Watford Junction railway station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Watford Junction | |
 |
|
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Place | Watford |
| Local authority | Watford |
| Operations | |
| Station code | WFJ |
| Managed by | Silverlink |
| Platforms in use | 9 |
| Annual entry/exit 04/05 | 4.066 million ** |
| History | |
| Key dates | Opened May 1858 Rebuilt 1909 Refurbished throughout 1980s |
| National Rail - UK railway stations | |
| ** based on sales of tickets in 2004/05 financial year which end or originate at Watford Junction. Disclaimer (PDF) | |
Watford Junction station is a railway station in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Located a short distance from the town centre, it is served by the West Coast Main Line (WCML), the local DC electric line to Euston and a branch line to St Albans. Journeys to London take between twenty and fifty-two minutes depending on the service used. Trains also run to Brighton via the WCML and the West London Line through Kensington Olympia and Clapham Junction.
Previous services also ran from the West side of the station to branches serving Croxley Green and Rickmansworth (Church Street), both eventually being electrified on the same system as the DC line to Euston, at one time using tube trains to mitigate the effect of the voltage-drop caused by the lack of a sub-station near Rickmansworth.
For main line inter-city services (provided by Virgin Trains), Watford Junction is the penultimate stop on the southbound WCML before Euston, and it is designated as a "set-down only" station for southbound services, or a "pick-up only" stop for the equivalent northbound services. This restriction is enforcable by penalty fares.
Major redevelopment work of the station and its surroundings is planned over the next 10 years.
The Bakerloo Line of the London Underground was extended to Watford Junction in 1917, providing shared services with mainline electric trains which served London Euston and Broad Street stations. However since 1982 the portion of the line north of Harrow & Wealdstone has only been served by what is now known as the Silverlink Metro service working out of London Euston; this service uses these DC lines for its "all stations" local service. After November 2007, these services will be provided by Transport for London as part of the London Overground. However, it has been proposed that the Bakerloo services be re-extended to this station and services from Euston withdrawn. No timing for such a change has been confirmed at this stage.
A scheme to divert the Metropolitan Line's Watford branch to Waford Junction via the disused Croxley Green branch may also see the return of Underground trains formed of the Met's surface stock. TfL have committed £18m towards the scheme's costs, but the agreement of the Department for Transport to provide the remaining funds is still awaited.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first station in Watford was north of Saint Albans Road, but Watford Junction opened with the line to St Albans on 5 May 1858. The station was rebuilt in 1909, and was extensively redeveloped in the 1980s.
[edit] Services
| West Coast Main Line |
| Principal stations (from south to north) London Euston Warrington Bank Quay |
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London Euston | First ScotRail West Coast Main Line and beyond Lowland Caledonian Sleeper |
Carlisle | ||
| London Euston | Virgin Trains West Coast Main Line Intercity service |
Milton Keynes Central |
||
| Bushey | Silverlink County West Coast Main Line London-Northampton commuter service |
Kings Langley | ||
| Harrow & Wealdstone |
Southern West London Line |
Terminus | ||
| Watford High Street |
Silverlink Metro Watford DC Line Local commuter service |
Terminus | ||
| Terminus | Silverlink County St Albans Branch Line |
Watford North | ||
| Disused Railways | ||||
| Watford High Street |
British Rail Rickmansworth Branch |
Terminus | ||
| Watford High Street |
Silverlink Croxley Green Branch |
Terminus | ||
[edit] See also
- Watford Underground station (Metropolitan Line)
- Watford High Street station (DC line)
- St Albans Branch Line
[edit] External links
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- Satellite image from WikiMapia or Google Map
- Street map from Multimap or GlobalGuide
- Aerial image from TerraServer
