Luton is less than north of the centre of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and has good transport links via the motorway network and the

National Rail National Rail (NR) is the trading name licensed for use by the Rail Delivery Group, an unincorporated association whose membership consists of the passenger train operating companies (TOCs) of England, Scotland, and Wales. The TOCs run the ...

system.

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...

is also home to

Luton Airport London Luton Airport is an international airport located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England, situated east of the town centre, and north of Central London. The airport is owned by London Luton Airport Ltd (LLAL), a company wholly owned by L ...

, one of the major feeder airports for London and the southeast. Luton is served by buses run by

Arriva Shires & Essex Arriva Shires & Essex is a bus operator providing services in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire, with services extending to Oxfordshire and Greater London. Until 2002 its operations included Colchester. It is a subsidiary ...

and other operators, and has a busway. As a

Unitary Authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governme ...

, Luton Borough Council is responsible for local highways and public transport in the borough.

Road

Luton is served by the

M1 Motorway The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, whic ...

(London-

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

), the A6 (Luton-

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers Eden, Caldew and Petteril. It is the administrative centre of the City ...

) and the A505 (

Sawston Sawston is a large village in Cambridgeshire in England, situated on the River Cam about south of Cambridge. It has a population of 7,260. History Prehistory Although the current village of Sawston has only existed as anything more than a ha ...

Leighton Buzzard Leighton Buzzard ( ) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England, in the southwest of the county and close to the Buckinghamshire border. It lies between Aylesbury, Tring, Luton/ Dunstable and Milton Keynes, near the Chiltern Hills. It is n ...

). Nearby settlements accessible by the road network include Milton Keynes and

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major town on the old Roma ...

(via the M1),

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 ...

(via the A6), and

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north. Dunstable is the ...

and

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people, a tribe holding 300 ...

(via the A505).

Rail

Luton is served by three railway stations on the

Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line in England from London to Nottingham and Sheffield in the Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway station, St Pancras station via Leicest ...

, Luton Airport Parkway and

Leagrave Leagrave is a former village and now a suburb of Luton, in the Borough of Luton, Luton district, in the ceremonial county of Bedfordshire, England, in the northwest of the town. The area is roughly bounded by Vincent Road, Torquay Drive and High ...

Thameslink and Great Northern Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) is a train operating company that operates the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (TSGN) rail franchise in England. Within the franchise, GTR runs the Thameslink, Great Northern, Southern and Gatwick ...

runs the

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 ...

route north to

and south to Brighton via central London stations. There are plans to introduce 24-hour rail services to Luton and Luton Airport Parkway. The

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...

will provide further links to southwards to

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, around southwest of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The name "Guildf ...

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock ...

and the South Coast.

Bus and coach services

Bus services are primarily operated by

, Centrebus and Grant Palmer.

Luton to Dunstable Busway

The Luton to Dunstable Busway is a

guided bus Guided buses are buses capable of being steered by external means, usually on a dedicated track or roll way that excludes other traffic, permitting the maintenance of schedules even during rush hours. Unlike trolleybuses or rubber-tired tra ...

connecting Dunstable, Houghton Regis and Luton with Luton Airport. The guided busway runs for 13.4 kilometres (8.3 miles) and was opened in September 2013.

Luton Airport

Luton Airport is from Junction 10 of the M1 and is the fourth-largest airport serving the London area, after

Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...

, Gatwick and Stansted, and is one of London's six international airports along with

London City Airport London City Airport is a regional airport in London, England. It is located in the Royal Docks in the Borough of Newham, approximately east of the City of London and east of Canary Wharf. These are the twin centres of London's financial ...

and London Southend Airport. The airport is a hub for

EasyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

TUI Airways TUI Airways Limited (formerly Thomsonfly and Thomson Airways) is a British charter airline, offering scheduled and charter flights from the United Kingdom and Ireland to destinations in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. The airline is t ...

and

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

Recent developments

East Luton Corridor improvements scheme

In 2006 work started on widening the M1 past Luton and to the south, and on upgrading the access from the M1 to the airport, as part of the Local Transport Plan east Luton corridor improvement scheme. This scheme provided dual-carriageway access to Luton Airport from the M1 and increased capacity at some junctions in the area. It aimed to improve safety, reduce accidents, improve access to existing and potential development areas, improve access to and between public transport interchanges and public transport journey times and reliability, reduce congestion and improve reliability air quality and ease pedestrian and cycle crossing at junctions. Work started in 2008 and was completed in Spring 2009. The cost was estimated at £22 million in 2003.

Proposed developments

Luton town centre transport scheme

Luton town centre is planned to undergo redevelopment starting before 2014 at an expected cost of £26.9 million. The development is intended to improve access to the railway station, which will become part of a new rail and bus interchange. Part of the road route is not yet finalised, the two options under consideration are known as the "red route" and the "green route". The Luton Town Centre development has been placed in the Pre-Qualification pool by the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

for securing funding. Compulsory purchase orders approved for red route (May 2012). The scheme will need to be deemed one of the best 34 in the pre-qualification pool to make it to the qualification pool where it can compete for funding at the end of 2011.

M1 Junction 10a

Work was in progress to make major changes to M1 Junction 10a, at the end of the Luton spur from the main M1, to relieve congestion which had increased since the completion of the Luton East Corridor. An exhibition of options was held in September 2009, with work beginning in January 2014.

Luton DART

In April 2018 construction commenced the Luton DART that will link Luton Airport with Luton Airport Parkway station. It is scheduled to open in 2021.Fast and easy transfer from train to plane
London Luton Airport Limited

References

{{Luton