Leagrave railway station
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Leagrave | |||||
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| General information | |||||
| Location | Borough of Luton | ||||
| Managed by | Thameslink | ||||
| Platforms | 4 | ||||
| Other information | |||||
| Station code | LEA | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 13 July 1868[1] | ||||
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Leagrave railway station is located in Leagrave, a suburb in the north of Luton in Bedfordshire, England. Leagrave station is situated on the Midland Main Line 33¾ miles (54 km) north of London St Pancras International. The station is managed by Govia Thameslink Railway, and is served by the Thameslink route.
History
The station was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on the eastern side of Leagrave Village as part of the extension to St. Pancras line. Passenger services began on 13 July 1868.[2]
The old Midland station buildings still exist, having been carefully restored in the 1980s.[3] The station buildings underwent some further alteration in 2011 when ticket barriers were installed along with some external alteration to the façades where former windows were made into door ways. The buildings are locally listed as being of significant architectural merit.
Facilities
Leagrave station is a commuter station serving Luton North and surrounding villages, it has seen an increase in passenger number of circa 25% over the period 2010 to 2015 to 1.9million passengers per annum. There is a newsagent and toilet facilities on platform 4, an independent coffee shop on platform 1 a taxi rank outside platform 4 and a minicab office outside the station adjacent to the main building. Car parking can be found on both sides of the station. The station is staffed during the day and evening, although Thameslink has proposed closing the ticket office.[4]
There is a free Council car park besides Leagrave Common ground just 10 minutes walking distance from Leagrave station towards Sundon Park.
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 and Luton Parkway stations.
Services
At Leagrave, trains go north to Bedford. Southbound trains go to London, Gatwick Airport, Brighton.
All services are operated by Thameslink. The typical off peak service from this station as of 20 May 2018 is as follows:[5]
- 4 trains per hour (tph) to Bedford (operated by Thameslink)
- 2 tph to Brighton via Luton Airport Parkway, Harpenden, St Albans, Central London and Gatwick Airport (Thameslink)
- 2 tph to Gatwick Airport via Luton Airport Parkway, Harpenden, St Albans, Central London and Redhill (Thameslink)
- During the peaks, Thameslink run services to East Grinstead and Littlehampton via central London.
Thameslink trains serve several stations in Central London, including London St Pancras International, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars and London Bridge.
There are two entrance to the station, the main entrance via the original station buildings is from Station Road adjacent to the junction with Capron Road. The other entrance next to the southbound tracks on platform one, can be accessed from Grange Avenue.
| Preceding station |  National Rail
|
Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thameslink | ||||
References
- ^ Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Monday 13 July 1868
- ^ "The New Midland Line between Bedford and London". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. England. 13 July 1868. Retrieved 28 July 2017 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books
- ^ Preston, Olivia (7 July 2023). "Luton MPs call on stand against plans to close railway station's ticket office in the town". Luton Today.
- ^ "Timetables : Thameslink and Great Northern". www.thameslinkrailway.com. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
External links
- Train times and station information for Leagrave railway station from National Rail
