MLX Metropolitan Line Extension (Go-ahead for Croxley Link)

I'd really like it if Watford Station could be used for heritage days and kept in a good condition. Perhaps a basic restoration to a 1925 look?

God yes. Can you imagine Sarah Siddons setting off from one of those glass and grey steel jobs they favour now?

*shudder*

There's something else in the Watford Observer about Elton John opening the Watford Stadium Halt:

www.watfordobserver.co.uk/nostalgia/memories/10593045.Elton_rides_in_to_open_soccer_halt/?ref=ec

It doesn't actually say Cassiobridge, only it is to be expected. We'll wait and see.

Not as long as Croxley Wiggenhall Road Depot

XF

The current frequency to Watford is around 6tph. Once the Rail Link opens, it is projected that the frequency will be 4tph increasing to 6 only in the peaks. Or have I got any of this wrong?

It's shorter than Watford General Hospital.

Cassiobridge sounds more like a calculator rather than a station name!

True, but there were two big attractors they wanted people using the station to note, the hospital and the stadium. Of the two, the stadium was the most likely attractor for people not familiar with the area.

Interestingly, there's no pub between the station and the stadium... so I don't know if post-match visiting fans will head left, or do the usual right turn to visit the Crown and then the inevitable stagger to the Junction.
Or maybe they'll catch the Met to the Junction and use the Flag instead. Time will tell.

Various reports report the hospital station as both Watford Vicarage Road and simply Vicarage Road

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-23628476

I've been looking out for a while for formal confirmation from TfL of the new station names. Finally, www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/RUP-20131018-Item04-Managing-Directors-Report.pdf - page 4 para 4.16 - confirms them as "Watford Vicarage Road" and "Cassio Bridge".

THC

In the absence of any other recent news, the good people at Watford’s Chamber of Commerce posted a CRL progress update on 10 January. Highlights include the impending submission of relevant planning applications and a slippage to 2017 in the intended opening date.

THC

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www.watfordchamber.co.uk/news/2014/01/update_on_croxley_rail_link

Planning applications for the two new stations, viaduct and electricity substation for the Croxley Rail Link are being submitted this month.

Construction of the new structures was approved as part of the legal powers granted to Hertfordshire County Council and London Underground last summer, but the detailed designs must first be approved by Watford Borough Council and Three Rivers District Council, who will consider the applications in the early spring.

Meanwhile, overgrown vegetation along the Croxley Rail Link route will continue to be cleared over the next few months by contractors working for Hertfordshire County Council. Trees and bushes have sprung up along the disused line and contractors have been on site since mid-December, using machinery to clear the line ahead of construction work, which is due to start later in 2014.

Terry Douris, Cabinet Member for Highways, said “We’ve chosen to clear the overgrown vegetation from the disused line at this time of year as it’s the time that will be least disruptive to local wildlife.

“We’re making good progress with the on-site investigations and are gathering a lot of important information that we need to finalise the engineering designs and timetable.”

The clearance is the latest in a series of preparatory works. Ground investigations to gather geological information are continuing and surveys of possible electricity cables, water pipes, sewers and communications cabling are being carried out.

Hertfordshire County Council and London Underground now expect that trains will be running on the new link in 2017, later than originally planned.

Ian Welland, Chief Executive for Watford and West Herts Chamber of Commerce said, “It is important that the Croxley Rail Link continues to progress and any delay envisaged at the present time to the implementation timetable, might well be rectified as the physical works get underway. Naturally, there are other factors, many unknown such as hidden services and weather which may also cause delay; however, it could be plain sailing and work could even get ahead of schedule. We shall have to wait and see. What is important is the positive benefits the Croxley Rail Link will bring to Watford in terms of travel options, linkages and the economy.”

Buried cables and drains, gas pipes, water pipes, (oil or petrol pipelines even given their proximity to Scammell's) that weren't on the plans or weren't found during the ground survey.

The planning applications for works associated with the Croxley Rail Link were submitted to Watford BC towards the end of January. Too many in number to detail here, they are available on the planning portal at www.watford.gov.uk. A similar search on the planning portal at www.threerivers.gov.uk has not borne fruit but that is not to say that the relevant applications have not yet been lodged with them.

The Cassiobridge station renderings remind me very much of the template for Haggerston station on the northern extension of the East London Line. It’s also clear from the WVR renderings that ‘Watford Hospital’ was the working name for the station until very late in the day. Interestingly, there are 51 documents associated with the WVR application, but only 18 and 15 with the Cassiobridge and viaduct applications respectively, which hints at the relative complexity of works at the Vicarage Road site.

THC