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Luton railway station is located
in the town centre of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The station
is about three minutes' walk from The Mall Shopping Centre. It
is situated on the Midland Main Line and is operated by
Thameslink.
Luton station 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, which was built in 1858 on the GNR line from Hertford
North to Leighton Buzzard.
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, consisting of only 3 platforms, was rebuilt in 1939
to the designs of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
company architect William Henry Hamlyn.
In 1960, a fourth platform was added. During electrification in
the early 1980s, a fifth 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 the ten
worst category B interchange stations for mystery shopper
assessment of fabric and environment; it is set to receive a
share of £50 million funding for improvements. During 2010 and
2011, a number of improvements were implemented at the station;
these included extensions to all five platforms (including
removing the barrow crossing) and a new footbridge. The platform
extensions formed part of the Thameslink Programme and allowed
12 car operation at the station. During these works, two new
rail overbridges were installed over Old Bedford Road allowing
the track to be slewed for the extended platforms.
Luton Station Interchange, in front of the station building,
provides connections with local and regional bus services.
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