New Watford to St Albans Abbey Line 'clockface' timetable

The Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership held a Christmas event on December 11 to mark the launch of the new Abbey Flyer timetable.

There will still be 20 daily return trains from Monday to Friday, between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey, but two bus trips that covered the route have been cut.

Abbey Line stations, which also include Watford North, Garston, Bricket Wood, How Wood and Park Street, had previously seen around one service every 45 to 50 minutes throughout the day.

Read more:

• Bid for 'passing loop' on Abbey Line fails to win backing
• The Apprentice star pitches up in Watford today - 'BOSH'
• Beloved Watford waiter who 'made problems seem trivial' dies

A new earliest train will depart Watford Junction at 5.53am. Otherwise there is little change to the early morning schedule.

From 9.45am from Watford Junction onwards (or 10.02 if departing from St Albans Abbey) the services will run at the same time on the hour until the 4.30pm train from Watford Junction.

Trains will then leave Watford every 45 minutes until 6.45pm, before returning to calling hourly.

Rail Partnership chair Sandy Walkington welcomed the “easy to remember” clockface scheduling and improved connections.

The new timetable (Image: Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership)“The cream on the cake is provided by new late evening services allowing people to use the train when they go out in Watford or St Albans,” he added.

The new latest train from Watford will run at 10.45pm instead of 10.21pm, and 11.08pm from St Albans instead of 10.44pm, Monday to Saturday.

On Saturdays all trains except the first will leave at the same time on the hour. There are no changes on Sundays.

Abbey Flyer Christmas event (Image: Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership)

In June this year, a bid to increase the number of trains running on the line by creating a ‘passing loop’ allow two trains to run at the same time was rejected by the government.

According to a letter from the Department for Transport, the project failed because the application did not “contain sufficient evidence of passenger demand to warrant the proposed increase in frequency”.

Abbey Flyer Christmas event (Image: Abbey Line Community Rail Partnership)

To mark the new timetable and celebrate Christmas, a ‘Santa Express’ event was held on the same day (December 11).

Entertainment at the event included a visit from Santa, a band, magician, and balloon modelling.

Have you got a story for us? You can contact us here.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news.

To receive breaking news alerts or newsletters sign up here.