Brent Cross West railway station


Brent Cross West formerly Brent Cross South / Thameslink / Parkway is a planned railway station on the Thameslink route on the Midland Main Line. It will serve Brent Cross and the northern parts of Cricklewood and Dollis Hill areas of north London and the proposal is part of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development, which also sees an investment to station further down the line. The station is set for opening in 2022.

History

Brent Cross Cricklewood development

Outline planning permission is for Brent Cross Cricklewood, a development of a new town centre in Brent Cross. The plan includes the new station, expanding jobs by around 27,000, building 7,500 homes, expanding Brent Cross Shopping Centre, 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 which lies south of the Brent Cross station site. The platforms at Cricklewood cannot accommodate longer 12-car trains, but the new Brent Cross will be able to accommodate the longer trains. Rumours that Cricklewood station would close when the new station opened have been 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 in May 2020, work to clear the site is planned to begin in June with the main works to build the station due to start in January 2021.Services are due to operate from May 2022.

The planned site

The station is planned to be on the current Cricklewood TMD which is used by East Midlands Railway and Thameslink, between existing Cricklewood and Hendon stations. The depot would be moved slightly south onto a bigger site.
Following the expansion of the Thameslink network under the Thameslink Programme, longer 12-carriage trains from south of the River Thames are now able to operate on the northern section and Brent Cross station will be constructed with longer platforms that can accommodate the longer train formations.

Further plans

In 2017 a proposal to extend the London Overground network to via Brent Cross West was announced by the London Assembly and Transport for London. 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.
An earlier proposal to construct a light rail system serving Brent Cross, Harlesden and Brent Cross tube station was put forward in 2010, but the North and West London Light Railway scheme did not go ahead.