Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

in England, serving south

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is down the line from

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...

between to the south and to the north. Its three-letter station code is LTN, also the

IATA code IATA codes are abbreviations that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) publishes to facilitate air travel. They are typically 1, 2, 3, or 4 character combinations (referred to as unigrams, digrams, trigrams, or tetragrams, respect ...

for the airport. The station is served by Thameslink operated trains on the Thameslink route and by East Midlands Railway. It is situated approximately west of the airport, to which it is linked by a chargeable shuttle bus service.

History

The Bedford–London section of the

was opened on 1 October 1868 by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

to provide a new direct route into

. The Midland Main Line had stations in the Luton area at , and . Luton Municipal Airport was opened on 16 July 1938 by the Secretary of State for Air,

Kingsley Wood Sir Howard Kingsley Wood (19 August 1881 – 21 September 1943) was a British Conservative politician. The son of a Wesleyan Methodist minister, he qualified as a solicitor, and successfully specialised in industrial insurance. He became a membe ...

. During World War Two, the airport served as an

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

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 A package tour, package vacation, or package holiday comprises transport and accommodation advertised and sold together by a vendor known as a tour operator. Other services may be provided such as a rental car, activities or outings during the ho ...

market (later assisted by a popular 1977

television advert A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

for

Campari Campari () is an Italian alcoholic liqueur, considered an apéritif (20.5%, 21%, 24%, 25%, or 28.5% ABV, depending on the country where it is sold), obtained from the infusion of herbs and fruit (including chinotto and cascarilla) in alcohol a ...

featuring

Lorraine Chase Lorraine Chase (born 16 July 1951) is an English actress and former model. She became well known for her strong south east London accent and frequent use of cockney slang, and found fame through a series of television adverts for Campari be ...

which mentioned the airport). The nearest railway station to Luton Airport was Luton railway station, approximately away in

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. 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. Because the parkway station was located approximately 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 National Car Parks (NCP) is a private car park operator, with car parks in towns, cities, airports, London Underground and National Rail stations. History NCP was founded in 1931 by Colonel Frederick Lucas. In October 1948 Sir Ronald Hobson ...

on behalf of the airport's owners and provided passengers with a free transfer. In January 2008 the free shuttle bus service was replaced by a more frequent, but chargeable, service provided by First Capital Connect. 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 Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

and , as well as the Midland Mainline Routes to the East Midlands. 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 The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...

. In April 2013, a new northern entrance was opened on Kimpton Road, Luton. Contactless bank cards (but not

Oyster card The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London (and certain areas around it) in England, United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is promoted by Transport ...

s) became valid for journeys to and from London from October 2019.

Services

Rail services

Services at Luton Airport Parkway are operated by East Midlands Railway and Thameslink using and EMUs. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: East Midlands Railway * 2 tph to London St Pancras International * 2 tph to The station is also served by a single daily service to and from and on weekdays only. On Sundays only, a limited number of intercity East Midlands Railway services to and call at the station. Thameslink * 6 tph to of which 4 continue to * 2 tph to via * 2 tph to Three Bridges via * 2 tph to via During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from , , and . Thameslink also operate a half-hourly night service between Bedford and on Sunday to Friday nights.

Shuttle service to London Luton Airport

The station is located approximately to the west of London Luton Airport and a frequent

shuttle bus A shuttle bus is a bus that travels a shorter route in comparison to most bus routes. Typically, shuttle buses travel in both directions between two points. Shuttle buses are designed to transport large groups of people who are all travellin ...

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 National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

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. The bus service is provided by

Govia Thameslink Railway Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick Expr ...

. Bus services on the

Luton to Dunstable Busway The Luton-Dunstable Busway is a guided busway system in Bedfordshire, England, which connects the towns of Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Luton with Luton Airport. It was built on the route of a disused railway track and opened in September 2013 ...

Route A also connect Parkway to Luton Airport.

Future

Luton DART, a light rail/ automated guided people mover link is currently under construction to link Luton Airport Parkway station to the airport. The £200 million link, scheduled to open in 2022, 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. 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. A planning application to build the new line was submitted in 2016, and the link was approved by Luton Borough Council in June 2017. 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.

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

and

Leagrave Leagrave is a former village and now a suburb of Luton, in the Luton district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, in the northwest of the town. The area is roughly bounded by Vincent Road, Torquay Drive and High Street to the nor ...

stations. Luton Airport Parkway stn fast look north.jpg, The mainline platforms File:Luton Airport Parkway railway station MMB 12 222006.jpg, The mainline platforms File:Luton Airport Parkway station - geograph.org.uk - 595613.jpg, Airport shuttle bus in front of the station File:Luton Airport Parkway stn shuttle entrance under construction Feb 2020.jpg, The DART airport transfer terminus under construction File:Luton AP Concourse.jpg, Intermediate-level concourse adjacent to Platform 4

References

External links

{{authority control Railway stations in Bedfordshire DfT Category D stations Buildings and structures in Luton Railway stations opened by Railtrack Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1999 Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Airport railway stations in the United Kingdom Transport in Luton/Dunstable Urban Area Luton Airport