Croxley Rail Link public inquiry: Live (From Watford Observer)

4:30pm

Michael Fish suggested that although the journey to Rickmansworth is shorter, trains will take longer to turn there than in Watford met because they have to be taken into the sidings.

Mr Foley argued: "The time for the driver to change ends is consistent wherever we change.

"There is a length of time it will take to run a train into a siding and back out, but irrespective, we would have longer to turn the trains around than at Watford met."

Mr Foley said although Rickmansworth was the preferred station to turn the trains around, it was not the only option. 

He added: "There are other locations such as in Moor Park where we would have even longer."

4:28pm

Both councillor Derbyshire and Cassiobury resident Michael Fish are arguing the case for Watford met to be kept open to allow Croxley Rail Link trains to be reversed there.

4:14pm

Park ward councillor George Derbyshire is currently questioning Keith Foley.

He said: “The heart of the matter is the number of trains per hour delivered on the metropolitan line as a whole and how that impacts on Watford.

“During peak time, under the sub-service railway upgrade, you intend to meet 28 trains per hour through Finchley Road.

“This project is four trains per hour short. Your preferred option is to insert them through Rickmansworth.

“Seeing as there’s some merit in retaining Watford met station, why can’t you insert those four trains into Watford met?”

Mr Foley said: “Watford met is further from Moor Park than Rickmansworth, meaning an additional running time of three minutes from Watford met.

“This would mean we would have a lower scheduled layover time on terminus, reducing reliability on the whole line.”

Councillor Derbyshire asked whether the additional time could not be “squeezed in” somewhere.

Mr Foley said: “When we talk about 30 seconds here or there, in a room like this it doesn’t sound like much, but on a complex rail network that could be critical.

“We could run that service; we could not operate that service reliably.”

3:55pm

Mr Foley explained that equipment used at Watford met station will be used in Ascot Road.

He was asked how both stations could be open at the same time, using the same ticket gates.

He suggested that either Watford met station would be run without ticket gates, or there would be a weekend closure while the equipment was moved.

3:42pm

Mr Foley explained the effect of a split service on the timing of metropolitan line trains.

He said: “Reversing trains in the met station would result in about 30 percent of Watford met and Watford Junction trains starting their next southbound journey late.”

3:40pm

Although the station will close, London Underground will retain the track in Cassiobury to use for stabling and emergency reversing at times of “severe service perturbation”.

3:38pm

With a six trains per hour service, the Croxley Rail Link can be described as a “turn-up-and-go” service rather than a timetabled one.

Mr Foley said this service “delivers significantly greater passenger benefits, both perceived and actual, than a timetabled service.”

3:20pm

He said: "From an operational perspective, the continued use of Watford met as a terminus station would have an adverse impact on the train service capacity and reliability on the remainder of the Metropolitan line."

3:19pm

Keith Foley, head of transport planning, London Underground Ltd, is speaking now as we're ahead of schedule.

3:18pm

2:37pm

Mary French, from Cassiobury, said: "I live quite close to the (Watford met) station and it takes me five minutes to walk there.

"I walked to Ascot Road the other day, I took the nearest route down Gade Avenue and Rickmansworth Road where I had to wait at a pelican crossing, and down Whippendell Road to the next pelican crossing where I also had to wait.

"It took me at least 20 minutes and I was walking quite fast."

2:32pm

Mr Hunter defended the earlier mentioned walking times to Watford met and the proposed Ascot Road station.

He said: "Distances and times have been checked and are robust".

2:23pm

Public gallery shocked by Steve Hunter's mention of Hertfordshire County Council being responsible for any financial over-run, "just like any other DfT project" he says.

2:09pm

Most of Mr Fish's questions have been deferred to Keith Foley, head of transport planning, London Underground Ltd, who is due to speak tomorrow.

2:04pm

Mr Fish asked: “Has any consideration been given to those people in Cassio Metro that will in the future be disadvantaged by the noise of the late night and early morning train movement but are not beneficiaries of the train movement?”

The question was deferred to another speaker.

2:02pm

He added that the A412 was a “less secure” route to school for children.

2:01pm

Michael Fish, from Cassiobury Park Avenue, opened proceedings after lunch by suggesting that “the notices for the closure of the met station didn’t go up until after councilor George Derbyshire had asked London underground the question about the closure. Notices started to appear 24 hours later. The process is fraught with a number of difficulties.”

1:01pm

Breaking for lunch now, back at 1.40pm.

12:41pm

The number of people easily able to reach a metropolitan line station will increase by thousands under the Croxley Rail Link.

Mr Hunter said: “The scheme brings an additional 5,100 residents to within 800m of a new met line station, or 14,300 including Watford High Street and Watford Junction.

“3,700 residents currently within 800 metres of Watford met would be more than 800 metres from the new stations [if Watford met closes], although the distance to Ascot Road for these passengers is less than many met line users currently travel.

“The total number of residents within easy distance of a met line station increases with the introduction to the scheme.”

12:30pm

12:27pm

Very busy in the public inquiry, despite this only being day one.

12:23pm

Mr Hunter said the closure of the met station would mean it would take Watford Grammar School for Boys pupils an extra six minutes to walk from Ascot Road.

He said: “The walk would increase from six minutes and a quarter minutes to 12 minutes, but this would be offset by the train journey to Ascot Road being one minute quicker.”

The closure would also increase the journey time to Cassiobury Park by 14 minutes.

However, journeys to the town centre would be reduced by 19 minutes, to the hospital by ten minutes, to West Herts College by four minutes, and to Watford Grammar School for Girls by 17 minutes.

Mr Hunter said the impact of the closure on journey times was “positive overall”.

