Watford Junction To St Albans Gasworks
Following on from yesterday's brief survey, fbb needs to remind his readers of the railway line from Watford Junction to St Albans Abbey, although the old aerial view explains why fbb, jocular as ever, has always called it "Gasworks". But it is very different now.
The gasworks is now a mega Sainsbury's and the station, never large or busy, is a bus shelter and a ticket machine.
The line parallels the 321 and 724 bus route (as mentioned in yesterday's blog) but is single track with no passing loop. The best that can be managed with this basic infrastructure is a train every 40 minutes.
Historically, there was a branch off the branch running to Hatfield (also bus 724 territory) ...
... now a footpath and cycleway.
It offered a third station for the City.
St Albans London Road still stands adjacent to a bridge under the London Road, surprisingly.
There have been numerous proposals to upgrade the line. The simplest (?) would be to install a passing loop allowing a more frequent service. More expensively and proposed by British Railways, was to use part of the track of the Hatfield Branch and extend the line into St Albans City Station.
Even more complex and even more expensive was a proposal to link the line to the now abandoned extension of the Underground Metropolitan line from its Watford station, via Watford Junction and thus on to St Albans.
The HERT Of The Matter
The latest cunning plan from Hertfordshire Council is even more far-reaching, some might say far fetched.
It is dubbed the Hertfordshire and Essex Rapid Transit. (see, HERT!!)
Here is what the council says about the plan (expurgated by fbb).
The HERT will form an east-west transport corridor that runs from Hemel Hempstead and West Watford, joining just south of St Albans in Hertfordshire, to Harlow in Essex and onwards to Stansted Airport. The corridor is critical in supporting current and future travel across Hertfordshire and into Essex, but it already experiences significant traffic congestion and poor journey time reliability.
Working with District and Borough Councils we created an A414 Corridor Strategy. As part of this, a mass rapid transit system was identified as being fundamental to unlocking greener and more efficient travel across the A414 corridor. We are now moving forward and exploring the options, with the aim of submitting a Strategic Outline Business Case (SOBC) for the Hertfordshire section of the scheme to the Department for Transport (DfT) in Spring 2022.
Following the submission of the SOBC, and subject to funding from central government, for a detailed study we will undertake further public consultation to gain views of the different route options that have been identified. This will be your chance to tell us what you think, helping us establish a preferred option for the routeing, the type of MRT vehicle and how it will operate.
Once we have confidence that the scheme is fundable, we will seek statutory powers and approvals, such as planning permission. We will also identify who is going to build and who is going to operate HERT. This information will feed into a final Full Business Case to unlock funding to allow HERT to be delivered.
Construction can start once we have all the necessary powers, approvals and funding in place. Given the ambitious scale of the project it is expected that it will take several years to reach this stage.
fbb has left out all the usual guff about saving the planet, creating jobs, improving mobility and connectivity etc. etc. etc. as these principles are standard fodder for any transport project!
As usual the rather important question of "who pays" is still very much "blue sky thinking".
The HERT will improve the passenger transport network through an accessible, reliable and affordable east-west system. The HERT will connect people to where they live, work and visit across both counties in a more environmentally friendly way and will support our local economies.
The HERT will be a Mass Rapid Transit system. This is a new, sustainable passenger transport network to carry people in greater numbers than a typical private car and provides greater convenience and reliability than a traditional bus service.
Hmmmm?
But there is a little video to entertain and excite:-
What We Need Is More Transparency ...
Presumably, Yellow Buses (Bournemouth Corporation as was, now re-privatiased under a management buy-out) haven't quite grasped why buses have windows.
The very first deep level underground trains did not have much windowage as there was nothing to see in the dark tunnels ...
... but this design policy was both unpopular and short-sighted (non-sighted??) and tube trains soon got their visibility.
People like to see where they are going, even if the view is mainly pipes and cables! So on a bus ...
... you would expect to enjoy the view.
But in Bournemouth this privilege is denied you.
Top deck front, forward view:
Top deck front, side view:
Top deck side view generally:
To quote from the above snap ...
NO, NO, NO, AND EVEN LOUDER, NO!
How To Make Your Customers Feel Welcome.
Make your bus as attrctive as possible ...
... as in Powell's Zip X20 between Barnsley and Doncaster.
Or you could be Arriva in Guildford:-
NO, NO, NO, AND EVEN LOUDER, NO!
Next Herfordhire blog : Thursday 12th August
Whilst I am in broad agreement with your view on obscuring bus windows, it is worth noting that the vinyls have only been applied to six vehicles that are on loan from Newbury & District during the school Summer holiday. The vinyls are easier to apply to the windows than the bodywork (less messy too when removed) and at least they reassure intending passengers that the bus is indeed their Yellow Bus, even though it isn't, er, yellow.
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