Watford High Street is a railway 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, and ...

, Hertfordshire,

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. It is served by the

Watford DC line The Watford DC line is a suburban line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Watford, Hertfordshire. Its services are operated by London Overground. The line runs beside the West Coast Main Line (WCML) for most of its length. The London ...

on 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. It is the only station on the line's sole deviation from the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

History

London Overground train for Watford Junction at Watford High Street Station

The station was opened by the

Watford and Rickmansworth Railway The Watford and Rickmansworth Railway (W&RR) ran services between Watford and Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire, England. The company was incorporated in 1860; the line opened in 1862. The Rickmansworth branch was closed in 1952, and the remaining ...

(W&RR) on 1 October 1862, with services running from to . In 1912 a branch was opened to . The line came under the ownership of London and North Western Railway (LNWR), which was absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) in 1923, following the grouping of Britain's railway companies. Additional rail services were introduced to Watford High Street; on 16 April 1917 the

Underground Electric Railways Company of London The Underground Electric Railways Company of London Limited (UERL), known operationally as the Underground for much of its existence, was established in 1902. It was the holding company for the three deep-level "tube"A "tube" railway is an und ...

extended its

Bakerloo line The Bakerloo line () is a London Underground line that goes from in suburban north-west London to in south London, via the West End. Printed in brown on the Tube map, it serves 25 stations, 15 of which are underground, over . It runs partly ...

through this station to , and in 1922 the LNWR completed the suburban Camden to Watford Junction New Line, linking Watford High Street to via the

Watford DC Line The Watford DC line is a suburban line from London Euston to Watford Junction in Watford, Hertfordshire. Its services are operated by London Overground. The line runs beside the West Coast Main Line (WCML) for most of its length. The London ...

(shared with the Bakerloo line). After nationalisation in 1948, the Watford DC Line was run by British Rail (from 1986 under its

Network SouthEast Network SouthEast (NSE) was one of the three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE mainly operated commuter rail trains within Greater London and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the net ...

brand). At the height of operation around the 1950s, Watford High Street was served by the Bakerloo line, and by British Rail trains on both the Croxley Green and Rickmansworth branches, a local all-stations service to Euston and another local service to via . Over the years, most of these services were gradually withdrawn. The Rickmansworth branch was a poorly used service and passenger services were terminated by BR in 1952. Croxley Green services continued as

Parliamentary train A parliamentary train was a passenger service operated in the United Kingdom to comply with the Railway Regulation Act 1844 that required train companies to provide inexpensive and basic rail transport for less affluent passengers. The act req ...

s until the line closed fully in 1996. On 24 September 1982, London Transport cut back the Bakerloo line to run only as far north as (reinstating the service as far as in 1984). London Broad Street station was closed in 1986 and trains on the Primrose Hill route were diverted to until 1992, when passenger services on the Primrose Hill line were withdrawn completely. After the withdrawal of the Croxley, Bakerloo and Broad Street routes, the only remaining service running from Watford High Street was British Rail's Watford DC Line to Euston. Following the

privatisation of British Rail The privatisation of British Rail was the process by which ownership and operation of the railways of Great Britain passed from government control into private hands. Begun in 1994, it had been completed by 1997. The deregulation of the indust ...

the franchise for the Watford DC Line was taken over by

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

who ran the line under its Silverlink Metro name. In 2007 the line was brought under the control of Transport for London, who today operate it as part of the

network; this service uses the 750 V DC lines for its all-stations local service with the 4th rail presently redundant except as part of the electrical return circuit.

Location

Watford High Street station is located in the Lower High Street in Watford town centre. In the immediate vicinity around the station are a number of retail and civic amenities including the

Watford Museum Watford Museum is a local museum in Watford, Hertfordshire, in the United Kingdom. It is owned by Watford Borough Council and is located on the Lower High Street in Watford. The museum opened in 1982 and is housed in a Grade II-listed Georgian ...

, containing a gallery of fine art and displays of local heritage, and the atria Watford Shopping Centre (also known as the ''Harlequin Centre''), the largest shopping centre in Hertfordshire, which attracts more than 17 million customers each year. Various other shopping parks are also close to the station, including a large

Tesco Extra Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

, Waterfields Shopping Park (containing large stores such as

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

and

Next Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

), as well as many stores situated on the High Street. Watford town centre has many popular bars and clubs, such as PRYZM; the only producing theatre in Hertfordshire, the

Watford Palace Theatre Watford Palace Theatre, opened in 1908, is an Edwardian Grade II listed building in Watford, Hertfordshire. The 600-seat theatre on Clarendon Road was refurbished in 2004. It houses its own rehearsal room, wardrobe, cafe and bar. History The ...

; as well as numerous restaurants and cafes, both chain and independent. To the east of the railway line is the site of

Benskins Brewery Benskins was the pre-eminent brewery in Watford, and Hertfordshire's biggest brewer until its acquisition by Ind Coope in 1957. While Benskins has not existed as an independent company for over half a century, the brand continues to be well kno ...

, the office building for which is now

. The brewery was rail-served by sidings until 1956. The station is situated in a deep cutting covered by a single platform canopy. The roof of the canopy is connected to the concrete sided cutting by ornamental metal trusses.

Services

All services to this station are operated by

. It is on the

of the network and operates with a frequency of 4 trains per hour, approximately every 15 minutes Monday to Sunday.

Connections

The station is served by local Routes 8, 142, 258, 306, 306B, 306C, 398, 602, W19 and W20. Other services to alternate destinations operate from Watford town centre bus stops, which are a short distance from the station.

Future

In 2011, a project to extend the

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 counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. 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 was announced. The planned

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 ...

would have diverted the Metropolitan line branch across the town along a reinstated stretch of disused track of the former Watford and Rickmansworth Railway; the link would then have joined the Watford DC Line just south of Watford High Street, and Underground trains would have shared track with London Overground through to Watford Junction. The scheme was cancelled in 2018 due to funding difficulties.

References

External links

* * {{Watford Railway stations in Watford DfT Category D stations Former London and North Western Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1862 Railway stations served by London Overground Proposed London Underground stations 1862 establishments in England