12:02pm

This map shows the location of the met station, Watford Grammar School for Boys, and the approximate sites for the two potential new stations.

11:57am

A study of the usage of Watford met is being discussed. On average, 2,540 people use the station in the week, and 895 on the weekend.

A figure of 70 people using Watford met station to get to and from Watford Grammar School of Boys on a daily basis was disputed by London TravelWatch, which claimed it was more like 200.

A further study was done, which established about 302 people aged under 18-years-old used the station between 7am and 9am and 3pm and 5pm.

Mr Hunter said it was “prudent” to assume most of these were students of Watford Grammar School.

11:50am

Mr Hunter is now examining the journey times of the new rail link.

He said: “The number of passengers benefitting from a reduced journey time considerably exceeds the relatively small number of existing passengers whose overall journey time increases because of the closure of Watford Met station.

“For example, 28,333 additional residents would have Met Line journey times between 60-80 minutes, whereas 2,215 who previously were within this time band would now have longer journey times.”

11:44am

Mr Hunter said keeping Watford met station open would “invalidate the current funding, delay the scheme and add further potential risks to the project.”

11:38am

Steve Hunter, associate with Steer Davies Gleave, is examining the effect the rail link will have on traffic in Watford.

He said: “In two locations the forecast peak hour traffic flows would increase by more than five percent because of the scheme.

“In eight locations the forecast traffic flow decreases by more than five percent. Overall, just under 300 peak hour car journeys are removed from the local road network.

“The overall net impact on the highway network is assessed as being a modest benefit.”

11:38am

11:29am

A Cassiobury Park residents speaks about the effect the closure of the Met line station will have on her.

11:21am

Park ward councillor George Derbyshire suggested that Met line upgrades would bring ten trains an hour to the station in Cassiobury Park.

He said: “The 2,500 people using Watford Met station will not have the advantage of those ten trains per hour, as under this proposal the maximum would be only six trains per hour.

“I think it is rather perverse that a project costing hundreds of millions of pounds will deliver an inferior service compared to that service they would have got under sub-service upgrade.”

11:02am

This image shows the proposed route of the rail link and new stations, and the closure of Watford Metropolitan station.

10:57am

Speaking to Ms Glaud, Michael Fish, from Cassiobury Park Avenue, said: “In your statement you say that the county council has always been supportative of the scheme, and you describe the scheme including the closure of Watford met station.

"Are you saying Hertfordshire County Council has always supported the close of Watford met station? Was there a policy decision to close the station?”

Ms Glaud said: “The scheme is based on providing a better service for all users, meaning the Watford met station would have to close. To have a better service and to meet funding approval we had to close the met station.

"For Croxley Rail Link to proceed, Watford met would have to close. It was on that basis that we got funding.”

10:49am

Roxanne Glaud, from the county council, is explaining the problems with traffic congestion in Watford.

She said: "Many of the major trunk roads have high and increasing traffic volumes. Some are at or over capacity, leading to rat running in local streets.

"This is unattractive to enable economic growth in the town.

"There is a lack of link between the west of the town and the central and eastern part of the town.

"Roads and cars have to meet these demands, and the road network in the west does not provide effective access to the south, placing more pressure on the town centre."

10:28am

10:28am

“The most controversial element of the project,” says Nathalie Levin QC, “is the closure of Watford Met Station.

“Keeping Watford Met station open makes no sense either operationally or in terms of passenger benefits.

“A large population of the existing users of Watford Met live as close, if not closer, to station served on the new line.

“Ultimately, the number of those disbenefited by a split service [keeping the Met station open] would well outnumber those benefitting.

“Such a decision would throw the entire future of the project into considerable doubt.”

10:28am

“The most controversial element of the project,” says Nathalie Levin QC, “is the closure of Watford Met Station.

“Keeping Watford Met station open makes no sense either operationally or in terms of passenger benefits.

“A large population of the existing users of Watford Met live as close, if not closer, to station served on the new line.

“Ultimately, the number of those disbenefited by a split service [keeping the Met station open] would well outnumber those benefitting.

“Such a decision would throw the entire future of the project into considerable doubt.”

10:23am

In her statement Roxanne Glaud from the county council will describe how Watford is an area of Hertfordshire which has underperformed economically and where East to West traffic is increasingly difficult.

She says the project will provide significantly improved public transport opportunities to a large residential population around the new stations and will make it far easier to travel west to east across the area.

She will also describe how it will open up employment opportunities, improve access to Watford town centre and enable easier public transport options for those areas of West Watford where car ownership is lowest, with up to 80 percent lacking access to a car.

10:19am

Nathalie Levin QC, reading an opening statement, said: "The Croxley Rail Link will provide a major enhancement of public transport services across Watford and improve both accessibility to those services and connectivity between services."

10:15am

A few housekeeping matters are being dealt with. There are about 20 members of the public here for the opening statements today.

10:02am

The inquiry, held in the Elton John conference centre in Vicarage Road Stadium, is now open.

9:55am

Speaking for the promoters today are Roxanne Glaud, from the county council, presenting the scheme background, and Steve Hunter, from Steer Davies Gleave, speaking about the transport case.

Michael Fish, from Cassiobury Park Avenue, will be speaking for the residents of Cassiobury.

9:43am

The scheme could see Watford Metropolitan Station closed to passengers. However there has been a separate public inquiry on that issue and Boris Johnson will be making the final decision later this year.

9:38am

Transport bosses are due to hear from people who in the town who will be affected by the scheme, which will see the Met Line routed from Croxley station, through two new ones in Ascot Road and Vicarage Road before connecting with Watford High Street station, and terminating at Watford Junction.