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Harlington (Beds) Station: Rumour that it's to be closed?

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pitdiver

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There seems to be a rumour flying around that our local station: Harlington is going to be closed. Has anybody on this forum heard of this.
 
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I very much doubt there is substance to the rumours - closing a station isn't a particularly straightforward job!
 

pitdiver

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I know that but we have some locals who have bees in their bonnets about Harlington station being closed. I just have to convince them that it's not.
 

ainsworth74

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I know that but we have some locals who have bees in their bonnets about Harlington station being closed. I just have to convince them that it's not.

If they'll keep Teesside Airport Railway Station open with only 30 passengers per year it then I'm not convinced they'll close Harlington with a third of a million passengers per year.
 

yorkie

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As there appears to be no attributable/reputable source I do not think it should be given a moments thought to be honest!
 

Mutant Lemming

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Harlington has potential as a parkway station with it's close proximity to the M1 and Toddington services. If it was to close it would probably be to facilitate a new park and ride station slightly South of the current site.
 

Hadders

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I very, very much doubt it.

Probably some mischief making - given GTR's recent troubles with Shambleslink and the lack of services they might as well close it!
 

AM9

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I know that but we have some locals who have bees in their bonnets about Harlington station being closed. I just have to convince them that it's not.
Well why not ask them to check out their sources rather than just say that they have heard a rumour. That will keep them occupied for a while, - otherwise you are just perpetuating the rumour.
It's not unheard of rumours being repeatedly posted here when it is just someone trying to promote their pet project.
 

38Cto15E

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For many years now I have thought that Harlington should be a park and Ride joined with Toddington services. However,it is unlikely that will ever happen, IMHO neither will Harlington close.
 

edwin_m

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There's a park and ride three stops down the line at Luton Airport Parkway, which was (and may still be) signed as such from the M1 and has more trains than Harlington. I've not heard anything about its success or otherwise but the fact nobody else has developed a motorway parkway on the edges of the London built-up area suggests it hasn't attracted huge numbers of people who would otherwise drive into London. Having sald that, when they get the peoplemover it will either become a cheap and convenient (therefore full) airport car park or raise its prices until it's uncompetitive for park and ride.
 

Bletchleyite

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I can think of quite a few stations that might close at some point in the not too distant future - for instance, I can see a review of the Marston Vale local stations once EWR gets going - Kempston Hardwick perhaps being the most likely to go. Or on the WCML Cheddington-in-the-middle-of-Nowhere[1] (!) must be the most vulnerable. But Harlington (Beds)? No chance.

[1] Given this, most passengers drive to it and could drive to Tring or Leighton instead. A lot probably do anyway for the vastly better service at both.
 

Mutant Lemming

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[1] Given this, most passengers drive to it and could drive to Tring or Leighton instead. A lot probably do anyway for the vastly better service at both.

You think the very close proximity to the M1 (which even Airport Parkway isn't that close to) isn't a factor in Harlington being a good park and ride option ?
 

itfcfan

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As someone who commuted from Harlington for their first job, this is a subject I'm interested in.

Given the legal/administrative difficulty in closing a station these days, I can't see a closure happening. However, the theoretical service from Harlington (completely ignoring the current DfT/GTR difficulties) has been getting worse compared to what Flitwick/Leagrave see - especially in the proposed timetable for May 2018 (that so far hasn't actually been run). I can see why though, because Flitwick and Leagrave have higher station usage than Harlington.

However, to play devils advocate - if legally it were simple to close Harlington station, would it be in the interests of DfT / Network Rail / GTR to do so?

Based on ORR estimated usage figures, Harlington sees ~330k passenger journeys a year. A season ticket to London is £4,336 / £5,460 (London Thameslink vs Zones 1-6 Travelcard). The share of commuters with for the station is fairly high - if 500 London season ticket holders use the station, that's around £2.5m revenue. I appreciate that's not a particularly high figure in the big picture, but does that (plus other ticket revenue) cover the costs of having the station? Would reduced maintenance costs and a 1~2 minute journey time improvement for passengers to/from Flitwick and Bedford bring higher benefits than revenue from Harlington? These are genuine questions, by the way. I'd be very interested to understand if the station is a net cost/benefit for the railway network as a whole.

My parents still in Harlington, so I'd like to see it stay open (and I believe it will, given the administrative problems with closing a station). Rather than closure, my main concern is a reduction in service levels, below a turn-up-and-go service. I'd hate to see the current prolonged period of disruption - where the previous off-peak 4tph has been replaced with 2tph/1tph/1tp2h depending on the level of disruption - become a long term service level due to managers deciding that "Harlington doesn't suffer with 2tph".

