Croxley Link funding set, with work to start in 2016

Hertfordshire County Council has formally handed over the Croxley Rail Link project to Transport for London (TfL), more than two years after the Transport and Works Act Order was approved giving the go-ahead for the link to be built.

The project will link London Underground’s Metropolitan Line north of Croxley station with the main line station at Watford Junction. HCC has led the project for a number of years, and now TfL will take it forward.

Following a formal decision by the Mayor of London in November 2015 that TfL would provide almost £50 million, a full funding package for the extension has been agreed, allowing work to start on the ground next year.

Train services will not start to use the new line until 2020, two years later than previously targeted (see panel). At peak times there will be a ten-minute frequency from Watford Junction to central London via Harrow-on-the-Hill and Wembley. It is estimated that more than 6,500 permanent jobs will be created by the new services, aided by the two new stations to be built at Cassiobridge and Watford Vicarage Road.

However, the existing Metropolitan Line terminus at Watford station will close when the new line opens. And the title ‘Croxley Rail Link’ has been dropped in favour of the ‘Metropolitan Line Extension’.

The project’s cost has escalated in recent years, and now stands at £284.4 million. The package has been agreed between Hertfordshire County Council (which will contribute £125.35m), the Department for Transport (£109.82m), and Transport for London (£49.23m).

• For more on this, read RAIL 789, published on December 9.