Arlesey railway station

Arlesey railway station serves the town of Arlesey in Bedfordshire, England. The station is 37 miles (60 km) north of London Kings Cross on the East Coast Main Line. Arlesey is managed and served by First Capital Connect.

Arlesey is the nearest station to the towns of Stotfold and Shefford and to the villages of Langford, Clifton and Henlow.

Original station
The first section of the Great Northern Railway (GNR) (from Louth to a junction with the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway at Grimsby) opened on 1 March 1848; but the southern section of the main line (from Maiden Lane to Peterborough) was not opened until 7 August 1850. One of the 1850 stations was Arlsey and Shefford Road. It was renamed Arlesey and Shefford Road in March 1860, but the shorter name of Arlesey was used between July 1893 and July 1895.

The GNR became part of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) during the Grouping of 1923. On 1 March 1933 the LNER renamed the station Arlesey and Henlow. The station passed to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948.

The station and the adjacent Three Counties railway station were closed to passengers on 5 January 1959 and to goods on 28 November 1960 and demolished soon after due to declining receipts.

Present station
The line, however, remained open; and the present station built by Network SouthEast opened on 3 October 1988 on the site of the original station in the Church End area of Arlesey. The rebuilt station was designed to be fully accessible to wheelchairs but was initially unusable by those who couldn't leave their chair as there were no facilities for 'loading and unloading'. First Capital Connect provided the station with ramps in 2006, and users now simply have to ring 24 hours in advance for assistance.

In 2006 Her Majesty The Queen visited the station.

The station's platforms are currently being lengthened to accommodate 12 car trains scheduled to serve the station upon completion of the Thameslink Programme.

Facilities
The station is fully accessible to wheelchair users, and FCC installed modern LED lights on both platforms in 2009.

The station now has two small shelters on both platforms. The station is currently (as of 2010) served by a small portable cafe in the mornings.

There is a ticket office on the southbound platform with a Permit to Travel Machine and a modern Touch Screen ticket machine located in front of the booking office. Cycle storage is provided on both sides of the station; although only the southbound side has secure storage. First Capital Connect installed a help point on Platform 1.

Arlesey station does not currently have automatic ticket gates. First Capital Connect may provide gates during the next major refurbishment if passenger usage picks up.

Services
Arlesey station is served by a half-hourly service southbound to London Kings Cross and northbound to Peterborough. There is an hourly service in each direction on Sundays.

Timetables for Arlesey can be seen and downloaded here.

Ticket Office Opening Times & Station Staffing Hours
Below are the current opening and staffing times for Arlesey,.