Like the whole of the Bedpan line, commuters are currently suffering. If too many of them turn away from commuting by rail it could become a vicious cycle of lower demand leading to lower provided capacity. Hopefully this is an overly pessimistic view...
 

Bletchleyite

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You think the very close proximity to the M1 (which even Airport Parkway isn't that close to) isn't a factor in Harlington being a good park and ride option ?

Airport Parkway is set up and promoted as a P&R, though, and while it's not right next to the motorway is very easily accessible using a large dual carriageway, and has a large multistorey car park at which a space is pretty much certain.

You could provide those things at Harlington, but if they're already at Airport Parkway why bother?
 

alex17595

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How much does airport / local traffic affect the traffic situation in the Luton airport parkway area? I have used Harlington for the early morning train to Gatwick and found it fine to use (theres a little pull in where you don't have to pay for parking ;)) but there is no way you will get any serious volume of traffic down to the station as it does get a bit narrow. But you do avoid the Luton area completely.
 

jon0844

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As someone who commuted from Harlington for their first job, this is a subject I'm interested in.

Given the legal/administrative difficulty in closing a station these days, I can't see a closure happening. However, the theoretical service from Harlington (completely ignoring the current DfT/GTR difficulties) has been getting worse compared to what Flitwick/Leagrave see - especially in the proposed timetable for May 2018 (that so far hasn't actually been run). I can see why though, because Flitwick and Leagrave have higher station usage than Harlington.

However, to play devils advocate - if legally it were simple to close Harlington station, would it be in the interests of DfT / Network Rail / GTR to do so?

Based on ORR estimated usage figures, Harlington sees ~330k passenger journeys a year. A season ticket to London is £4,336 / £5,460 (London Thameslink vs Zones 1-6 Travelcard). The share of commuters with for the station is fairly high - if 500 London season ticket holders use the station, that's around £2.5m revenue. I appreciate that's not a particularly high figure in the big picture, but does that (plus other ticket revenue) cover the costs of having the station? Would reduced maintenance costs and a 1~2 minute journey time improvement for passengers to/from Flitwick and Bedford bring higher benefits than revenue from Harlington? These are genuine questions, by the way. I'd be very interested to understand if the station is a net cost/benefit for the railway network as a whole.

My parents still in Harlington, so I'd like to see it stay open (and I believe it will, given the administrative problems with closing a station). Rather than closure, my main concern is a reduction in service levels, below a turn-up-and-go service. I'd hate to see the current prolonged period of disruption - where the previous off-peak 4tph has been replaced with 2tph/1tph/1tp2h depending on the level of disruption - become a long term service level due to managers deciding that "Harlington doesn't suffer with 2tph".

Like the whole of the Bedpan line, commuters are currently suffering. If too many of them turn away from commuting by rail it could become a vicious cycle of lower demand leading to lower provided capacity. Hopefully this is an overly pessimistic view...

If the service frequency has dropped, there's every chance the rumour has spread on the basis that someone figures 'they're trying to wind the service down so they can close the station', which at face value sounds plausible for anyone not aware of how difficult closing a station would be.

If you look at buses, winding services down to make them unpopular is a common trick.. so you can see why someone would believe it.
 

Mutant Lemming

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How much does airport / local traffic affect the traffic situation in the Luton airport parkway area? I have used Harlington for the early morning train to Gatwick and found it fine to use (theres a little pull in where you don't have to pay for parking ;)) but there is no way you will get any serious volume of traffic down to the station as it does get a bit narrow. But you do avoid the Luton area completely.

If you concreted over the area between the station and Toddington services for a park and ride site access to park would be via a direct link off the M1. The other issue is that Harlington is a small village and wouldn't really be able to sustain such a high density service if it wasn't for the regular users from nearby Toddington. There is no connecting bus from Toddington to Harlington so anyone wishing to reach Toddington by public transport have to travel via Luton. Harlington has potential as a park and ride and a more viable railhead for Toddington neither of which are being explored.
 

stut

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Doesn't local MP and professional barely-informed opinion spouter Nadine Dorries commute in from Harlington?
 

itfcfan

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How much does airport / local traffic affect the traffic situation in the Luton airport parkway area? I have used Harlington for the early morning train to Gatwick and found it fine to use (theres a little pull in where you don't have to pay for parking ;)) but there is no way you will get any serious volume of traffic down to the station as it does get a bit narrow. But you do avoid the Luton area completely.

The car park (~130 spaces) is full every weekday. The roads around the station usually see commuters parking there for the day. There was a proposal to build a another car park on the other side of the station from the existing car park (used to hold a haulage company, but empty now) but I believe the plan was dropped or planning permission denied due to concerns from the neighbouring residential properties.

