A £180 million rail milestone has been reached to facilitate the new Brent Cross West station.
From this weekend trains can now enter new sidings from both the north and south ends of the track, and a level crossing has also been installed, allowing staff to cross the tracks safely to get to and from the trains.
Brent Cross West and the associated rail infrastructure is being delivered by Barnet Council.
The construction of the sidings, that cost £180m, began in October 2018, with the sidings from the south side coming into commission in June last year.
Some 300 people have worked on the sidings construction which has included almost 800,000 hours of labour with no reported accidents on site during that time, a Barnet spokesperson said.
The sidings have been funded as part of a £419 million government agreement with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, HM Treasury and the Greater London Authority.
This work was carried out by contractors Amey and project managed by Mace.
The new station is at the heart of the Brent Cross Cricklewood regeneration programme.
Once completed it will provide a gateway to Brent Cross Town, a new neighbourhood for Barnet that will include 7,500 new homes, 27,000 jobs, three new schools, retail outlets, major road improvements, and new community facilities.
Brent Cross South will be connected to Brent Cross shopping centre, which will be doubled in size as part of the regeneration scheme, via a new pedestrian bridge across the North Circular Road.
Brent Cross West station includes moving existing rail lines and rebuilding sections of the track throughout April and May.
The installation of the first part of the station’s eastern over bridge will take place in May.
The entire programme is on track to be completed in May 2022, with construction running to schedule despite the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As the first major mainline station to be built in London in over a decade, it will be positioned on the Midland Mainline between existing Hendon and Cricklewood Stations enabling journeys from Luton to Brighton.
It will take under 15 minutes to reach Kings Cross St Pancras.
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