Brent Cross West railway station
Introduction '''Brent Cross West''' is a railway station on the Thameslink route and on the Midland Main Line. The station serves Brent Cross and the northern parts of Cricklewood and Dollis Hill areas of north London. The proposal is part of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development, which also sees an investment to  station further down the line. The station was opened on 10 December 2023.
History ===Brent Cross Cricklewood development===Construction is underway for Brent Cross Cricklewood, a  development of a new town centre in Brent Cross. The plan includes the new station, expanding jobs by around 27,000, building 7,500 homes, expanding Brent Cross Shopping Centre, a new hotel, cinema, a new bus station, and new roads.====Cricklewood station====The developers of the Brent Cross Cricklewood development have included in their project a plan to upgrade facilities at Cricklewood railway station which lies  south of the Brent Cross station site. The platforms at Cricklewood cannot accommodate longer 12-car trains, but the new Brent Cross platforms can accommodate the longer trains. Rumours that Cricklewood station would close when the new station opened were refuted by the development company.===Construction===Brent Cross West station under construction in June 2022On 23 December 2019, VolkerFitzpatrick signed a contract with Barnet Council to design and build the station.Planning permission was granted by Barnet London Borough Council in May 2020.Work to clear the site began in June 2020 and construction of the foundations began in November 2020.On 22 June 2023, it was announced that the station had passed essential platform tests and that an opening date was being planned for the following Autumn.On 10 November 2023, it was announced that the station would be opening to passenger service on 10 December 2023.
Location The station is on the former site of the Cricklewood TMD (traction maintenance depot) which is used by East Midlands Railway and Thameslink, between existing Cricklewood and Hendon stations. The depot was moved slightly south onto a bigger site.Following the expansion of the Thameslink network under the Thameslink Programme, longer 12-carriage trains from south of the River Thames are now able to operate on the northern section and Brent Cross station was constructed with longer platforms that can accommodate the longer train formations.
Further plans In 2017 a proposal to extend the London Overground network to  via Brent Cross West was announced by the London Assembly and Transport for London. The scheme, known as the West London Orbital envisages  re-opening the Dudding Hill Line to passenger services and running trains from  and Hendon to  via the planned  station. The plans are currently at public consultation stage with TfL, although enabling works to make the station compatible with a future upgrade have been delayed.An earlier proposal to construct a light rail system serving Brent Cross, Harlesden and Brent Cross tube station was put forward in 2010, but the scheme, known as the North and West London Light Railway, did not go ahead.
Services All services at Brent Cross West are operated by Thameslink using  EMUs.The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:* 4 tph to  (all stations)* 2 tph to  (all stations except )* 2 tph to  via * 4 tph to  (2 of these run via  and 2 run via )During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services between Luton and  via , as well as some late evening services to and from .The station is also served by a night service between Bedford and  on Sunday to Friday nights.
Connections London Buses routes 189 and 316 serve the station.
Gallery File:BXW main November 2023.jpg|Eastern entranceFile:Brent Cross West stn footbridge look east3.jpg|FootbridgeFile:Brent Cross West stn platform1 look north2.jpg|Platform 1File:Brent Cross West stn platform2 look north4.jpg|Platform 2File:Brent Cross West stn western entrance5.jpg|Western entrance
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