St Albans Branch Line

The Abbey Line (or St Albans Abbey Branch Line) is a railway line from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey railway station. 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 further station was opened, at Callowland. This was later renamed Watford North.

In 1924 the terminus at St Albans had a name change to 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 station was added 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.

The stations between Watford North and St Albans Abbey are unstaffed, and tickets must be bought on the train.

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

Infrastucture
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.

The service is operated using 25 kV AC EMU's. A Class 321/4 EMU is in regular use, 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 for trains heading 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 which extended out of Greater London, including the St Albans 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 the it to operation using light rail vehicles from 2011. This should be made possible for the same amount of subsidy the line currently receives, as the new infrastructure required, such as a passing loop is cheaper for light rail than heavy rail. Longer-term proposals envisage the extension of the light rail service into both Watford town centre via Clarendon Road and High Street, and into St Albans city centre, possibly as far as St Albans City railway station, as well as the possible re-instatement of the line to Hatfield.