The opening of new railway sidings as part of our station programme marks an important milestone in our ambitious Brent Cross Cricklewood Regeneration Programme, which will bring 7,500 new homes to the area, and create over 25,000 jobs.

At 7.07am on Monday 1 June, the first train made use of the new railway sidings, which are new parts of rail track connected to the main railway that will be used to park unused trains overnight, clean and refuel them. The completion of the sidings is a key part of the wider regeneration programme. They have been moved so work can begin on building the new Brent Cross West Station, which achieved final planning approval in May and will be built by VolkerFitzpatrick who was awarded the contract in December 2019.

The delivery of the new station is vital to unlock the rest of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development which will deliver thousands of new homes, improved parks and schools, a vibrant new town centre, and create 25,000 employment opportunities in Barnet.

The new station and the works to support it are being completed by Barnet Council, and funded by the Ministry of Communities, Housing and Local Government. It is one of the first rail projects in England to be delivered entirely by a local authority who are directing construction and working in partnership with Network Rail and the Department for Transport.

The milestone was reached on time despite the challenges presented by the Covid-19 outbreak. Working with partners and contractors, the programme team worked quickly to comply with social distancing, provide enhanced health and safety measures to protect staff working on site, and keep the programme safely on track.

The new sidings are now open from the south end, (with the north end to follow at the end of 2020). They have five tracks and are capable of  servicing up to 12 trains at a time across the rail network.

Read more about the new station here.

You can see footage of the first train arriving in our short video below: