Watford Junction railway station

Watford Junction is a railway station serving the town of Watford in Hertfordshire, England. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), 17 miles 34 chains (28 km) from London Euston^[4] and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. It is also the northern terminus of the Lioness line of the London Overground, which operates via the Watford DC line into central London.

Quick Facts Location, Local authority ...

Watford Junction
Watford Junction Location of Watford Junction in Hertfordshire
Location	Watford
Local authority	Borough of Watford
Managed by	London Northwestern Railway
Owner	Network Rail
Station code(s)	WFJ
DfT category	B
Number of platforms	12 (10 in use)
Accessible	Yes[1]
Fare zone	A
National Rail annual entry and exit
2019–20	8.436 million[2]
– interchange	0.550 million[2]
2020–21	1.680 million[2]
– interchange	91,375[2]
2021–22	4.127 million[2]
– interchange	0.242 million[2]
2022–23	5.536 million[2]
– interchange	0.282 million[2]
2023–24	6.475 million[2]
– interchange	0.332 million[2]
Key dates
20 July 1837	Original station - Watford - opened.[3]
5 May 1858	Station relocated and renamed Watford Junction[3]
1909	Rebuilt
1980s	Refurbished throughout
Other information
External links	Departures Facilities
Coordinates	51.6635°N 0.3958°W / 51.6635; -0.3958
London transport portal

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Journeys into London take between 16 and 52 minutes, depending on the service. Trains also run to Clapham Junction and East Croydon, via the West London line. The station is a major hub for local bus services and the connecting station for buses to Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter. The station is located north of a viaduct over the Colne Valley and immediately south of Watford Tunnel.

The first railway station to open in Watford was situated on the north side of St Albans Road, approximately 200 metres (220 yd) further up the line from the present-day station. This small, single-storey red-brick building was built in 1836–7, when the first section of the London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was opened between London and Boxmoor. The station provided first and second-class waiting rooms, a departure yard, a carriage shed and engine house. The platforms were situated in a deep cutting which was accessed via a staircase.^[5]

In its 21 years of operation, it also served as a station for royalty; in the short period when the Dowager Queen Adelaide was resident at Cassiobury House (c.1846-49), this station was remodelled to provide her with a royal waiting room, and it was also reportedly used by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on a trip to visit Sir Robert Peel in November 1843, when they travelled by road from Windsor Castle to take a train from Watford to Tamworth.^[6]

The old station closed when it was replaced by a new, larger station, which opened on 5 May 1858. The new Watford Junction station was located south of St Albans Road in order to accommodate the newly constructed branch line to St Albans. The junction station was rebuilt in 1909, and was extensively redeveloped in the 1980s. The Grade-II-listed Old Station House still stands at 147A St Albans Road, a rare surviving example of architecture from the beginning of the railway age; today, the building is occupied by a second-hand car dealership.^[7]

In 1862, the Watford and Rickmansworth Railway opened a route from Watford to Rickmansworth (Church Street). Now mostly closed, this route began by running south and west to a more central station on Watford's High Street, which remains in use.

From 1846, the L&BR was absorbed into the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and Watford Junction was now run by this large, ambitious company. Seeking to compete with local buses and trams, the LNWR built an additional suburban line from Euston to Watford in the early years of the 20th century, known as the Watford DC line. This veered away from the main line at Bushey to loop around Watford to pass through the High Street station. A second suburban branch line was also built from High Street west towards Croxley Green to serve new housing developments in that area. Both branches were later electrified as part of this improvement plan, on the same DC three-rail system. The Rickmansworth branch was connected to the Main Line, via two through platforms, with a junction to the north; these platforms have since been partly built over and their remaining southern sections form part of the present DC lines terminus. At one time, tube-style trains were used on the branches to counter the low voltage caused by the lack of a sub-station near Rickmansworth.

The Bakerloo line was extended to Watford Junction in 1917, giving a shared service north of Willesden Junction with the main line electric trains which served Euston and Broad Street stations. However, since 1982^[8] the line north of Harrow & Wealdstone has only been served by what is now the London Overground service from Euston station; this service uses these DC lines for its all-stations local service.

Oyster card capability was extended to this station on 11 November 2007 on both the London Overground and Southern; it was extended to London Midland services on 18 November 2007. However, the station is outside London fare zones 1–9 and special fares apply.