It's hard to see the existing station site turn into a parkway station - it's too close to the village. It serves a useful purpose as a rail-head for surrounding villages (and a decent bus service and/or more parking could/should be provided to help this). But Luton Airport Parkway is far better situated if you're looking at taking cars off the M1 for people heading into London.
 

Fawkes Cat

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To go off at a bit of a tangent, has any station ever gone straight to closure from having a decent level of service?

I can see that there might be cases where a 'busy' station went through the closure procedure - but only because it was relocating. Wrexham Central comes to mind, and (rather further back) Liverpool Exchange > Moorfields, or Liverpool Central (old station) > Liverpool Central (merseyrail)
 

DarloRich

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There seems to be a rumour flying around that our local station: Harlington is going to be closed. Has anybody on this forum heard of this.

Is that bull ordure I smell...............

Why would Harlington close? it is a decently used commuter station in a fairly affluent area. I suspect the recent run down in service has been used as a reason for someone in the local community to spout wibble. It just doesn't seem plausible.

We had a similar rumour with Apsley station. Not sure either are anything close to the truth.

Surely Cheddington is more likely to be at risk!
 

BelleIsle

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It is not just London. I know a lot of public sector workers such as teachers who commute into Luton.

Is there a chance that this may be the chocolate rationing scenario? (from 1984) i.e. a politician starts a false rumour containing bad news. When announced that the bad news is not coming to pass everyone is happy. Even if there is some bad news but not as bad as the rumour people are still happy to a degree. Said politician claims credit for preventing/mitigating the problem. If the powers that be come and and state that the bad things were never actually going to happen the cynical public say "well they would say that wouldn't they" and hence the rumour becomes the established fact.

It has been happening with pre-budget leaks for years.
 

mallard

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Is there a chance that this may be the chocolate rationing scenario? (from 1984) i.e. a politician starts a false rumour containing bad news. When announced that the bad news is not coming to pass everyone is happy. Even if there is some bad news but not as bad as the rumour people are still happy to a degree. Said politician claims credit for preventing/mitigating the problem. If the powers that be come and and state that the bad things were never actually going to happen the cynical public say "well they would say that wouldn't they" and hence the rumour becomes the established fact.

Very likely considering the content of the "Nandy leaks". That's exactly what was happening with the timetable changes in the North.
 

DaveN

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However, the theoretical service from Harlington (completely ignoring the current DfT/GTR difficulties) has been getting worse compared to what Flitwick/Leagrave see - especially in the proposed timetable for May 2018 (that so far hasn't actually been run).

Actually the theoretical May 2018 service for Leagrave is exactly the same as Harlington. Of course, this has been achieved by making the Leagrave service worse. Also the service provided to Flitwick (except for some evening peak direction and morning contra peak) service is more like that for Harlington compared to before the big timetable change. In theory, from Dec 2020 Leagrave should be getting a better service than Harlington again (following the Corby electrification and the return to something more like the "original" May 2018).

Harlington services got worse back in 2004 when the timetable was changed for the blockade to build the box for St Pancras Low level. This was the start of the "priority St Albans" policy that meant that Harlington never got its faster services back.

I think the last time that rumours of the closure of Harlington surfaced was when it was looking like Wixams station (just south of Bedford) was likely to open. Stopping the "normal" Thameslink Bedford to Brighton services there would lead to reduced turn round times at Bedford. In most cases, the May 2018 timetable has increased these.
 

jayah

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I can think of quite a few stations that might close at some point in the not too distant future - for instance, I can see a review of the Marston Vale local stations once EWR gets going - Kempston Hardwick perhaps being the most likely to go. Or on the WCML Cheddington-in-the-middle-of-Nowhere[1] (!) must be the most vulnerable. But Harlington (Beds)? No chance.

[1] Given this, most passengers drive to it and could drive to Tring or Leighton instead. A lot probably do anyway for the vastly better service at both.

Someone ought to just put 5,000 houses on Cheddington. It is absurd to claim a shortage of housing and development land with a main line station 40mins from London surrounded by fields.
 

richieb1971

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Someone ought to just put 5,000 houses on Cheddington. It is absurd to claim a shortage of housing and development land with a main line station 40mins from London surrounded by fields.

After 10 threads were started about putting railways where housing is, I did a thread suggesting they should build houses where railways already are. Kempston Hardwick and Cheddington are 2 places that fit the bill very well. Although as documented by myself before, i would rather KH be moved into Kempston about 1 mile down the track.
 

gazthomas

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How much does airport / local traffic affect the traffic situation in the Luton airport parkway area? I have used Harlington for the early morning train to Gatwick and found it fine to use (theres a little pull in where you don't have to pay for parking ;)) but there is no way you will get any serious volume of traffic down to the station as it does get a bit narrow. But you do avoid the Luton area completely.
By the church ?
 
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