The
'Abbey Flyer' is the colloquial name for the 6.5 mile branch line
railway that runs between Watford
Junction & St Albans Abbey
stations in Hertfordshire.
Route
There are five intermediate stations at Watford
North, Garston, Bricket
Wood, How Wood and Park
Street & the train service is currently run by London
Midland.
Service
The journey takes 16 mins in either direction - a speed that cannot
be matched by road. It is one of the most punctual services in
the UK. The line uses 3 or 4-car EMUs (electric multiple units).
Passengers are
able to change at Watford Junction for 'London Overground' trains
serving the inner suburbs, fast London Midland services to Euston,
Milton Keynes & the West Midlands, and Virgin Trains for travel
to more northerly destinations. Southern Trains also run a service
to Clapham Junction, Gatwick & Brighton, and even Scotrail's
sleeper trains call late in the evening. The Abbey Flyer is a
'pay train' - tickets to any station on the National Network can
be bought from the on-board conductor.
Bad times....
The service is well used by commuters, shoppers,
school & college students, business travellers, tourists &
people making social and leisure journeys. But the Abbey Flyer
has not always faced a certain future. In the 1960s it narrowly
avoided closure under the Beeching plan, since when it has suffered
an appalling degree of rationalisation. In 1995 five daily trains
were withdrawn, & despite the electrification of the branch
as recently as 1988 - it was proposed to replace the modern EMUs
with 36-year old diesels. In the late '90s a plan surfaced to
rip up the railway & replace it with a largely untried and
highly expensive 'guided bus' system.
Making a stand.....
It was under these uncertain skies that ABFLY was
formed - with the express intention of securing the future of
the branch line as a heavy-rail operation. Thankfully the planned
guided bus scheme was quietly dropped, and the perseverance of
the group is now starting to pay dividends, with the line being
selected in 2004 as a 'pilot project' in the Strategic Rail Authority's
'Community Rail Development strategy'. This
strategy proposes a radical change in attitudes towards vital
community lifelines such as our local Abbey Flyer, and will hopefully
prove to be one of the most positive episodes in the recent history
of the line.
