Brent Cross West is a railway station on the Thameslink route and on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...

. The station serves

Brent Cross Brent Cross is a major traffic interchange and area in the London Borough of Barnet, England. Originally the name of a crossroads, it is located a mile from the centres of Hendon and Golders Green. Notably, the Brent Cross Shopping Centre, ...

and the northern parts of

Cricklewood Cricklewood is a town in North London, England, in the London Boroughs of Camden, Barnet, and Brent. The Crown pub, now the Clayton Crown Hotel, is a local landmark and lies north-west of Charing Cross. Cricklewood was a small rural hamlet ...

and

Dollis Hill Dollis Hill is an area in northwest London, which consists of the streets surrounding the Gladstone Park, London, Gladstone Park. It is served by a London Underground station, Dollis Hill tube station, Dollis Hill, on the Jubilee line, providi ...

areas of north London. The station is part of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development, which also sees an investment to station further down the line.Brent Cross Cricklewood: The benefits
Accessed 20 December 2010 The station was opened on 10 December 2023.

History

Brent Cross Cricklewood development

Construction is underway for Brent Cross Cricklewood, a development of a new town centre in

. The plan includes the new station, expanding jobs by around 27,000, building 7,500 homes, expanding

Brent Cross Shopping Centre Brent Cross Shopping Centre is a large shopping centre in Hendon, North London, owned by Hammerson and Abrdn. Located by the Brent Cross interchange, it opened in 1976 as the UK's first Out-of-town shopping centres in the United Kingdom, out-of-t ...

, a new hotel, cinema, a new bus station, and new roads.

Cricklewood station

The developers of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development have included in their project a plan to upgrade facilities at

Cricklewood railway station Cricklewood railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving the town of Cricklewood in the London Borough of Barnet, north London. It is down the line from and is situated between to the south and to the north. Its three-lette ...

which lies south of the Brent Cross station site. The platforms at Cricklewood cannot accommodate longer 12-car trains, but the new Brent Cross platforms can accommodate the longer trains. Rumours that Cricklewood station would close when the new station opened were refuted by the development company.

Construction

On 23 December 2019, VolkerFitzpatrick signed a contract with Barnet Council to design and build the station. Planning permission was granted by

Barnet London Borough Council Barnet London Borough Council, also known as Barnet Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Barnet in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour majority cont ...

in May 2020. Work to clear the site began in June 2020 and construction of the foundations began in November 2020. On 22 June 2023, it was announced that the station had passed essential platform tests and that an opening date was being planned for the following Autumn. On 10 November 2023, it was announced that the station would be opening to passenger service on 10 December 2023.

Location

The station is on the former site of the Cricklewood TMD (traction maintenance depot) which was used by

East Midlands Railway East Midlands Railway (EMR; legally Transport UK East Midlands Limited) is a British train operating company owned by Transport UK Group, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. Originally owned by Abellio (transport compan ...

and

Thameslink Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from , , , , , and via central London to , , , Rainham, , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than ...

, between existing Cricklewood and Hendon stations. The depot was moved slightly south onto a bigger site. Following the expansion of the Thameslink network under the

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the so ...

, longer 12-carriage trains from south of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

can now operate on the northern section, and Brent Cross station was constructed with longer platforms that can accommodate the longer train formations.

Further plans

In 2017 a proposal to extend the

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

network to via Brent Cross West was announced by the

London Assembly The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds supermajority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject t ...

and

Transport for London Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most of the transport network in London, United Kingdom. TfL is the successor organization of the London Passenger Transport Board, which was established in 1933, and His ...

. The scheme, known as the West London Orbital envisages re-opening the Dudding Hill Line to passenger services and running trains from and Hendon to via the planned station. The plans are currently at public consultation stage with TfL, although enabling works to make the station compatible with a future upgrade have been delayed. An earlier proposal to construct a

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system serving Brent Cross,

Harlesden Harlesden is a district in the London Borough of Brent, north-west London. Located north of the Grand Union Canal and Wormwood Scrubs, the Harrow Road flows through the centre of the area which goes eastwards to Central London and west towar ...

and

Brent Cross tube station Brent Cross is a London Underground station located on Highfield Avenue in the Golders Green area of north west London. It is a Grade II listed building. The station is on the Edgware branch of the Northern line, between Hendon Central and ...

was put forward in 2010, but the scheme, known as the North and West London Light Railway, did not go ahead.

Services

All services at Brent Cross West are operated by

using

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 4 tph to (all stations) * 2 tph to (all stations except ) * 2 tph to via * 4 tph to (2 of these run via and 2 run via ) During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services between Luton and via , as well as some late evening services to and from . The station is also served by a night service between Bedford and on Sunday to Friday nights. EMR services do not currently operate at this station.

Connections

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus s ...

routes

189 Year 189 ( CLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Silanus and Silanus (or, less frequently, year 942 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 189 for th ...

and

316 __NOTOC__ Year 316 ( CCCXVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sabinus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 1069 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 316 f ...

serve the station.

Gallery

File:BXW main November 2023.jpg, Eastern entrance File:Brent Cross West stn footbridge look east3.jpg, Footbridge File:Brent Cross West stn platform1 look north2.jpg, Platform 1 File:Brent Cross West stn platform2 look north4.jpg, Platform 2 File:Brent Cross West stn western entrance5.jpg, Western entrance

References

External links

*
"Take a preview of Brent Cross West station ahead of Sunday’s opening"
8 December 2023 {{London Overground navbox Railway stations in the London Borough of Barnet Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2023 Railway stations opened by Network Rail Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Brent Cross