Brent Cross West (formerly Brent Cross South / Thameslink / Parkway) is a railway station under construction on the Thameslink route on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

. It will serve

Brent Cross Brent Cross is originally the name of a crossroads that today forms a major interchange for traffic in the London Borough of Barnet, England. Located a mile from the centres of Hendon and Golders Green, the area also contains the Brent Cros ...

and the northern parts of Cricklewood and

Dollis Hill Dollis Hill is an area in northwest London, which consists of the streets surrounding the 35 hectares (86 acres) Gladstone Park. It is served by a London Underground station, Dollis Hill, on the Jubilee line, providing good links to central Lo ...

areas of north London and the proposal is part of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development, which also sees an investment to station further down the line.Brent Cross Cricklewood: The benefits
Accessed 20 December 2010 The station is set to open in early 2023.

History

Brent Cross Cricklewood development

Construction is underway for Brent Cross Cricklewood, a development of a new town centre in

. The plan includes the new station, expanding jobs by around 27,000, building 7,500 homes, expanding

Brent Cross Shopping Centre Brent Cross Shopping Centre is a large shopping centre in Hendon, north London, owned by Hammerson and Abrdn. Located by the Brent Cross interchange, it opened in 1976 as the UK's first out-of-town shopping centre. Brent Cross attracted 15–1 ...

, a new hotel, cinema, a new bus station, and new roads.

Cricklewood station

The developers of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development have included in their project a plan to upgrade facilities at

Cricklewood railway station Cricklewood railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving the town of Cricklewood in the London Borough of Barnet, north London. It is down the line from and is situated between to the south and to the north. Its three-lett ...

which lies south of the Brent Cross station site. The platforms at Cricklewood cannot accommodate longer 12-car trains, but the new Brent Cross will be able to accommodate the longer trains. Rumours that Cricklewood station would close when the new station opened have been refuted by the development company.

Construction

On 23 December 2019,

VolkerFitzpatrick VolkerRail is a specialist railway infrastructure services company based in Doncaster, England, providing services across the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is wholly owned by Netherlands-based VolkerWessels, a multi-disciplinary construct ...

signed a contract with Barnet Council to design and build the station. Planning permission was granted by

Barnet London Borough Council Barnet London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 within London. Barnet is divided into 21 wards, each electing three councillors. The cou ...

in May 2020. Work to clear the site began in June 2020 and construction of the foundations began in November 2020. Services are due to operate from early 2023.

The planned site

Cricklewood railway depot (geograph 4333742)

The station is planned to be on the current Cricklewood TMD (traction maintenance depot) which is used by East Midlands Railway and

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

, between existing Cricklewood and Hendon stations. The depot would be moved slightly south onto a bigger site. Following the expansion of the Thameslink network under the

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...

, longer 12-carriage trains from south of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

are now able to operate on the northern section and Brent Cross station will be constructed with longer platforms that can accommodate the longer train formations.

Further plans

In 2017 a proposal to extend the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, (via archive.org). it now serves a large part of Greater London as w ...

network to via Brent Cross West was announced by the London Assembly and Transport for London. The scheme, known as the

West London Orbital The West London Orbital is a proposed extension to the London Overground railway system in London, UK. The extension would make use of a combination of existing freight and passenger lines including the Dudding Hill Line, North London Line and ...

envisages re-opening the Dudding Hill Line to passenger services and running trains from and Hendon to via the planned station. The plans are currently at public consultation stage with TfL, although enabling works to make the station compatible with a future upgrade have been delayed. An earlier proposal to construct a light rail system serving Brent Cross,

Harlesden Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, North West London. Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west toward ...

and

Brent Cross tube station Brent Cross is a London Underground station located on Highfield Avenue in the Golders Green area of north west London. The station is a Grade II listed building. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, between Hendon Cent ...

was put forward in 2010, but the North and West London Light Railway scheme did not go ahead.

Services

The expected service is approximately eight

trains per hour in peak times.

References

External links

* * {{London Overground navbox Proposed railway stations in London Railway stations in the London Borough of Barnet