Leighton Buzzard railway station
Leighton Buzzard 
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| Location | |
| Place | Linslade |
| Local authority | District of Central Bedfordshire |
| Grid reference | SP910250 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | LBZ |
| Managed by | London Midland |
| Number of platforms | 4 |
| DfT category | C2 |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
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| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2011/12 |
 1.589 million |
| 2012/13 |
1.646 million |
| 2013/14 |
1.665 million |
| 2014/15 |
1.727 million |
| 2015/16 |
1.789 million |
| History | |
| Original company | London and North Western Railway |
| 9 April 1838 | Opened as Leighton |
| 14 February 1859 | Rebuilt 160m to the south |
| 1 July 1911 | Renamed Leighton Buzzard |
| 6 February 1967 | Goods services withdrawn |
| September 1989 | Rebuilt |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Leighton Buzzard from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
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Leighton Buzzard railway station serves the Leighton Buzzard and Linslade area of Bedfordshire and nearby parts of Buckinghamshire. Actually situated in Linslade, the station is 40 miles (64 km) north west of London Euston and is served by London Midland services on the West Coast Main Line. Until the 1960s the station was the start of a branch to Dunstable and Luton, with a junction just north of the present station. There have been past proposals about reopening this route, as little of it has been lost to new construction, either for rail or as a guided busway. There is now a guided busway from Dunstable to Luton, but much of the Leighton Buzzard to Dunstable section was lost to the town's southern Bypass. The station has four platforms. Platforms 1 & 2 serve the fast lines and are used by Virgin Trains services running non-stop to/from London Euston. Platforms 3 & 4 are served by slower London Midland services to/from London Euston and by Southern services between East Croydon and Milton Keynes Central.
Page's Park railway station, terminus for the Leighton Buzzard Light Railway (a narrow gauge heritage railway), is on the opposite side of the town.
The first station simply known as Leighton was opened by the London and Birmingham Railway on 9 April 1838 as part of the first section of its line from London Euston to Denbigh Hall. The line had originally been planned to pass through Buckingham but opposition from the Duke of Buckingham ensured that it forced east through Linslade. A station with two-facing platforms was opened a ¼-mile south of the Linslade tunnels. These are arranged unusually for a four track main line: the southbound slow line has a tunnel to itself as does the northbound fast line, however the northbound slow and southbound fast lines share a tunnel. This stems from the fact that the line was built as double-track and when quadrupled, the two extra lines could only be placed along both sides, as single-track tunnels.
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