The Watford Junction to St. Albans Abbey Line is under threat of closure to be replaced by a guided busway!

Opened by the London & North Western Railway on the 05th May 1858 as the first railway to reach the city of Saint Albans, it now just as single track branch know locally as "The Abbey Flyer".

Under Hertfordshire County Council's "Transport Vision 2050" as more efficient local transport network is needed as the county's population could have grown to 1.5 million by then. Their solution is close the railway and replace the track with a guided busway as they seen no other solution. 

There's is an obvious solution to increase capacity on the branch and this is to reinstall the passing loop at Bricket Wood Railway Station. Up until the 1960s there was a passing loop at Bricket Wood, but with the usual rationalization seen in that decade it was removed. A decision since very much regretted. 

Reinstalling the passing loop would enable two trains to run on the branch and a 1/2 hourly clockface service to be operated instead of the "every 45 minutes" currently the norm.

Saldly Hertfordshire County Council and the Department for Transport have a lack of understanding of how such a branch is and could be operated. Closing the electrified railway and replacing it will diesel buses is not environmentally friendly and passengers are less likely to use buses than they are a railway.

Currently a community railway and very much loved by locals and tourists alike, it really would be a great shame for a railway to be closed in this day and age. Closing railways belongs in the 2oth century, not the 21st.

Please sign and share to enable this great little line to prosper for many years to come.