+ DART finally opens at Luton Airport

It has taken time but passengers from south of the Thames can now travel effortlessly to Luton Airport on Thameslink and EMR (East Midlands Railways) via the town’s Parkway station and onwards to the terminal using the Direct Air-Rail Transit (DART) cable car. 

Officially tested by King Charles last month (see www.travelnewsupdate.co.uk/article/160), travellers can be at the check-in within ten minutes of arrival at the station. 

Tom Moran, Managing Director, Thameslink, summed it up: “The DART provides seamless, step-free transfers inside Luton Airport Parkway station, which is served by up to eight Thameslink trains an hour. You can board a direct train to the airport from over 50 Thameslink stations, including five in Central London and busy hubs such as Bedford, Brighton and the Medway Towns in North Kent. The network’s great connections, including the Elizabeth line at Farringdon, make a train to London Luton Airport a simple, sustainable option for millions of people in the South East.”

TNU travelled for a press preview from Elstree and Borehamwood station, one of nine from St Pancras.  “Utterly seamless,” said Editor-in-Chief Malcolm Ginsberg.  “But how sad to find the lovely new carriages vandalised.  Did these hooligans pay for their tickets and are the trains covered by CCTV?”    EMR travellers can take the 32-minute Luton Express non-stop from St Pancras, and from the north, Corby (with intermediate connecting stops) offers various Midlands links. 

The fully-automated people mover is a significant local investment by Luton Rising – the Council’s business and social enterprise that owns the airport and whose expansion application has been accepted for detailed examination by the Planning Inspectorate. https://lutonrising.org.uk

Its operator, London Luton Airport Ltd, is owned by Spanish airport company Aena (51%) and Australian investor AMP (51%).  

In 2019 around 18m passengers passed through Luton Airport and 4m the station although not all destined for the terminal.  Hopefully Luton Rising will publish monthly figures for DART, as is offered for the airport itself.

The single fare on DART is £4.90 and various concessions are available.  The DART operates 24 hours with a peak service every four minutes.

Readers should note that the EMR trains operate from the upper area at St Pancras (1-4), are every 30 minutes, the more frequent but slower Thameslink operating out of the basement platforms.

headforpoints tried it too.

See also AND FINALLY in this month's TNU.

https://lutonrising.org.uk/our-developments/luton-dart

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READERS' COMMENT

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Malcolm Ginsberg, Edgware

For the information of John, and anyone else interested, the fine Parkway station opened in 1999 and was subsequently added a tram link to Luton central and Luton Town Club. The bus to the airport was initially free.

John Hepworth, United Kingdom

In 1964 when I started work at LTN for the long gone Autair International Airways,going to a discussion on a possible link from the Rly Stn to the "proposed" new terminal.