Luton is less than north of the centre of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and has good transport links via the motorway network and the

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 ...

system.

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 ...

is also home to Luton Airport, one of the major feeder airports for London and the southeast. Luton is served by buses run by Arriva Shires & Essex and other operators, and has a busway. As a

Unitary Authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

Luton Borough Council Luton Borough Council (also known as LBC, or Luton Council) is the local authority of Luton, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It is a member of the East of England ...

is responsible for local highways and public transport in the borough.

Road

Luton is served by the

M1 Motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...

(London-

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popula ...

), the A6 (Luton- Carlisle) and the

A505 The A505 is an A-class road in England. It follows part of the route of the Icknield Way and the corresponding Icknield Way Path and runs from Leighton Buzzard in Bedfordshire to the A11 Abington Interchange North in Cambridgeshire. Route ...

(

Sawston Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam about south of Cambridge. It has a population of 7,260. History Prehistory Although the current village of Sawston has only existed as anything more than a ha ...

- Leighton Buzzard). Nearby settlements accessible by the road network include Milton Keynes and St Albans (via the M1),

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

(via the A6), and

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

, Leighton Buzzard and Hitchin (via the A505).

Rail

Luton is served by three railway stations 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 ...

Luton Airport Parkway 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 down the line from London St Pancras between to the south and to ...

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 ...

Thameslink and Great Northern 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 ...

runs the

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

route north to

and south to Brighton via central London stations. There are plans to introduce 24-hour rail services to Luton and Luton Airport Parkway. 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 ...

will provide further links to southwards to Guildford, East Grinstead, Ashford, Dartford and the South Coast.

Bus and coach services

Bus services are primarily operated by Arriva Shires & Essex, Centrebus and Grant Palmer.

Luton to Dunstable Busway

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 ...

is a guided bus connecting Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Luton with Luton Airport. The guided busway runs for 13.4 kilometres (8.3 miles) and was opened in September 2013.

Luton Airport

Luton Airport is from Junction 10 of the M1 and is the fourth-largest airport serving the London area, after

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

Gatwick 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

Stansted London Stansted Airport is a tertiary international airport serving London, England, United Kingdom. It is located near Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex, England, northeast of Central London. London Stansted serves over 160 destinations acro ...

, and is one of London's six international airports along with

London City Airport London City Airport is a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...

and

London Southend Airport London Southend Airport is an international airport situated on the outskirts of Southend-on-Sea in Essex, England, approximately from the centre of London. The airport straddles the boundaries between the city of Southend-on-Sea and the R ...

. The airport is a hub for

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

TUI Airways TUI Airways Limited (formerly Thomsonfly and Thomson Airways) is a British charter airline, offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The airline is t ...

and Ryanair.

Recent developments

East Luton Corridor improvements scheme

In 2006 work started on widening the M1 past Luton and to the south, and on upgrading the access from the M1 to the airport, as part of the

Local Transport Plan {{Unreferenced, date=April 2008 Local transport plans, divided into full local transport plans (LTP) and local implementation plans for transport (LIP) are an important part of transport planning in England. Strategic transport authorities (count ...

east Luton corridor improvement scheme. This scheme provided dual-carriageway access to Luton Airport from the M1 and increased capacity at some junctions in the area. It aimed to improve safety, reduce accidents, improve access to existing and potential development areas, improve access to and between public transport interchanges and public transport journey times and reliability, reduce congestion and improve reliability air quality and ease pedestrian and cycle crossing at junctions. Work started in 2008 and was completed in Spring 2009. The cost was estimated at £22 million in 2003.

Proposed developments

Luton town centre transport scheme

Luton town centre is planned to undergo redevelopment starting before 2014 at an expected cost of £26.9 million. The development is intended to improve access to the railway station, which will become part of a new rail and bus interchange. Part of the road route is not yet finalised, the two options under consideration are known as the "red route" and the "green route". The Luton Town Centre development has been placed in the Pre-Qualification pool by the Department for Transport for securing funding. Compulsory purchase orders approved for red route (May 2012). The scheme will need to be deemed one of the best 34 in the pre-qualification pool to make it to the qualification pool where it can compete for funding at the end of 2011.

M1 Junction 10a

Work was in progress to make major changes to M1 Junction 10a, at the end of the Luton spur from the main M1, to relieve congestion which had increased since the completion of the Luton East Corridor. An exhibition of options was held in September 2009, with work beginning in January 2014.

Luton DART

In April 2018 construction commenced the Luton DART that will link Luton Airport with Luton Airport Parkway station. It is scheduled to open in 2021.Fast and easy transfer from train to plane
London Luton Airport Limited

References

{{Luton