Lioness line

Lioness line
Class 710 at Harrow and Wealdstone in 2022
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Greater London Hertfordshire
Termini	London Euston Watford Junction
Stations	19
Website	tfl.gov.uk/overground/route/lioness
Service
Type	Rapid transit suburban rail
System	London Overground
Operator(s)	Overground: Arriva Rail London
Depot(s)	Willesden
Rolling stock	Overground: Class 378 / Class 710
Technical
Number of tracks	Two
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	Third rail,  750 V DC
Route map (Click to expand) Show static map Legend WCML West Coast Main Line Watford DC Abbey line to St Albans Abbey Watford Junction Watford High Street   to Rickmansworth (closed 1952) and Croxley Green (closed 1996) (see also never-built Croxley Rail Link) Bushey Carpenders Park Hatch End Headstone Lane Bakerloo line turnback siding Harrow & Wealdstone to Stanmore Village (closed 1964) Kenton Metropolitan line London–Aylesbury line South Kenton North Wembley Chiltern Main Line Wembley Central Stonebridge Park Depot (LU) Wembley Yard Stonebridge Park North Circular Road Harlesden Willesden Dudding Hill Line North London line to Richmond Willesden Junction West London line to Clapham Junction Willesden TMD North London line to Stratford via Camden Road and Dalston Kingsland Kensal Green Queen's Park north sheds (LU) Queens Park Queen's Park south sheds (LU) Bakerloo line to Elephant & Castle Kilburn High Road South Hampstead Chiltern Main Line Metropolitan line Jubilee line Primrose Hill Camden carriage sidings North London line to Stratford Regent's Canal Euston carriage sidings Euston This diagram: view talk edit Show diagram map

The Lioness line is a London Overground railway line that runs from London Euston to Watford Junction in Greater London and Hertfordshire, running the full length on the Watford DC Line. Prior to the name being adopted in November 2024, ^[1] it was labelled in Transport for London timetables as the Watford Junction to Euston route. ^[2]

The line runs beside the West Coast Main Line (WCML) for most of its length. The rolling stock used on the line are the London Overground Class 710 "Aventras" made by Bombardier.

The Watford New Line was opened in stages by the London and North Western Railway from 15 June 1912 as part of a wider scheme of suburban capacity improvement and electrification. Delayed by World War I, full electric service from Watford Junction to Euston commenced on 10 July 1922.

History

Main article: Watford DC line

Operators

The line was operated by British Rail and was part of Network SouthEast from 1986. In June 1988 it was rebranded as the Harlequin line. ^[3] The name was selected by a competition organised by British Rail. The winning entry, by a commuter from Pinner, was made up of a combination of Hatch End, Harlesden and Queen's Park stations. ^[4] The rebrand cost £4,000,000 (equivalent to £11,947,378in 2025) and was launched at Wembley Central station by Ed Stewart, Ian St John and Jimmy Greaves. ^[4]

In April 1994, in preparation for rail privatisation, the line became part of the North London Railways train operating unit. ^[5] From March 1997 until November 2007, the line was operated by Silverlink. In November 2007, Transport for London (TfL) took full management control of all the intermediate Watford DC line stations as part of the London Overground (LO) service with staffing during opening hours, automatic ticket gates and planned station refurbishment to the standard of the Tube network. ^[6]

Naming of service

The name proposed for this service in 2015 was the 'Watford Local line'. ^[7] In 2021, Sadiq Khan announced that if re-elected as Mayor of London, he would give the six services operated by London Overground unique names that would reflect London's diversity, working with his Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm. ^[8] In July 2023 TfL announced that it would be giving each of the six London Overground lines unique names by the end of 2024. ^{[9] [10] [11]} In February 2024, it was confirmed that the Watford DC line would be named the Lioness line, to honour the England women's national football team who became European champions at Wembley Stadium in 2022, and would be coloured yellow on the updated network map. ^[12]

Services

As of November 2024 ^[update] , the typical off-peak service pattern is: ^[2]

Lioness line
Route	tph	Calling at
Watford Junction to London Euston	4	Watford High Street Bushey Carpenders Park Hatch End Headstone Lane Harrow & Wealdstone Kenton South Kenton North Wembley Wembley Central Stonebridge Park Harlesden Willesden Junction Kensal Green Queen's Park Kilburn High Road South Hampstead

