Gravesend railway station
Encyclopedia
Gravesend railway station serves the town of Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...

 in north Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

; train services are operated by Southeastern
Southeastern (train operating company)
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

. The station is 24 miles (38 km) from London Charing Cross
Charing Cross railway station
Charing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...

. It has two central through lines for through freight trains and peak-time non-stopping passenger services and up and down loops that serve the two platforms.

History

The first railway to arrive in Gravesend was the Gravesend & Rochester Railway (G&RR) who had purchased the Thames and Medway Canal
Thames and Medway Canal
The Thames and Medway Canal is a disused canal in Kent, south east England, also known as the Gravesend and Rochester Canal. It was originally some long and cut across the neck of the Hoo peninsula, linking the River Thames at Gravesend with the River Medway at Strood...

 and its tunnel between Strood
Strood
Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It is part of the ceremonial county of Kent. It lies on the north west bank of the River Medway at its lowest bridging point, and is part of the Rochester post town....

 and Higham
Higham, Kent
Higham is a small village bordering the Hoo Peninsula, in Kent, between Gravesend and Rochester. The civil parish of Higham is in Gravesham district and as at the 2001 UK Census, had a population of 3,938.-History:...

. The G&RR ran the first train to the then terminus at Gravesend on 10 February 1845. On 30 July 1849 the line was extended to North Kent East Junction on the South Eastern Railway
South Eastern Railway (UK)
The South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...

 (SER) and thence to London Bridge
London Bridge station
London Bridge railway station is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the London Borough of Southwark, occupying a large area on two levels immediately south-east of London Bridge and 1.6 miles east of Charing Cross. It is one of the oldest railway stations in the...

.

There was a second Gravesend station
Gravesend West railway station
Gravesend West was a railway station on the Gravesend West Line which served Gravesend in Kent. It opened in 1886 and was, for some time, a regular destination for boat trains from London which linked with steamers on the station's pier to ferry passengers to a variety of coastal towns and resorts....

 (in later years known as Gravesend West), opened by SER's rivals London, Chatham and Dover Railway
London, Chatham and Dover Railway
The London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...

 (LCDR). It was the end of a branch
Gravesend West Line
The Gravesend West Line was a short railway line in Kent that branched off the Swanley to Chatham line at Fawkham Junction and continued for a distance of 5 miles to Gravesend where the railway company constructed a pier to connect trains with steamers...

 off the LCDR's main line
Chatham Main Line
The Chatham Main Line is a British railway line that runs from either London Victoria to Dover Priory / Ramsgate or London St Pancras to Faversham, with both services travelling via Medway...

 and it allowed access to Victoria. journey times were uncompetitive and when the two companies merged in 1899, the branch was soon relegated to a secondary line and closed in 1968.

Highspeed services to London St Pancras International, were introduced from December 2009 (see below).

In December 2008, the local authority for Gravesend
Gravesend, Kent
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, on the south bank of the Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. It is the administrative town of the Borough of Gravesham and, because of its geographical position, has always had an important role to play in the history and communications of this part of...

 (Gravesham Council), were formally requested by Crossrail
Crossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...

 and the DfT
DFT
DFT may stand for:*Discrete Fourier transform*Decision field theory*Density functional theory*Demand Flow Technology*The United Kingdom's Department for Transport*Design For Test*Deareating Feed Tank*Digital Film Technology maker of the Spirit DataCine...

, to sanction the revised Crossrail
Crossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...

 Safeguarding. This safeguarding provides for a potential service extension, from the current south of Thames terminus at Abbey Wood
Abbey Wood
Abbey Wood is a district of South-East London, England, located mostly in the London Borough of Greenwich, and partly within the London Borough of Bexley. It is situated east of Charing Cross.-Development:...

, to continue via North Kent Line
North Kent Line
The North Kent Line is a railway line which connects central and south east London with Dartford and Medway.-Construction:The North Kent Line was the means by which the South Eastern Railway were able to connect its system to London at London Bridge...

 to Gravesend station.
With current services from Gravesend to London Bridge
London Bridge
London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, connecting the City of London and Southwark, in central London. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 Waterloo East and London Charing Cross being supplemented by highspeed trains from the end of 2009 to London St Pancras, the potential in having Crossrail
Crossrail
Crossrail is a project to build a major new railway link under central London. The name refers to the first of two routes which are the responsibility of Crossrail Ltd. It is based on an entirely new east-west tunnel with a central section from to Liverpool Street station...

 services from central London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, London Heathrow, Maidenhead
Maidenhead
Maidenhead is a town and unparished area within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. It lies on the River Thames and is situated west of Charing Cross in London.-History:...

 and/or Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....

, terminating at Gravesend, would not only raise the station to hub status but equally greatly contribute towards the town's regeneration.

Future

Gravesend railway station is at the heart of the £75 million Gravesend Transport Quarter.
The station is currently undergoing a major overhaul. Works include enlarged ticket halls, new baby changing facilities, revamp and reopening of the Gents WC on Platform 2, new indicator screens and additional space for retail opportunities.
It is expected that in 2014, The station's track layout shall be substantially altered. This is primarily for extending the current platforms to accommodate 12 coach trains as opposed to the current 10 coach limit.
Platform 1 is expected to be converted to a bay platform. A new Platform 2 is to be located on the site of what will then be, the former Up 'through' road.
The present Platform 2 will be renumbered Platform 3.
The station car park (and the adjoining vicinity), is to become a major transport interchange building featuring; a 396 space multi storey car park, a six-bay bus station, a large retail area inside the building, plus ticketing facilities for trains, buses and Fastrack. Construction is expected to begin in December 2011.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is:

Typical off-peak services are:
  • 2tph (trains per hour) to via
  • 2tph to London Charing Cross
    Charing Cross railway station
    Charing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...

     via Dartford
    Dartford railway station
    Dartford railway station serves the town of Dartford in Kent, England. All train services from the station are operated by Southeastern, which also manages the station...

     and
  • 2tph to London Charing Cross
    Charing Cross railway station
    Charing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...

     via Dartford
    Dartford railway station
    Dartford railway station serves the town of Dartford in Kent, England. All train services from the station are operated by Southeastern, which also manages the station...

    , Woolwich Arsenal
    Woolwich Arsenal railway station
    Woolwich Arsenal station is a National Rail and Docklands Light Railway interchange station located in Woolwich in the London Borough of Greenwich. It acts as a local station on the North Kent Line between London and Gillingham, served by Southeastern, and is the southern terminus of the Woolwich...

     and Lewisham
    Lewisham station
    Lewisham station is a National Rail and Docklands Light Railway station in Lewisham, south east London. It is on the south-east London commuter rail network operated by Southeastern. The Docklands Light Railway station opened in 1999 on a southward extension from Island Gardens on the Isle of Dogs...

  • 2tph to
  • 2tph to Faversham
    Faversham railway station
    Faversham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in north Kent, and serves the town of Faversham, 52 miles from London Victoria and 49 miles from London St. Pancras International. Train services are provided by Southeastern. Typical journey times for fastest services to Victoria is 70...

  • 4tpd using Class 395 Javelin
    British Rail Class 395
    British Rail Class 395 is a dual-voltage electric multiple unit used by train operating company Southeastern for its services along High Speed 1 and onwards to the Kent coast. The trains were built in Japan by Hitachi and shipped to the United Kingdom to operate new high speed domestic services...

     units operate to and via .
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