The first section of the Great Northern Railway opened on 1 March 1848; but the southern section of the main line 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 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 could not 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. Queen Elizabeth II visited the station in 2006. 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 but is not accessible platform to platform. There is no access to ticket machines or help point on the down platform. FCC installed modern LED lights on both platforms in 2009. The station has two small shelters on both platforms. There is a ticket office on the southbound platform and 2 modern Touch Screen ticket machines located adjacent to 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. Train running information is provided via digital CIS displays, automated announcements and a customer help point on platform 1.
Services
As of December 2019, the typical off-peak service from Arlesey is:
