Watford West | |
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The remains of the station in May 2014.
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Location of Watford West in Hertfordshire
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Location | Watford |
Local authority | Watford |
Grid reference | TQ098955 |
Railway companies | |
Original company | London and North Western Railway |
Pre-grouping | London and North Western Railway |
Post-grouping | London, Midland and Scottish Railway |
Key dates | |
15 June 1912 | Station opened |
22 March 1996 | Services ceased |
29 September 2003 | Official closure |
Other information | |
Lists of stations | |
WGS84 | 51°38′55″N 0°24′51″W / 51.6485°N 0.4143°WCoordinates: 51°38′55″N 0°24′51″W / 51.6485°N 0.4143°W |
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Watford West is a disused railway station in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom on the branch line from Watford Junction to Croxley Green, last operated in 1996.
The station opened in 1912 and was temporarily closed in 1996 before being permanently closed on 6 November 2002, with the line being officially closed in September 2003. Facilities at the station had been downgraded in the years prior to closure. At first the station was temporarily closed so the remaining station furniture, including the lampposts, drivers mirrors and the station and street-level signage, was left in situ although by the time clearance work began at the site in preparation for the building of the Croxley Rail Link, both mirrors had collapsed and almost all of the station-level signage had disappeared.
In 2004–05, several years after the station was mothballed, ten passengers purchased tickets for travel to the station, placing it higher than Gainsborough Central.
The track may be re-opened as part of the Metropolitan line Croxley Rail Link, approved by the Government on 14 December 2011. It is not planned to re-open Watford West because a new station, Watford Vicarage Road, will be built on Vicarage Road. The electrical substation required for the new line would be built on land adjacent to Tolpits Lane to the south of Watford West. The platform on the north side will be demolished.
On 25 January 2017, the Watford Observer newspaper published an update on the Croxley Rail Link confirming work had stopped as there was an ongoing funding issue.
The station in 1985
The overgrown remains of the station in 2008.
Clearance work being carried out at the site of the station in 2014 in preparation for the Croxley Link.