Harlington railway station

Not to be confused with Hayes & 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 larger villages of Toddington and Barton-le-Clay.

Harlington
The front of the main station building
General information
Location	Harlington, District of Central Bedfordshire England
Coordinates	51.962°N 0.496°W / 51.962; -0.496
Grid reference	TL034303
Managed by	Thameslink
Platforms	4
Other information
Station code	HLN
Classification	DfT category D
History
Opened	1868
Passengers
2019/20	0.335 million
2020/21	67,484
2021/22	0.198 million
2022/23	0.266 million
2023/24	0.296 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

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^[2].

Stationmasters

In 1909, the station master, William Drake, was killed at the station whilst directing shunting operations at the station. A verdict of accidental death was recorded.^[3]

• T. Tomblin, 1870–1875^[4]
• Frederick Christian, 1875–1898^[5] (afterwards station master at Shefford)
• G.G. Best, 1898–1903^[6]
• William Drake, 1903^[6]–1909
• Ernest Joseph Clulow, 1909^[7]–c. 1911 (formerly station master at Godmanchester)
• J.J. Davies, c. 1914–1924^[8]
• Robert Arthur Gill, 1924–1931^[9] (formerly station master at Hemel Hempstead)
• Frederick Charles Watson, 1933–1940^[10] (afterwards station master at Kenilworth)
• A. Latimer, 1940^[11]–? (formerly station master at Kimbolton, also station master at Leagrave)

Services

All services at Harlington are operated by Thameslink using Class 700 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:^[12]

• 4 tph to Bedford
• 2 tph to Brighton
• 2 tph to Three Bridges via Redhill

During the peak hours, the station is served by additional services to and from Rainham, Sutton and East Grinstead.

The station is also served by a half-hourly night service between Bedford and Three Bridges on Sunday to Friday nights.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Flitwick		Thameslink Thameslink		Leagrave

Facilities

Harlington station has the following facilities:^[13]

• 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.^[13]

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.^[14][15] 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,^[16] 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).