Abbey Line

The Abbey Line (or St Albans Abbey Branch Line) is a railway line from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey. The 6.5 mi route passes through town and countryside. The service is sometimes referred to locally as the Abbey Flyer.

History
The line was opened by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) on 5 May 1858 and was the first railway to reach St Albans.

Originally there were two intermediate stations:
 * Bricket Wood
 * Park Street

In 1910 a station at Callowland opened, now Watford North.

In 1924 the terminus at St Albans became St Albans Abbey to distinguish it from the Midland Railway main line station at St Albans City, which opened in 1868. The LNWR station was also served by a branch of the Great Northern Railway from Hatfield.

A sixth station was added at Garston in 1966 and a seventh at How Wood in 1988, to coincide with the electrification of the route at 25 kV AC overhead.

Operations
Passenger services are operated by London Midland.

Stations on the branch are unstaffed and tickets must be bought on the train, except at St Albans Abbey which has a ticket machine, and Watford Junction which is staffed. If starting your journey at Watford Junction, in compliance with National Rail conditions of carriage, you must have a valid ticket prior to boarding the train.

The Abbey Line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 18, SRS 18.10 and is classified as a Rural line.

Infrastructure
The line is single track and is electrified at 25 kV AC using overhead line equipment. It has a loading gauge of W6 and a line speed of between 40 and 75 mph.

Rolling stock
The service is operated using EMUs. A Class 321/4 EMU is in regular use, and formerly services were operated by a Class 313 unit. Sometimes (but rarely, more commonly in the past) a Class 150 DMU has been substituted.

Signalling
Signalling is under "One Train Working" (without Train Staff) rules, where only one train is allowed on the line at a time. Trains can be moved into Watford Junction yard by a manual ground frame there. On 28 October 2005 its incorrect operation caused an incident with a train not in passenger service.

There is an automatic level crossing outside Watford North. This is operated by a manual plunger for trains heading towards St Albans, and by a treadle towards Watford Junction.

The Future
Since 1995 the Abbey Flyer Users Group (ABFLY) has been campaigning to secure the future of the line and encourage its growth. The Abbey Line was designated by the Strategic Rail Authority as a community rail line in July 2005, one of seven pilots under the Community Rail Development Strategy.

In 2004 a proposal was made by Transport for London for a London Regional Rail Authority to take control over some rail services that extended out of Greater London, including the branch line.

On 30 October 2009 Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis announced a plan to increase frequency on the line by allowing Hertfordshire County Council to lease the line from Network Rail and converting it to light rail from 2011. It was hoped that this would be possible for the same amount of subsidy the line received, as the new infrastructure required, such as a passing loop would be cheaper for light rail than heavy rail. Longer-term proposals envisaged extensions into Watford town centre via Clarendon Road and High Street, and St Albans city centre, possibly as far as St Albans City railway station, and possible re-instatement of the line to Hatfield.

The light rail plan was cancelled in May 2013, as it was found to be impossible to deliver the scheme within the existing heavy rail subsidy as planned and more complicated than had been expected with disputes over apportionment of ticket revenue and who was responsible for the cost of maintaining structures. Hertfordshire County Council pledged to prepare a more ambitious bid to the Dft for funding for full segregation from the national rail network and extensions on either end rather than to lease the line from Network Rail.