Rainham railway station (Kent)

Rainham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in South East England, serving the town of Rainham, Kent. It is 38 miles 74 chains (62.6 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Gillingham and Newington.

Rainham
Location
Place	Rainham
Local authority	Borough of Medway
Coordinates	51.366411°N 0.611328°E / 51.366411; 0.611328
Grid reference	TQ818662
Operations
Station code	RAI
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	C2
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	1.722 million
2015/16	1.776 million
2016/17	1.821 million
2017/18	1.823 million
2018/19	1.935 million
History
25 Jan 1858[1]	Opened as Rainham and Newington
1 Aug 1862	Renamed Rainham
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Rainham from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Medway Towns
North Kent Line & HS1 to London Bridge & St Pancras Chatham Main Line to Victoria & Blackfriars Medway Valley Line to Maidstone West Halling Cuxton Strood Rochester Bridge│Strood (1st) Rochester Bridge Goods station Rochester Common Rochester (2015–) Rochester (1892–2015) Chatham Central River Medway Chatham Gillingham Rainham Chatham Main Line to Faversham, Dover & Ramsgate

The station and most trains that call are operated by Southeastern. Following a timetable change on Sunday 20 May 2018, some trains are operated by Govia Thameslink. The station has three platforms.[2] Platform 0 is an "up" bay platform, used mainly by Thameslink Services. Platform 1 is an "up" through providing services towards London, and Platform 2 is a "down" through for services towards Ramsgate and Dover Priory.

It is sometimes shown as Rainham (Kent) in order to distinguish it from the station of the same name in East London, Essex.

Rainham railway station building forecourt front

Crossing road for passengers requiring accessible entrances to interchange platforms

There are accessible entrances[3] without stairs on both platforms, with step-free access via Platform 1 for services towards London (via main station entrance). Step-free access via Platform 2 for services away from London (via side entrance, short ramp from Granary Close). To interchange platforms, people needing accessible access must use the road and steep paths in excess of 250 metres. (There is also a steep staircase overpass over the tracks to interchange platforms.)

Induction loops are available and ticket counters are able to be lowered or raised. There are also accessible ticket machines in the station forecourt. There are fold-away ramps available on platforms for wheelchair train access.

Services

Typical off-peak services are:

• 2tph to Luton via Dartford, Greenwich, London Bridge, St Pancras International, St Albans City and Luton Airport (Thameslink)
• 2 tph to London St Pancras via Gravesend and Ebbsfleet International (High Speed)
• 1 tph to London St Pancras via Faversham, Ramsgate, Deal, Dover Priory and Ashford International (High Speed)
• 1 tph to Faversham (High Speed)
• 3 tph to London Victoria via Bromley South with 1 tph stopping at Denmark Hill (Main Line)
• 2 tph to Dover Priory via Canterbury East (Main Line)
• 1 tph to Ramsgate via Faversham and Margate (Main Line)

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Gillingham		Southeastern Chatham Main Line		Newington
		Southeastern High Speed 1		Sittingbourne
		Thameslink Chatham Main Line		Terminus

Thameslink Programme

In connection with the rebuild of Rochester Station, a new bay platform has been added on the south side (facing towards London).[4]
Trains are now able to use this new platform as the East Kent Resignalling Project[5] has been completed. Initially, only a couple of trains used it in the evening rush hour, but since May 2018, Thameslink trains are now starting from here to Luton, via Gravesend, Dartford and Greenwich. This replaces the Gillingham to Charing Cross services, meaning passengers will have to change at Dartford or London Bridge for Charing Cross or Cannon Street.[6]

References

1. Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
2. "Planning permission for new Rochester station". Southeastern Railway. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
3. "Accessibility via Rainham Station". Southeastern Railway. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
4. "Network Rail unveils plans for new railway station in Rochester, UK". Retrieved 30 January 2014.
5. "East Kent Resignalling Project". Retrieved 10 June 2020.
6. Boyden, Katie (23 November 2017). "A new train service which was set to revolutionise travel for some people in Kent has been delayed". kentlive.news. Retrieved 7 April 2018.

External links

• Train times and station information for Rainham railway station (Kent) from National Rail
• Rainham Station Photos 1980s
• Southeastern Railway - Rainham Station