Watford Vicarage Road tube station

Watford Vicarage Road tube station is a planned London Underground station which is to be built in Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. It is to serve Vicarage Road stadium and the Watford General Hospital campus. The station is being constructed as part of the Croxley Rail Link project, a scheme to extend the Metropolitan Line across the town to Watford Junction railway station. It will be served by Metropolitan Line trains between Watford Junction and Central London via.

When the station was originally proposed it was to be named Watford Hospital or Watford General Hospital.

Site
Watford Vicarage Road is to be a newly-constructed station on a re-opened section of the former Watford and Rickmansworth Railway line which was closed by British Rail in 1996. The station will be located next to Vicarage Road in Watford, to the west of the former Watford Stadium railway station (which was located just to the east of Vicarage Road) and to the east of the former Watford West railway station (which was located to the west of the new station site, off Tolpits Lane). Designs for the new station, and others on the link, have been prepared by Acanthus LW Architects.

The platforms at both former stations will be removed or modified to accommodate the two new tracks.

Name
The name originally proposed for the station was Watford Hospital, to reflect its proximity to Watford General Hospital. Local campaigners petitioned Transport for London (TfL) to name the station after Vicarage Road Stadium, home of Watford F.C., as they felt that it was a more easily recognised local landmark. TfL stated that their policy is not to name new stations after individual roads in order to ensure geographical understanding across the whole Tube network. However, in recognition of local opinion and the wider recognition of the Vicarage Road name in association with the football club, they agreed to waive this rule. On 8 August 2013 TfL announced that they would name the station Watford Vicarage Road.