Bedford railway station (formerly Bedford Midland Road and historically referred to on some signage as Bedford Midland) is the larger of two railway stations in the town of

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council ...

, England. It is on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham and Chesterfield in the East Midlands ...

from

London St Pancras St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a London station group, central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Bor ...

to the East Midlands and the terminus of the Marston Vale line from

Bletchley Bletchley is a constituent town of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated in the south-west of Milton Keynes, and is split between the civil parishes of Bletchley and Fenny Stratford and West Bletchley. Bletchley is best know ...

through Bedford St Johns.

History

The original station was built by the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It ama ...

in 1859 on its line to the Great Northern at Hitchin. It was on land known as "Freemen's Common" approximately south of the current station on Ashburnham Road. The London and North Western Railway (LNWR) also had a station on its line between and . The Midland crossed it on the level and there was a serious collision when an LNWR train passed a red signal. (Curiously, both drivers were named John Perkins). Following this accident, the Midland built a flyover in 1885. The extension to opened in 1868. The connection to ceased public services during 1961, but the line north of Bedford to Wigston Junction is still officially referred to as the Leicester to Hitchin line. At this time the station was substantially altered, with the replacement of a level crossing by the Queen's Park overbridge. In 1890 fast lines were added to the west to allow expresses to bypass the station. Serious damage occurred during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

when a bomb destroyed the booking hall's glass ceiling. The current station was built to replace it and was opened by Sir Peter Parker (chairman of BR) on 9 October 1978. The £1 million station, which was re-sited about north of the original 1857 station, had a large square concourse housing a ticket office, travel centre and

Travellers Fare Travellers Fare (normally rendered officially as Travellers-Fare) was a company owned by British Rail that provided catering services on the rail network in Great Britain. History Prior to 1973, railway hotels and catering came under British T ...

buffet. The station car park was enlarged to cater for 450 cars plus 52 short-wait spaces in the forecourt which had separate areas for cars and taxis to set down and pick up passengers. A covered walkway linked the station with bus stops in Ashburnham Road. As part of the modernisation work, the slow lines were realigned to the west next to the 1890 fast lines to pass between two new platforms. Although the intention was for what remained of the old awnings to be transferred to the

Butterley Butterley is a village in the English county of Derbyshire near to Ripley. It is the site of the Midland Railway – Butterley, as well as the old Butterley Brickworks. Notable residents *Sir James Outram, hero of the Indian Mutiny, was born ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

it proved impossible to save them. Nothing remains of the original station buildings. Services over the Marston Vale line to/from were transferred here from the old LNWR St Johns station in May 1984. A new connection, which runs along the formation formerly used by the abandoned line to Hitchin (closed to passenger traffic from 1 January 1962 and completely three years later), was laid from the Marston Vale branch up to the main line to permit this. The original St Johns station closed on 14 May 1984 with a replacement halt on the new chord opening the same day. Bletchley trains henceforth used a bay platform (numbered 1A) on the eastern side of the station.

Services

The station is served by three operators and managed by Thameslink. * East Midlands Railway *

London Northwestern Railway West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

(''Service suspended from December 2022'') *

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying ...

East Midlands Railway services that call at Bedford are run under the sub brand of “EMR Connect”. This service started in May 2021 and is operated by Class 360

Electric Multiple Units An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number ...

running on the twice hourly stopping service from

Corby Corby is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, located north-east of Northampton. From 1974 to 2021, the town served as the administrative headquarters of the Borough of Corby. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, the built-up ...

. Occasional “EMR Intercity” services do call at Bedford during the peak hours and on Sunday mornings to

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

and Leicester without requiring a connection at

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of ...

. The station is the northern terminus of the Thameslink route with

services operating to Brighton through St Albans and London St Pancras. Services from the station also call at

Luton Airport Parkway Luton Airport Parkway railway station is on the Midland Main Line in England, serving south Luton and Luton Airport in Bedfordshire. It is situated in Park Town, Luton, and is down the line from London St Pancras between to the south and to ...

and

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

. Additional services start or terminate at Gatwick Airport or . These services use electric multiple units. Thameslink also runs a few services a day to

Sutton Sutton (''south settlement'' or ''south town'' in Old English) may refer to: Places United Kingdom England In alphabetical order by county: * Sutton, Bedfordshire * Sutton, Berkshire, a location * Sutton-in-the-Isle, Ely, Cambridgeshire * ...

on the

Sutton Loop line The Sutton Loop Line, Retrieved 2012-01-12 also known as the Wimbledon Loop, is a railway line that diverges from the Portsmouth Line at Streatham South junction and rejoins it near Sutton station. Trains leave southwards from to enter the l ...

, via both Wimbledon and Mitcham Junction. London Northwestern Railway operates local services to via the Marston Vale Line using Class 230 units. There is no Sunday service on this line. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) is: * 2tph to Brighton via

(Thameslink) * 2tph to Three Bridges via Redhill (Thameslink) * 2tph to

(East Midlands Railway) * 2tph to

(East Midlands Railway) * 1tph to

(London Northwestern Railway) ''Service currently suspended''

Service summary

Community Rail Partnership

In common with other stations on the Bedford to Bletchley Marston Vale line, Bedford station is covered by the Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership. The partnership aims to increase use of the Marston Vale line by getting local people involved with their local line. A second CRP with Bedford Midland as its northern terminus - the Beds & Herts Community Rail Partnership (formerly the Bedford to St Albans City Community Rail Partnership) - has been set up, covering the eight stations on the Midland main line between Bedford Midland and St Albans City

Facilities

Bedford Station from the station footbridge

The station has the following facilities: *2 waiting rooms *Cafe/newsagent/bar and coffee bar *Telephones *Post box * ATM *Ticket machines *Toilets *Car park *Fully wheelchair accessible *

Ticket barriers In rail transport, the paid area is a dedicated "inner" zone in a railway station or metro station, accessible via turnstiles or other barriers, to get into which, visitors or passengers require a valid ticket, checked smartcard or a pass. A sys ...

The station is in the Bedford zone of the

PlusBus Plusbus is an add-on ticket, which can be purchased with National Rail train tickets in the United Kingdom. It allows unlimited travel on participating bus and tram operators' services in the whole urban area of rail-served towns and cities. ...

scheme, where train and bus tickets can be bought together to save money.

Future developments

The station will be the eastern terminus for Phase 2 of

East West Rail East West Rail is a major project to establish a strategic railway connecting East Anglia with Central, Southern and Western England. In particular, it plans to build (or rebuild) a line linking Oxford and Cambridge via Bicester, Milton Keyn ...

, a plan to reopen the railway from and . , extension to and East Anglia via "a new station in the area" is planned but not scheduled. Bedford station will be rebuilt for East West Rail in 2023.

Notes

References

External links

Marston Vale Community Rail Partnership
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedford Railway Station Buildings and structures in Bedford Railway stations in Bedfordshire DfT Category C1 stations Former Midland Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1859 Railway stations served by East Midlands Railway Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Railway stations served by West Midlands Trains 1859 establishments in England Transport in Bedford Train driver depots in England East West Rail