Crossrail Hertfordshire Extension Mooted

Will Noble
By Will Noble Last edited 115 months ago
Crossrail Hertfordshire Extension Mooted

Crossrail may be about to get even bigger. Photo by Ronald Hackston, in the Londonist Flickr pool.

Crossrail is sprouting add-ons at a rate of knots. Not long ago we reported the mega-line had been granted an extension to Reading. Now proposals to tap into Hertfordshire have been put on the table.

The announcement was made by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, at the Crossrail site in Farringdon. McLoughlin pointed out that should the extension go ahead, journey times between London and Hertfordshire will be cut by up to 16 minutes (a reference to the would-be 55-minute journey between Tring and Bond Street).

Tring aside, other stations benefiting from the Crossrail treatment would likely include Hemel Hempstead, Watford Junction, Berkhamsted and Harrow and Wealdstone.

The proposed extension is not just about truncated journey times. Yolanda Rugg, chief executive officer at the Hertfordshire Chamber of Commerce, has cited the proposed extension as "a catalyst to drive economic growth".

Another boon would be the alleviation of pressure on Euston station, making improvements here easier to crack on with.

But it remains to be seen whether the Hertfordshire extension will go ahead or not. As McLoughlin says, "Final decisions would be subject to a wide range of considerations, including affordability".

Last Updated 07 August 2014