Route map

v t e London Overground
Cheshunt Theobalds Grove Enfield Town Turkey Street Romford Bush Hill Park Southbury Emerson Park Upminster Edmonton Green Silver Street Chingford White Hart Lane Highams Park Watford Junction Bruce Grove Wood Street Watford Seven Sisters Walthamstow Central High Street Harringay Blackhorse Road Walthamstow Queen's Road Bushey Green Lanes Carpenders Park Crouch Hill South Tottenham St. James Leyton Midland Road Hatch End Upper ( ) Stamford Hill Street Leytonstone Headstone Lane Holloway Stoke Newington Clapton High Road Harrow & Kentish Town West Rectory Road Wanstead Park ( ) Wealdstone Gospel Oak Camden Road ( ) Hackney Woodgrange Park ( ) Kenton ( ) Caledonian Road Canonbury Dalston Kingsland Downs Barking South Kenton & Barnsbury Barking Riverside ( ) North Highbury & Islington Hackney Central Wembley Hampstead Heath Dalston Wembley Finchley Road & Frognal ( ) Junction London Fields Central West Hampstead ( ) Haggerston Cambridge Homerton Stonebridge Brondesbury Hoxton Heath Hackney Wick Park Brondesbury Park Shoreditch High Street Bethnal Green Stratford Harlesden Kensal Rise Kensal Green Liverpool Whitechapel Willesden Queen's Park Street Shadwell ( ) Junction Kilburn High Road Wapping South Hampstead Rotherhithe Shepherd's Bush ( ) Euston ( ) Canada Water Kensington (Olympia) Surrey Quays West Brompton Battersea Park Imperial Wharf ( ) (limited service) New Cross Clapham Queens Road Peckham New Cross Gate Junction Peckham Rye Brockley Acton Central Wandsworth Road Denmark Hill Honor Oak Park South Acton ( ) Clapham Forest Hill Gunnersbury High Street Sydenham Kew Gardens Richmond Crystal Palace Penge West Anerley Norwood Junction West Croydon ( )
Legend
Station National Rail Liberty line Accessible station Thameslink Lioness line Interchange station Elizabeth line Mildmay line Accessible interchange Docklands Light Railway Suffragette line Internal interchange London Underground Weaver line Out-of-station interchange London Trams Windrush line (   ) Nearby interchange London River Services

Abandoned Expansion Proposals

Main article: Croxley Rail Link

A diagram of the proposed rail services

Another proposal to bring London Underground service to Watford Junction was the Croxley Rail Link, ^[13] which envisaged diverting the Watford branch of the Metropolitan line along a re-opened stretch of track to the west of Watford, effectively reinstating the former Croxley Green to Watford Junction service. Underground trains would then join the DC line at Watford High Street, potentially forming an interchange either with London Overground or the Bakerloo line, depending on the outcome of other projects. Funding for this project was agreed during November 2015, ^[14] however after cost overruns and disagreements over funding sources, work on the project stopped in 2017, and it was confirmed in 2018 that the project would not be going ahead in its current form. ^{[15] [16]}

References

1. Lydall, Ross (20 November 2024). "London Overground: New names and colours to be revealed at stations today after £6.3million rebrand". London Standard. Retrieved 20 November 2024.
2. "London Overground timetables". London: Transport for London . Retrieved 20 November 2024.
3. "Harlequin Is A Deathtrap". Harrow Leader. 1 July 1988. p. 1.
4. "Harlequin's new signings". Pinner Observer. 23 June 1988. p. 4.
5. Briddon, Christine (8 April 1994). "Huge shake-up on trains hale end of an era". Harrow Informer. p. 5.
6. "Safety boost as London Underground to take control of 11 Silverlink stations". Transport for London. 5 December 2006. Archived from the original on 13 December 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
7. Davies, Rachael (15 February 2024). "These are what the Overground lines were nearly named in 2015: what do you think?". The Standard. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
8. Dispatch, Enfield (24 August 2023). "London Overground passengers invited to help give each line a unique name". Enfield Dispatch. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
9. "Naming London Overground lines". Transport for London. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
10. "London Overground lines to be given names". BBC News . 1 July 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
11. "London Overground lines to be given unique names". BBC News . 25 August 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
12. London Overground: New names for its six lines revealed, BBC News, 15 February 2024
13. "Croxley Rail Link". tfl.gov.uk. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
14. UK, DVV Media. "Metropolitan Line Extension funding agreed". railwaygazette.com. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
15. McIntyre, Fiona (26 January 2018). "London mayor 'effectively abandons' £284M Met line extension". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
16. Russell, Rachel. "The story of the Met Line extension project so far". Watford Observer. Archived from the original on 16 April 2018. Retrieved 16 April 2018.