the
road traffic along this busy corridor. You have to do a rush hour bus trip
from Watford to Rickmansworth to really understand how choked this area is
with traffic. Also and at last Chiltern line passengers can hook up with the
WCML.

Bring it on!

"Boltar" wrote in message

...



On Apr 2, 10:48 am, wrote:
"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the
people of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."

Unless they're travelling to harrow or some other nearby suburb , why
would someone get the met from watford junction and be taken on a tour
of north west london when they could get a direct train to euston
instead?

B2003- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Couldn't have said it better.

Boltar (Boltar ) gurgled happily, sounding much
like they were saying:

"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the people
of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."

Unless they're travelling to harrow or some other nearby suburb , why
would someone get the met from watford junction and be taken on a tour
of north west london when they could get a direct train to euston
instead?

Tube fares, instead of mainline...?

On Wed, 2 Apr 2008, Boltar wrote:

On Apr 2, 10:48 am, wrote:

"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the
people of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."

Unless they're travelling to harrow or some other nearby suburb , why
would someone get the met from watford junction and be taken on a tour
of north west london when they could get a direct train to euston
instead?

They won't. Presumably, you'd like to see Croydon Tramlink closed down,
because it doesn't provide a sensible way to get to central London?

Watford is a major town, and a centre of employment, in its own right.
Lots and lots of people commute from surrounding smaller towns and
villages into it, as well as going there to shop, go out, etc. The problem
is that at the moment, they have to do this by road, precisely because the
railways are all London-centric. The Croxley link would turn the Amersham
branch of the Met into a very effective local line serving Watford, and
hopefully get a lot of people out of their cars. Adding a few extra
stations inside Watford doesn't hurt, either.

Although having said all that, a lot of the bumph surrounding the link
does frame it as a way of getting people into London, particularly from
the south of Watford, which seems a bit mad. Even if they run fast Mets
into London, it's going to have a really hard time competing with WCML
expresses. The local trains to Amersham seem to be more of a future
possibility than the driving force.

tom

--
We don't contact anybody or seek anybody's permission for what we do. Even
if it's impersonating postal employees. -- Birdstuff

On Apr 2, 10:48 am, wrote:

"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the
people of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."

While we're on the subject:

Wouldn't it make sense for the branch to be NR rather than LU? Watford
Junction and Watford High Street are NR stations, and AIUI the
Metropolitan line north of Harrow-on-the-Hill is also owned by NR (the
fasts, at least). If the priority is on local services into Watford, it
would make sense for it to be NR, not LU. Making it NR would also open up
the possibility of longer-distance Chiltern services into Watford (if
there's any demand for that). (And personally, i've long thought that the
Met should give up on the fasts north of HotH altogether, and let Chiltern
use that route exclusively, especially post-S-stock, but what do i know.)

Although now i'm confused about who owns the lines round there. The Met is
two- or four-track from London to HotH, and there's the NR route beside
it; north of HotH, there are two pairs: a slow pair used only by LU
trains, and a fast pair used by LU trains to Amersham, and by NR trains. I
always thought that (a) NR owned the NR-only tracks south of HotH (b) LU
owned the LU-only tracks south of HotH, (c) LU owned the LU-only tracks
north of HotH, and (d) NR owned the shared track north of HotH. But now
i'm reading CULG and Clive says "LU takes over ownership of all 6 tracks
just south of [HotH]", and on his layout diagram, the border is drawn on
the NR lines, and not the Met ones. Oh, but hang on, there's another
border just north of Amersham, at Mantles Wood junction. So do LU really
own the shared fasts from HotH to Mantles Wood? So Chiltern trains run
over NR, then LU, the NR?

Also, what were the railways around Watford like before they got axed and
mothballed and so on? I'm trying to work out how far the Croxley Green
branch went. I've found the Watford and Rickmansworth Railway, which seems
to have been the earliest branch, which comprises today's DC line route
from Watford Junction to Watford High Street, plus the Croxley Green
branch as far as Riverside Park and the power station, but then carried on
on a route which is now either lost or the Ebury Way cycle path along the
south side of Watford, over the Met, and into Rickmansworth. The building
of the New aka DC Lines put in the link from the WCML mainline to the WRR
aka Rickmansworth branch just south of Watford High Street. But where does
the line that goes to Croxley come in? There is mention of a freight
branch off the WRR to the Grand Union - is that it? So why are there
stations on it? Did they come later? At some point, the Met was extended
to Cassiobury Park, with no connections to anything, but with a
Rickmansworth - Watford chord that i don't quite understand. But did the
Croxley Green branch just end where the line runs out on the map, at the
roundabout near Cassio Bridge, where Watford Road crosses the Grand Union?

Oh, hang on, all is clear:

http://underground-history.co.uk/croxley.php.

tom

--
We don't contact anybody or seek anybody's permission for what we do. Even
if it's impersonating postal employees. -- Birdstuff

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
h.li
On Apr 2, 10:48 am, wrote:

"The Croxley Rail Link is not just the icing on the cake for the
people of West Watford, it is the cherry on the icing of the cake."

While we're on the subject:

Wouldn't it make sense for the branch to be NR rather than LU? Watford
Junction and Watford High Street are NR stations, and AIUI the
Metropolitan line north of Harrow-on-the-Hill is also owned by NR (the
fasts, at least).

No, all the tracks are LU-owned from HoH to just north of Amersham.
Chiltern runs on LU metals, not vice versa.

On 2 Apr, 19:47, Tom Anderson wrote:
Although now i'm confused about who owns the lines round there.

Anything electrified is LUL, anything not is NR. Thus all tracks
between HotH and Amersham are LUL.

Also, what were the railways around Watford like before they got axed and
mothballed and so on?

I made a map of it during a moment of boredom a while ago:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=...eb4e8&t=h&z=14

U

--
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/
A blog about transport projects in London

On Wed, 2 Apr 2008 12:43:57 -0700 (PDT), Mr Thant
wrote:

On 2 Apr, 19:47, Tom Anderson wrote:
Although now i'm confused about who owns the lines round there.

Anything electrified is LUL, anything not is NR.

IIRC the boundary at Harrow is beyond the end of electrification on
the Marylebone route. Possibly likewise to the west of Amersham.

Thus all tracks
between HotH and Amersham are LUL.

Yes.
Also, what were the railways around Watford like before they got axed and
mothballed and so on?

I made a map of it during a moment of boredom a while ago:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?ie=...eb4e8&t=h&z=14

U