Meridian Water, a brand new station for North London opens next Monday, and at the same time, a nearby station will close.

Net gain = 0 stations.

Angel Road is one of the quietest stations in London, but its replacement a short walk away is expected to be exceptionally busy… when a massive new housing estate is completed.

At it’s peak, the new station is expected to handle 4 million passengers per year — a far cry from sleepy Angel Road’s 33,000 passengers last year.

Although Angel Road legally closes on Sunday, the station is closed at weekends, so the actual last trains will be on Friday evening. Also, its replacement at Meridian Water legally opens on Sunday, but will in fact be closed on Sundays until the houses are built, so the real first trains will be on Monday morning.

Simples!

The last train from Angel Road Station

Angel Road is looking as abandoned as it ever has, but there are now a few small signs warning that the station is due for closure. Those are in themselves sufficiently rare documents that I am surprised they haven’t been swiped by railway collectors.

Other than the official notices, there are no other notices in more customer friendly language to announce in BIG LETTERS that the station is closing. Meridian Water station maybe just a few yards away, but people will still manage to be oblivious to the closure, until they arrive on Monday expecting to catch a train.

The final trains to call at Angel Road will be on Friday 17th May at 7:47pm for Bishops Stortford, and the 7:51pm for Stratford.

You could take a risk of catching the last train out of London, arriving at 7:47pm and run across the footbridge to get the last train back into London a few minutes later. But miss the last train, and it’s a long walk home.

Wiser heads — if such a phrase applies to people determined to ride the last train — would be best to catch the 6:47pm from Stratford to arrive at Angel Road for 7:02pm, and then take a wander around the industrial wastes of the local amenities.

Do tap in and out during the final week, so we can really mess up their usage statistics for the station.

Also, if you fancy, walk to the very far end of the platforms, and you can see just how exceptionally close the Meridian Water station platforms are. The entrances are a decent walk from each other, but the platforms almost meet up.

The first trains to Meridian Water Station

There’s still a lot of work going on at Meridian Water, but the station looks, from the outside at least, as if it is close to being ready to accept passengers.

It’s deceptively built station, as there’s a lot more of it underground. Thanks to the soft soil in the area, the piles for the station are deep, as are the unusually deep piles for the lightweight platforms.

(c) Acanthus Architects LW

The platforms are completed though, and most of the signs now uncovered. Workmen were still on site at the weekend, looking like they were clearing out the decorating equipment ready for passengers to use the space.

In the distance, can be seen the tall towers of Docklands, the likely destination for many of the city workers will be snapping up the blocks of flats when they are built next door.

Baring any Elizabethan sized problems, this bit of railway infrastructure looks to be on time.

Incidentally, the location for the station shown on Google Maps is wrong, it’s further north, opposite the Tesco Extra supermarket.

The first trains to the shiny new Meridian Water station will be the 5:57am arrival from Hertford East, the 6:13am arrival from Bishops Stortford, and the 6:19am from London Liverpool Street.

So, this coming weekend Angel Road loses a station and Meridian Water gains one. But there will always be a train at Angel Road, at the playground next to the station.

Addendum: I’ve asked Greater Anglia twice if they are planning anything for the opening, but they’ve not replied to my enquiries.