Brent Cross West station has passed several safety and technical tests, as it progresses towards opening this autumn, a year after it was originally expected to open.
Thameslink trains successfully arrived and departed from the station during overnight trial runs during the past fortnight.
The trial tested that passengers could board and alight from the trains safely, that dispatch could be carried out, and that on-board passenger information displays worked correctly, with the new station's name added to route diagrams and to announcements.
Barnet Council is the leading the development partnership, and is working with Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). GTR's station project team and ASLEF trade union health and safety representatives carried out the tests.
The new Brent Cross West station will serve an area of northwest London where the population is growing at a significant rate. Thameslink will manage the station, which is located on the Midland Mainline between Cricklewood and Hendon, and will run up to eight trains per hour.
Tom Causebrook, GTR's Infrastructure Project manager, said: “Our testing focussed on ensuring that the station's platforms are safe for passengers and staff. Included in the checklist were making sure trains stopped at the right points, the mechanisms for selective door opening worked correctly, our drivers have good visibility along the platforms, and passenger announcements on the trains' information screens are at the right times. We're delighted that the results are really positive.”
“I would like to say a big thank you to all the ASLEF reps who have helped with the testing and also to the train planning team who've arranged the test trains for us.
“Now we're looking forward to further elements of the station being completed so that our staff can move in and do their station-specific training, ready for the autumn opening.”
Councillor Barry Rawlings, Leader of Barnet Council, said: “The new Brent Cross West station is fundamental to our plans to transform the local area, creating thousands of new jobs and much-needed new housing. It's great to see the platforms pass GTR's safety and operational tests – another vital milestone for this ambitious project.”
Gary Walsh, Network Rail's East Midlands Route Director, said: “It is great to see that the new Brent Cross West station has passed GTR's essential testing of the platforms, which will allow passenger trains to stop at the station safely.
“The brand-new station is another example of the significant investment taking place on the Midland Main Line and will unlock new travel opportunities for passengers, with vital connections to destinations such as Brighton, Luton, and London St. Pancras. We're looking forward to the station opening this autumn.”
ends
Editors' notes
This week's testing programme included the following elements:
trains stop at correct platform position;
safe dispatch of trains including driver's view of platform and signals;
station design meets the strict platform-train interface (PTI) requirements (including stepping distances);
all train systems are working correctly, including selective door opening and passenger information system.
Brent Cross West station
Brent Cross West will be London's newest main line station on its opening, expected in autumn this year.
The four-platform station covers around 7,000 square metres and sits on the Midland Main Line between Cricklewood and Hendon. It will connect passengers from central London to Brent Cross in as little as 12 minutes, with up to eight Thameslink services an hour at peak times. It will also be able to accommodate the planned West London Orbital (WLO) line in future, which will provide additional cross-London services.
The Brent Cross West station programme is being led by Barnet Council, built by VolkerFitzpatrick, and project managed by Mace with Network Rail a key programme partner.
A fundamental part of the ambitious Brent Cross Cricklewood Regeneration Programme, the new station will provide the gateway to north London's new park town, Brent Cross Town, which alone will deliver 6,700 new homes and create workspace for 25,000 jobs.
More chaos more pollution and overcrowding, More devastation to the landscape. Just what we need. So much for improving the carbon footprint.
A pointless comment from the build nothing nowhere brigade.
The area being redeveloped for more housing is brownfield (underused worn out industrial), the station itself is on a brownfield site. No “landscape” being lost. The extra housing is a reasonable investment of embedded carbon.
The only possible improvement would be less redevelopment of the shopping centre itself, it could be allowed to just be smaller; but even with that the redevelopment is reducing large amount of mostly underused paved flat parking areas (the alternative would be to make this more of a green park, but the location next to the A406 North Circular isn’t a great location for a park.
The only real difference is the periodic funfair won’t have a space anymore, nor could it become an urban beach in the summer months.
Pollution from electric trains?
Grow up.
There are also plans for a new railway station that Thameslink will also serve and that’s at Wixhams in Bedfordshire and few miles south of Bedford. But at least Brent Cross West station will serve the shopping centre and new development in the area.