North London gets a new station in the shape of Brent Cross West.
The new Thameslink stop opens on Sunday 10 December 2023, adding an extra station between Cricklewood and Hendon. It's an area undergoing major redevelopment, with thousands of new homes now under construction in a scheme called "Brent Cross Town". The station will serve that new community, as well as offering an alternative way of getting to Brent Cross shopping centre, which is itself expected to undergo a £1.4 billion redevelopment.
Services will run from early morning on Sunday 10 December 2023 (with craft activities and local food and drink stalls in attendance from 10am). Thereafter, expect six trains per hour in each direction off-peak, and eight during peak times. It's a step-free station, with exits both to the east and west of the tracks. The overbridge can be used without going through a gateline — quite a big deal, actually, as there are very few other places to cross the Midland Main line in this area.
The station includes a new panel artwork by Giles Round (you can see it alongside the escalator in the image above). Its mix of colours are a good match for the Here We Come substation wrap, you might have seen a little north of the station.
It's not every day London gets a new station. The last to open was Barking Riverside on the London Overground, back in July 2022. After Brent Cross West, we face a long wait until the next opening — probably Old Oak Common on the HS2 line, towards the end of the decade.
