is a
Railway Station that serves the central area of
Milton Keynes . The station is located on the
West Coast Main Line where it is served by
Virgin Trains inter-city services and by
Silverlink County local services. It lies exactly 50 miles north of
London Euston station.
This station is one of the five stations serving Milton Keynes. The others are
Wolverton (Milton Keynes North),
Bletchley (Milton Keynes South),
Fenny Stratford (also Milton Keynes South) and
Bow Brickhill (Milton Keynes South-east). In addition,
Woburn Sands Railway Station is just outside the Milton Keynes boundary and serves the south-east of the
Borough .
At present, there are three south-bound tracks and two north-bound tracks. In May 2006, the Department of Transport confirmed funding for a third north-bound track (for Inter-city services) and a fourth south-bound track (for services to , Silverlink announced their intent to extend their
Marston Vale Line service from Bedford to Milton Keynes Central, when the new platform is built. (The service currently terminates at
Bletchley ). On 4 December 2006, work began on both projects, with completion scheduled for December 2008.
In detail, (using the current numbering scheme which may change) the works will http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/wcml/westcoastmainlineprogressrep3458
http://www.balfourbeatty.com/bbeatty/aboutus/atwork/westcoast/bbr_westcoast.pdf ;
- extend the current track 1 to rejoin the slow line north of the station (converting platform 1 from a Bay Platform to a Through Platform )
- insert a (reversible) track 1a for the Marston Vale Line extension (and possibly a service to Oxford) and insert a new bay platform 1a by reshaping the current island platform 1-2.
- terminate the current (through) track 2, to create a reversible bay platform for trains that terminate here.
- create multiple crossings between the tracks.
- convert (fast) track 5 to two-way operation. This will allow more intercity trains to stop without blocking the line.
- add a new fast track 6 and a new platform 6 for north-bound services.
More speculatively, a "strong" case has been made to Government to reopen the historic
Varsity Line from
Oxford to
Bletchley and extend it to Milton Keynes Central
East-West Rail Consortium: Western Section: Final Report 5.1 p38 .
The station is the terminus for many bus services and is on the
Milton Keynes Redway System , a network of cycle paths. The station itself has a small shop and there are other shops and restaurants on the south side of the station square. There are a number of hotels on Midsummer Boulevard (which begins opposite the station and leads up into
Central Milton Keynes ).
The station square itself is a favourite site for has plans to alter the space.
Inter-city passengers wishing to go to
Northampton should change to a north-bound Silverlink service here. Passengers for all stations to
Bedford should take a south-bound Silverlink service here as far as
Bletchley and change to the
Marston Vale Line . Virgin Trains also provide a coach service ("VT99") to
London Luton Airport and
Luton Railway Station .
The station and its plaza was used in the movie
Superman IV as a substitute for the United Nations building. Other scenes were shot in the
Central Milton Keynes area.
