Watford tube station
Watford tube station is a London Underground station at the end of the Watford branch of the Metropolitan Line in the north-western part of the network, outer fare zone A. It is in the Cassiobury area of Watford, opposite the park. It is known locally as "Watford Met". The station building is typical red-brick and was designed by C. W. Clark.
It opened on November 2, 1925, as part of the extension of the line from Moor Park, and had solely electrical services from the Metropolitan, with a service from the Great Central railway to London Marylebone Station operating in the first few months. Although it is the final station in its branch it was not planned as such, with an extension to the town centre envisaged but never constructed. Nevertheless, for many years a bus service ran from the station to the high street, greatly increasing patronage of the line.
For many years a short branch line from Watford Junction station runs 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 In 1996 rail services were withdrawn and the line allowed to fall into disuse.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 oftern been proposed to build a short flyover 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.
It is envisaged that the through route could be further expanded by using tracks that link trains from Watford to the Amersham bound lines on the Amersham branch of the Metropolitan and vice-versa, thus allowing a through service to either Amersham, Chesham or even Aylesbury. It is believed that such a service would do much to enhance the entire area.
However this project, small though it may be, has long run into problems over funding. As Watford is outside of Greater London, normal sources of funding for the tube are unavailable. Hertfordshire County Council do not have railways within their remit and so are unable to supply the funding. It remains to be seen how this problem will be resolved.
Watford Junction was connected to the Bakerloo Line in 1917 but the portion of the of the line from Harrow & Wealdstone to Watford Junction was closed in 1982, although a DC National Rail service still uses these lines.
In earlier days the station was in Zone B, but in 2004 the station has been included to the present zone.