With the electrification of the entire West London line in the 1990s, it became practical to run services from Watford Junction to Clapham Junction, allowing passengers to cross London without changing trains. Southern operated an hourly service from Milton Keynes, now starting from Watford Junction, to East Croydon with connections to Brighton and Gatwick.

There is a well-known expression, North of Watford, which is used to mean the north of England, especially a place remote from London.^[9] An alternative variant phrase, North of Watford Junction, was used with similar meaning in the past, referring to Watford Junction railway station.^[10][11][12] The expression reflects the station's position as the last urban stop on the main railway line out of London to the north of England. In more recent years, it has been suggested that the phrase references Watford Gap services on the M1,^[13] however the original saying was in existence well before its opening in 1959.^[14][15][16]

Motive power depot

The LNWR built a locomotive depot at the station in 1856, which was replaced by a larger building in 1872 and was further enlarged in 1890. It was closed by British Railways in March 1965.^[17]

Redevelopment

In 1984, the Victorian station buildings were demolished and the station was rebuilt in a modern architectural style; there is a travel centre and a large office block above the station which is occupied by the lorry and bus manufacturing company Iveco. Some 19th-century waiting rooms survived, but were finally demolished in 1987.^[18] To enlarge the car park and provide more space, the St. Albans branch line was realigned northwards, with the original St. Albans platforms becoming a single terminating bay now mostly used by Southern services.

The station forecourt was extensively remodelled in 2013; the horseshoe-shaped taxi rank was moved to the side of the building, creating a larger pedestrian area in front of the station entrance, and the bus station enlarged. Due to problems with the road layout, buses were unable to gain access to the bus station, and there were problems with access to the relocated car park. London Northwestern Railway are considering revising the design.^[19]

Further redevelopment of the station and its surroundings is planned for the next 10 years. They may be delayed because the redevelopment of Watford Junction has been placed within the pre-qualification pool of proposed schemes by the Department for Transport.

Platform Usage:

• Platforms 1-4: Bay platforms for the three trains per hour London Overground service (Lioness line) to London Euston calling at all stations.

(Platform 5 was used by the Bakerloo line services of the London Underground until 1982, and removed as part of the subsequent major rebuild)

• Platform 6 (Down Fast): For the hourly Avanti West Coast service to Birmingham New Street, hourly Avanti West Coast service to Glasgow Central or Edinburgh (alternating), and fast London Northwestern Railway services northbound.
• Platform 7 (Up Fast): For fast London Northwestern Railway services to London Euston and Avanti services only to set down.
• Platform 8 (Down Slow): For slow and semi-fast London Northwestern Railway services northbound and limited Southern services to Hemel Hempstead.
• Platform 9 (Up Slow): For slow, semi-fast and fast London Northwestern Railway services to London Euston, and Southern services to East Croydon via Kensington Olympia, Selhurst, Balham and Clapham Junction.
• Platform 10: For terminating Southern services to and from Kensington Olympia and Clapham Junction. There are additional terminating services to and from East Croydon, Balham, Selhurst and South Croydon on weekdays and Saturdays. London Northwestern Railway operate 2 trains on weekdays at 07:55 and 08:15 to London Euston in the morning, whilst one train terminates from London Euston at 17:55.
• Platform 11: Used for the service every 45 minutes to St Albans Abbey.

Local buses run to destinations including Heathrow Airport, Stanmore, Uxbridge and Brent Cross in London, Amersham, Chesham and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, Hatfield, Harpenden and Hertford in Hertfordshire, Luton Airport in Bedfordshire and Harlow in Essex.

Specific routes include London bus routes 142, 258 and non-London Arriva Shires & Essex routes 20, 320, 321, 322 and 725 as well as other Intalink routes 306 (school journeys), 328, 336, 352, 501, 635, W1, W2, W3, W4, W20 and W30.

The Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter shuttle bus route 311 also leaves from the station forecourt.

Green Line route 724 stops in the station forecourt. It runs directly to St Albans and Harlow from stop 5 and to Heathrow Terminal 5 via Heathrow Central and Rickmansworth station from stop 2.

• Watford Underground station (Metropolitan line)
• Watford High Street (Lioness line)
• St Albans Branch Line
• West Coast Main Line route modernisation