Cassiobridge was a proposed
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
station in
Watford
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. The station would have been part of the
Croxley Rail Link
The Croxley Rail Link, or the Metropolitan Line Extension, is a proposed railway engineering project in the Watford and Three Rivers districts of Hertfordshire, England, that would have connected the London Overground and the London Undergrou ...
project, a scheme to extend the
Metropolitan line
The Metropolitan line, colloquially known as the Met, is a London Underground line between in the City of London and and in Buckinghamshire, with branches to in Hertfordshire and in Hillingdon. Printed in magenta on the tube map, the line i ...
to
Watford Junction railway station
Watford Junction is a railway station that serves Watford, Hertfordshire. The station is on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), 17 miles 34 chains from London Euston and the Abbey Line, a branch line to St Albans. Journeys to London take between 16 ...
. It would have been served by Metropolitan line trains between Watford Junction and Central London via .
The railway line would run over Ascot Road via a viaduct and the platforms would have been situated on the east side of the road. Entrance to the station would have been from the west side of the road, with a ticket hall and other facilities at street level. Passengers would gain access to the platforms via stairs and lifts and a short footbridge over the road.
The station is projected to offer interchange with local transport services,
[ ] and operate as an unstaffed station, providing automatic ticketing facilities similar to a
DLR station. There is potential for
Park and Ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuting, commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail t ...
facilities to be provided, although planning documents indicate high levels of congestion on adjacent roads.
station would close to passenger services, so that all trains from
Croxley would continue to Watford Junction.
The railway and station had been expected to come into service in 2020
but on 25 January 2017, the ''Watford Observer
The ''Watford Observer'' is a weekly local newspaper, published by Newsquest. It serves the town of Watford in southwest Hertfordshire, as well as the surrounding area. The paper covers local news, politics and sport, including the town's larges ...
'' newspaper published an update on the Croxley Rail Link confirming that work had stopped as there was an ongoing funding issue.
Station name
Originally the station was to be called Ascot Road but some local people and councillors considered that this name would not reflect the identity of the area. Transport planners also expressed concern that the new tube station could be too easily confused with Ascot station in Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...
. After some consultation on the names of the two new stations on the line, it was decided in August 2013 to use the name Cassiobridge instead, while the planned Watford Hospital station was changed to Watford Vicarage Road to be more recognisable outside the area.
Cassiobridge as a name has some historical provenance. There was a Cassiobridge Farm close to a bridge over the River Gade
The River Gade is a river running almost entirely through Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Watfo ...
and nearby there is an early 19th-century timber house called Cassiobridge Lodge. These properties are linked with the former stately home of Cassiobury House
Cassiobury House was a country house in Cassiobury Park, Watford, England. It was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Essex. Originally a Tudor building, dating from 1546 for Sir Richard Morrison, it was substantially remodelled in the 17th and ...
and its estate, now the public Cassiobury Park
Cassiobury Park is the principal public park in Watford, Hertfordshire, in England. It was created in 1909 from the purchase by Watford Borough Council of part of the estate of the Earls of Essex around Cassiobury House which was subsequently ...
, and the surrounding suburb of Cassiobury
The Cassiobury Estate is a suburban residential area of Watford in Hertfordshire, England. It is bounded to the south by Cassiobury Park, the main public park in the town, to the west by playing fields next to the River Gade, and to the northea ...
. The two modern bridges in the area now carry the A412 road
The A412 is a road in England between Slough and Watford. It was the main artery for this corridor and used to continue to St Albans prior to the construction of the M25. It provides interchange to the A4 in Slough, the A40/ M40 at the Denh ...
over the Grand Union Canal
The Grand Union Canal in England is part of the British canal system. It is the principal navigable waterway between London and the Midlands. Starting in London, one arm runs to Leicester and another ends in Birmingham, with the latter st ...
and the River Gade
The River Gade is a river running almost entirely through Hertfordshire. It rises from a spring in the chalk of the Chiltern Hills at Dagnall, Buckinghamshire and flows through Hemel Hempstead, Kings Langley, then along the west side of Watfo ...
.
References
External links
*
Croxley Rail Link from TfL
Croxley Rail Link main website
{{Watford
Proposed London Underground stations
Proposed railway stations in England
Croxley Rail Link