Luton Airport Rail Link

[whole diary]

[SandTEngineer]

Found this on the WNXX^▸ (Stored Unserviceable, Mainline Locos HQ All Classes) Forum: https://goo.gl/wk8WFt

London Luton Airport is to get a new railway station so that trains can run directly to the terminal.
A 1.4-mile (2.2km) rail line will be built to the existing Luton Airport Parkway station, replacing the current bus shuttle service.
The £200m plans have been approved by Luton Borough Council and the station is due to open by the end of 2020.
It is hoped that passengers will be able to travel between the airport and London in under half an hour.
Current journeys from London to the parkway station take at least 20 minutes with passengers then having to wait for a shuttle bus which takes at least a further ten minutes, traffic permitting.

Trains on the new line will be automated and run 24 hours a day
It is part of a major redevelopment of the airport which also includes improvements to surrounding roads and layout of the terminal.
London Luton is the fifth-busiest airport in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), handling 14.6m passengers last year, and the airport is predicting that will increase to 18m by 2020.
Labour Cllr Dave Taylor, chair of planning at Luton Borough Council, said: "It's an exciting development which will enhance the passenger experience at Luton.
"It was approved by all three parties on the council, unanimously, because the airport is a success story for the town and this improves the accessibility to it."

[rogerw]

My understanding was that the proposal is for a new rapid transit link between the airport and Luton Airport Parkway station, so a bit of journalistic licence at the start. The article becomes clearer as you read on but the opening sentence is very misleading.

[CyclingSid]

For those who live in the Reading area there is another Luton Airport Link:
http://www.courtneybuses.com/luton-flyer-booking-page.html
Probably has sufficient custom because of the Polish population, both Reading & Slough were popular places to settle after EU^» (European Union - about) membership.

[John R]

I noticed in Modern Railways a couple of months ago the Airport is campaigning for four of the EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about) services to call at Luton Airport Parkway (LTN^▸ (Low Traffic Neighbourhood)).  I'm not convinced this is overall for the greater good of the line.  Long distance services where there is a significant flow to the first station tend to be a very inefficient way to utilise capacity, as we've seen with commuter traffic between London and Reading. 

There are currently four TL services that take around 33 mins, so yes they would be faster, at 20 mins, but the EM services are not configured internally for airport traffic, so the next thing that would happen is complaints that there isn't enough luggage space, and operationally that dwell times at LAP are excessive due to the end only doors. (Admittedly the Corby electric services may not have this problem.)

I do acknowledge that access from the north to LTN could be improved, so maybe the answer is four services stopping but set down only southbound and pick up only northbound.  (Cue discussion as to how practical that would be.)

[4064ReadingAbbey]

For those who live in the Reading area there is another Luton Airport Link:
http://www.courtneybuses.com/luton-flyer-booking-page.html
Probably has sufficient custom because of the Polish population, both Reading & Slough were popular places to settle after EU^» (European Union - about) membership.

In Reading's case at least because there has been a significant Polish presence here since the Second World War. The Polish military personnel couldn't go back home as Stalin would have murdered or deported them, they made their new homes close to where they had been stationed. A Catholic Church in Watlington Street was handed to the Polish community in the 1950s and the noticeboard was written in Polish. Quite fascinating for a schoolboy whose school was not far away.

[bradshaw]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) website today

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-40370475

Reporting on new link to Luton Airport; 1.4 mile line from Luton Parkway Station

[onthecushions]

In Reading's case at least because there has been a significant Polish presence here since the Second World War. The Polish military personnel couldn't go back home as Stalin would have murdered or deported them, they made their new homes close to where they had been stationed. A Catholic Church in Watlington Street was handed to the Polish community in the 1950s and the noticeboard was written in Polish. Quite fascinating for a schoolboy whose school was not far away.

The Watlington St Church provides one of the four distinctive church spires visible on the South side from the train at Reading. It was built in 1873 as the Anglican parish church of St John the Evangelist. It was threatened by Reading's slum clearance and by a planned dual carriageway through its site, so the CofE decided to move to the site of its new school, across the A4. The slums then became a conservation area and the road scheme was forgotten! The church closed in 1978 and after a big conservation battle (including Marcus Binney and SAVE) was sold quite cheaply to the Polish Catholic Mission in London Road, reopening in 1981. It wasn't that the CofE didn't like Catholics - they're all good chums now - it was that the fashion was against things Victorian. "A stinking shrine to Victorian Capitalism", " one of the worst church interiors in Reading" were clerical quotes at the time. It recently had a c£1m EH grant to re-point in lime in place of the cement that was causing severe frost damage and so now looks  really smart. The Polish influx of recent years has not been as noticeable in the pews, it seems, with many of these youngsters associating their traditions with their poverty.

The other three spires are those of St Giles, Christchurch and Wesley (Methodist) There are various other pinnacles and bellcotes on the skyline, now being joined by tower blocks.

Not quite Luton Airport but hope the tale is of interest.

OTC