As the construction of London’s newest mainline station nears completion an important milestone has been reached as teams finished signalling commissioning works. This means the rail infrastructure works around Brent Cross West are now complete.

Over the past few years, it’s been a huge task for our partners Network Rail and Amey to reconfigure the tracks to make way for the Brent Cross West station. New sidings have also been created to service and hold passenger trains when they are not in use, and they have been fully operational since March 2020.

Since then, teams have constructed new overhead line equipment, walkways have been built to ensure the safe travel for drivers from their new welfare facilities to the trains, and new signals and switch gear have been designed and installed.

Brent Cross West construction continues

Over on Brent Cross West, teams led by contractor VolkerFitzpatrick and project managed by Mace on behalf of Barnet Council continue to work day and night to complete the station.

Passengers travelling past the station on the existing Midland Main Line route can catch a glimpse of the new Thameslink station, with its now completed grey cladding around the impressive, glass fronted concourse and overbridges which tower over the railway lines.

Most of the steelwork, which is a visually striking feature of Brent Cross West, is now completed and the waiting rooms and station facilities on the platforms are in place. Two final cranes will come to the site over the Christmas weekend to install the last bits of steelworks for the lower canopy so teams can continue to complete the waiting room cladding and roofing to provide shelter for future passengers.

An impressive welcome

On the western side of the station the entrance is nearly complete with the final brick work being installed on this huge 16-metre-tall building. This entrance will provide access to the station for our neighbours living in Fellows Square and over the Edgware Road in Brent. Once opened, it will also provide 24-hour access across the Midland Main Line to the new Brent Cross Town development and the parks and shops already open there.

The timber framed eastern entrance is now being fit out ready for ornamental trees and hanging plants to bring the space to life.

Fitting out the station and upskilling local people

Inside the main station different teams are leading the mechanical and electrical installations as part of the station ‘fit out’. Lighting is being fitted, the lifts are being installed and floors completed.

There just over 100 people working across a number of specialist companies that are helping to complete the station. Our commitment throughout the project has been to recruit locally with at least 20% of the work force from the area where possible. We’ve also offered important training opportunities, like apprenticeships, for people working on the station. You can read more about some of the local people working on site, and find out more about future opportunities, here.

 

When will Brent Cross West open?

Construction works on the public areas around the western entrance are due to start in February and work is ongoing on the eastern side to complete the transport interchange.

We expect the main station works to be completed early in the new year.  There will then be a period of testing and commissioning by our rail partners before we can open the station.

We know people are excited about the opening of Brent Cross West and we are working with our rail partners to agree an opening date, which we will share as soon as we can.

In the meantime, you can keep up to date on the project by following us on Twitter @transformingbx or on our Brent Cross West web pages.

For image usage requests and media enquiries, please contact transformingbx@barnet.gov.uk