Following concerns raised by fellow commuters, South West Bedfordshire MP, Andrew Selous, met with London Northwestern Railway yesterday to ask for more late night capacity back to Leighton Buzzard.
Speaking after the meeting Andrew said,
“We have many residents who want to spend the evening in London and an increasing number who work in all aspects of the entertainment industry and night-time economy who also need to get back home. The service has not been good enough recently which is why I met with London Northwestern yesterday.
London Northwestern have committed to make all services between 10pm and 1:39am 8 Carriage services and are increasing the 23:09 service to 12 carriages. Maintenance issues have led to an unacceptable number of short formations recently, but there has been an improvement in availability in recent weeks.
In June this year additional carriages will be added to some services leaving London Euston on Saturday evenings with more services running with 12 carriages. Later on this year, a brand-new fleet of longer electric class 730 trains will be introduced. A 10 carriage class 730 can carry more passengers than a 12 carriage service on the existing 350s. There are some of the new class 730 trains operating between Leighton Buzzard and Euston at the moment.
As a commuter on this line myself I absolutely get the frustration of passengers when there is not enough capacity or there are delays and cancellations. I will always fight for the best possible service for everyone travelling by train to and from Leighton Buzzard.