Luton railway station is located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The station is near to the town centre, about three minutes' walk from the Arndale Shopping Centre. It is situated on the Midland Main Line and is operated by First Capital Connect.

It was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras. For some years it was known as Luton Midland Road to distinguish it from the earlier Luton Bute Street, built in 1858 on the GNR line from Hertford North to Leighton Buzzard.

In order to build the line a public area known as the "Great Moor" had to be built through. The remainder of the land was bought for development by John Crawley, who provided a replacement in what is known as the "People's Park." This proved a worthwhile investment because, as the town's staple trade in straw hats diminished as they went out of fashion, it was replaced by engineering works. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the population had nearly trebled, and the station had become an important stop for main line expresses. The station originally consisted of only 3 platforms before modernisation in 1937 saw an additional fourth platform added then again in 1960 when a further platform was added for the suburban services to and from St. Pancras.

Upon the opening of Eurostar at St. Pancras International, through-fares to continental Europe were made available from Luton and 67 other UK towns and cities to Paris, Brussels and other destinations in France and Belgium.

The station is set for significant investment from both Network Rail and First Group to improve facilities for customers as well as creating longer platforms as part of the Thameslink programme. In 2009 the station was identified as one of ten 'worst' major stations on the network and is set to receive a share of £50m funding for improvements.

Services

Luton station is served by First Capital Connect and East Midlands Trains trains. From Luton, trains go north to Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, Nottingham, and Sheffield amongst others. Southbound trains go to Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans, London, Gatwick Airport, Brighton, Streatham, Wimbledon and Sutton.

The typical off peak service from this station is as follows:

• 4 trains per hour (tph) to Bedford (operated by First Capital Connect)
• 4 tph to Brighton via Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans, London and Gatwick Airport (First Capital Connect)
• 2 tph to Sutton via Luton Airport Parkway, St Albans, London and Wimbledon (First Capital Connect)
• 1 tph to Corby via Bedford, Wellingborough, and Kettering (East Midlands Trains)
• 1 tph to London St Pancras International (East Midlands Trains)

• During the peaks First Capital Connect run services to Kent via central London jointly operated with Southeastern.
• East Midlands Trains InterCity services from Leeds, Sheffield and Derby run through at high speed, but do not stop. Interchange with InterCity services can be made at Leicester and St Pancras.

First Capital Connect trains serve several stations in Central London, including Farringdon and Blackfriars.

There was previously a shuttle bus service from the station to nearby London Luton Airport.However, this ceased following the construction of Luton Airport Parkway station.

Facilities

Luton station has the following facilities:

• 2 waiting rooms
• Newsagent
• Cafe
• Telephones
• ATM
• FastTicket machine
• Toilets
• Car Park with 669 spaces

• The station has a PlusBus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price. It is in the same area as Luton Parkway and Leagrave stations.

Service patterns

7 July, 2005 London bombings

On the day of the bombings, the four sucide bombers were seen on CCTV. They were seen entering the station.

References

1. Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books

External links