Watford tube station

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Watford
Location
Place	Watford
Local authority	Watford

Operations
Station code	ZWT
Managed by	London Underground
Platforms in use	2
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Transport for London
Zone	7
2004 annual usage	1.268 million †
2007 annual usage	1.642 million †
History
Key dates	Opened 1925
Transport for London List of London stations: Underground \| National Rail
† Data from Transport for London [1]
London Transport Portal

Watford is a station at the end of the Watford branch of London Underground's Metropolitan Line in the north-western part of the network in Zone 7, previously zone A.

1 Location and description
2 History
3 Watford Junction links
4 See also

[edit] Location and description

The station is in Cassiobury Park Avenue, at the junction with Metropolitan Station Approach, in the Cassiobury area of Watford. It is close to two of the entrances to Cassiobury Park. Despite the name suggesting a central location, it is some distance from Watford town centre compared with the town's other stations, Watford High Street and Watford Junction. It is known locally as "Watford Met" to distinguish it from these and the other Watford stations, which are all operated by National Rail. The station building is typical red-brick and was designed by C. W. Clark.

[edit] History

Watford station opened on 4 November 1925, as part of the extension of the line from Moor Park, with electrical supply from the Metropolitan Railway, and a train service from the Great Central Railway to London Marylebone operating in the first few months.

Although it is the terminus of the branch, it was not planned as such, with an extension to the town centre (Watford Central station) envisaged but never constructed. The original Watford Central station building was in Watford High Street, opposite the junction with Clarendon Road, and has known many guises. In the 1950s this was the Grange Furniture Store and the original underground station canopy was still in evidence^[1]. A theme bar, the Moon Under Water, now occupies the site. For many years, a bus service ran from Watford station to the High Street.

[edit] Watford Junction links

For many years, a short branch line from Watford Junction ran to nearby Croxley Green, though passenger usage was low. In 1996, rail services were withdrawn and the line allowed to fall into disuse. The line comes very close to the Metropolitan Line south of Watford and it has often been proposed that there should be a short viaduct to link the two lines to create a through route to Watford Junction. This would lead to the closure of Watford Met, but Watford West station could be given a new exit to provide a near enough service.

This project, although small, has long faced problems with funding. As Watford is outside Greater London, normal sources of funding for the Tube are not available. Hertfordshire County Council do not have railways within their remit and so are unable to supply the funding on their own. However, the County Council, backed by Transport for London, are now leading a combined scheme to build the extension largely from a Government grant; the cost will be about £60m, and should be completed by 2009. TfL have agreed to commit almost £18m to the scheme, and a submission to the Department for Transport has been made asking for a commitment in principle to pay the balance. The DfT's response is still awaited.

A platform at Watford tube station

It is envisaged that the services on the lines so linked could be further enhanced by using the north-facing junction on the Metropolitan main line north of Moor Park to provide shuttle services between Watford Junction and Amersham, Chesham or even Aylesbury. It is believed that such a service would do much to enhance the entire area.

When zones were introduced Watford was in Zone B. From 2004 it moved to Zone A and in 2008 became part of Travelcard Zone 7.