railroad.wikisort.org - Station

Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is 29 miles 19 chains (47.1 km) down the line from London St Pancras between Harpenden to the south and Luton to the north. Its three-letter station code is LTN, also the IATA code for the airport.

Luton Airport Parkway
Aerial photo of the station with airport shuttle buses waiting in front
Luton Airport Parkway Location of Luton Airport Parkway in Bedfordshire
Location	Park Town, Luton
Local authority	Borough of Luton
Grid reference	TL105205
Managed by	Thameslink
Station code	LTN
DfT category	D
Number of platforms	4
Accessible	Yes
National Rail annual entry and exit
2016–17	3.820 million[1]
2017–18	3.965 million[1]
– interchange	0.127 million[1]
2018–19	4.149 million[1]
– interchange	0.119 million[1]
2019–20	4.201 million[1]
– interchange	0.126 million[1]
2020–21	0.694 million[1]
– interchange	25,227[1]
Key dates
November 1999	Station opened
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
WGS84
London transport portal

The station is served by Thameslink operated trains on the Thameslink route and by East Midlands Railway.

It is situated approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) west of the airport, to which it is linked by a chargeable shuttle bus service.[2]

History

The Bedford–London section of the Midland Main Line was opened on 1 October 1868 by the Midland Railway to provide a new direct route into London St Pancras.[3] The Midland Main Line had stations in the Luton area at Luton, Chiltern Green and Harpenden.

Luton Municipal Airport was opened on 16 July 1938 by the Secretary of State for Air, Kingsley Wood. During World War Two, the airport served as an RAF base for No. 264 Squadron RAF, but the airport returned to civilian use after the war. From the 1950s and 1960s, the airport's business increased with the growth of the package holiday market (later assisted by a popular 1977 television advert for Campari featuring Lorraine Chase which mentioned the airport).[4][5] The nearest railway station to Luton Airport was Luton railway station, approximately 2 miles (3.2 km) away in Luton town centre; although the Midland Main Line line passed close to Luton Airport, for the first 60 years of the airport's operation there was no dedicated railway station. To support the increasing passenger traffic, Luton Airport provided a shuttle bus service from Luton to the airport terminal.[6]

In 1999, Luton Airport Parkway was opened. Although it was designed specifically to serve Luton Airport, it was also given the parkway name, a title applied to British railway stations that have been designed as a park and ride railway station with motorists in mind, providing car parking facilities for commuters travelling onwards into London.[7] Because the parkway station was located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of Luton Airport, and airport was at the top of a hill, it was still necessary to link to the airport with shuttle buses. Initially these were operated by National Car Parks on behalf of the airport's owners and provided passengers with a free transfer.[8] In January 2008 the free shuttle bus service was replaced by a more frequent, but chargeable, service provided by First Capital Connect.^{[citation needed]}

With the opening of the cross-London Thameslink route 11 years earlier, the new station provided a direct rail link from Luton Airport to central and south London, Gatwick Airport and Brighton, as well as the Midland Mainline Routes to the East Midlands.[9] In November 2008, the station became the first on the Thameslink route to have its platforms extended in order to accommodate twelve-coach trains as part of the Thameslink Programme.[10] In April 2013, a new northern entrance was opened on Kimpton Road, Luton.^{[citation needed]}

Contactless bank cards (but not Oyster cards) became valid for journeys to and from London from October 2019.[11][12]

Services

v t e Railways around Luton
Legend
Midland Main Line Leagrave Branch to Dunstable Luton Luton Bute Street Luton Airport Parkway Luton Airport Luton DART (under construction) Luton Hoo Chiltern Green Branch to Welwyn Garden City Midland Main Line

Rail services

Services at Luton Airport Parkway are operated by East Midlands Railway and Thameslink using Class 360 and 700 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[13][14]

East Midlands Railway

• 2 tph to London St Pancras International
• 2 tph to Corby

The station is also served by a single daily service to and from Oakham and Melton Mowbray on weekdays only.

