Harlington railway station

Harlington railway station is located in Bedfordshire. It is named after the village of Harlington, on the outskirts of which it is located, but serves a wide rural area including the villages of Toddington and Barton-le-Clay.

Not to be confused with Hayes & Harlington railway station.

Harlington
The front of the main station building
Location
Place	Harlington
Local authority	District of Central Bedfordshire
Coordinates	51.962°N 0.496°W / 51.962; -0.496
Grid reference	TL034303
Operations
Station code	HLN
Managed by	Thameslink
Number of platforms	4
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.325 million
2015/16	0.336 million
2016/17	0.330 million
2017/18	0.330 million
2018/19	0.339 million
History
Key dates	Opened 1868 (1868)
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Harlington from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

It was built by the Midland Railway in 1868 on its extension to St. Pancras. The original intention had been to call it "Harlington for Toddington". The station buildings still exist and were carefully restored in the early 1980s.[1] The station is situated on the Midland Main Line and managed by Thameslink.

Services

From here trains go north to Bedford and south to London, Gatwick Airport and Brighton.

All services are operated by Thameslink. The typical off peak service from this station is as follows:[2]

• 4 tph to Bedford
• 2 tph to Brighton via London Bridge
• 2 tph to Gatwick Airport via London Bridge and Redhill
• Peak hour services to Sutton and to Kent

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Flitwick		Thameslink Thameslink		Leagrave

Facilities

Harlington station has the following facilities:[3]

• Shelters on each platform
• 1 telephone
• 1 Ticket Machine
• Cycle storage for 44 bikes
• Car park with 127 spaces

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 Flitwick station.

As well as Harlington village itself, the station also serves the villages of Barton-le-Clay, Toddington and Westoning.

Ticket Office opening hours

The ticket office is open for just over 7½ hours per day Mondays to Friday and 6 hours per day on Saturday.[3]

In January 2009, the previous franchisee First Capital Connect proposed that the ticket office at Harlington railway station would open for just four hours per day.[4][5] The proposals were for the office to open at 0645 (previously 0600) and close at 1030 (currently 1850) on weekdays. There would be no weekend opening under these proposals. The single automated ticket machine, which was stolen in summer 2008,[6] was replaced the same week that the proposals were announced. Subsequently, whilst a reduction in hours was agreed, although not to the degree set out in the initial proposal (see above).

References

1. Radford, B., (1983) Midland Line Memories: a Pictorial History of the Midland Railway Main Line Between London (St Pancras) & Derby London: Bloomsbury Books
2. "Timetables : Thameslink and Great Northern". www.thameslinkrailway.com. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
3. "Station information : Thameslink and Great Northern". www.thameslinkrailway.com. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
4. Bedfordshire On Sunday article, published 10 January 2009 Archived 22 July 2012 at Archive.today
5. LutonToday.co.uk article, published 12 January 2009
6. Harlington ticket machine stolen Archived 20 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine

Gallery

• 
  The main station building, facing on to Platform 4.
• 
  Southbound view from Platform 4, outside the main station building.
• 
  Thameslink train from Bedford to Brighton arriving at Platform 1.

External links

• Train times and station information for Harlington railway station from National Rail