On Sundays only, a limited number of intercity East Midlands Railway services to Nottingham and Sheffield call at the station.[15][16]

Thameslink

• 6 tph to Luton of which 4 continue to Bedford
• 2 tph to Brighton via Gatwick Airport
• 2 tph to Gatwick Airport via Redhill
• 2 tph to Rainham via Dartford

During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from Orpington, Sutton, East Grinstead and Littlehampton.

Thameslink also operate a half-hourly night service between Bedford and Three Bridges on Sunday to Friday nights.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Luton		East Midlands Railway Midland Main Line		London St Pancras International
		Thameslink Thameslink		Harpenden
	Future Services
Preceding station		Luton Airport Rail Link		Following station
Terminus		DART		Luton Airport Terminal

Shuttle service to London Luton Airport

The station is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) to the west of London Luton Airport and a frequent shuttle bus service is provided to convey air passengers from the station to the airport terminal. The shuttle bus journey takes 10 minutes, and buses run every 10 minutes during the day, and at night, buses connect with all trains calling at the station overnight. Rail passengers can book National Rail tickets directly to Luton Airport (LUA) which include the transfer bus fare; passengers with tickets to Luton Airport Parkway (LTN) only must pay an additional fare to use the buses.[17] The bus service is provided by Govia Thameslink Railway.[2][18]

Bus services on the Luton to Dunstable Busway Route A also connect Parkway to Luton Airport.[19]

Future

Luton DART, a 1.4-mile (2.3 km) light rail/ automated guided people mover link is currently under construction to link Luton Airport Parkway station to the airport.[20]

The £200 million link, scheduled to open in 2022,[21] is being funded by Luton Borough Council and has been designed by the engineering firm Arup. The link will operate 24 hours a day and will offer a 5-minute transfer time between Parkway station and the airport terminal.[22][23] A new light rail terminus building is currently under construction next to the Parkway station. The DART platforms will be located on a new upper level above the current station, and these will be connected to the main-line rail platforms via a new footbridge with new lifts and escalators.[24]

A planning application to build the new line was submitted in 2016,[25][26] and the link was approved by Luton Borough Council in June 2017.[27] The project involves the construction of bridges over the neighbouring A1081 dual carriageway and tunnels, along with three new stations. The major challenge faced by railway engineers building a rail link here is that the railway station, although located adjacent to the airport perimeter, lies around 40 metres downhill from the airport.[28]

Station facilities

• Four platforms
• Four waiting rooms
• Newsagent/Cafe
• Telephones
• ATM
• Ticket barriers
• FastTicket machine
• Toilets
• Multistorey car park
• Free 20 minute wait car park
• The station participates in the Plusbus scheme where train and bus tickets can be bought together for a cheaper price. It is in the same town as Luton and Leagrave stations.

• Station facilities
• 
  The mainline platforms
• 
  The mainline platforms
• 
  Airport shuttle bus in front of the station
• 
  The DART airport transfer terminus under construction
• 
  Intermediate-level concourse adjacent to Platform 4

References

External links

• Train times and station information for Luton Airport Parkway railway station from National Rail

На других языках

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[de] Bahnhof Luton Airport Parkway

Der Bahnhof Luton Airport Parkway befindet sich an der auch von Thameslink benutzten Midland Main Line an der Strecke vom Londoner Bahnhof St Pancras nach Leeds. Die Station wird von First Capital Connect verwaltet und wird von der Thameslink-Zügen angefahren. Der Bahnhof wurde 1999 eröffnet und liegt süd-östlich von Luton und westlich des Flughafens London-Luton. Es gibt einen kostenpflichtigen Bus-Shuttle-Service zwischen Bahnhof und Flughafen der tagsüber im Zehnminutentakt fährt und nachts auf den Zugfahrplan abgestimmt ist.[1]

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- [en] Luton Airport Parkway railway station

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