Chatham railway station is on the

Chatham Main Line The Chatham Main Line is a railway line in England that links London VictoriaQuail Map 5 – England South ages 2–13Sept 2002 (Retrieved 14 December 2011) and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway (of which the town of Chatham is ...

in England, serving the town of Chatham, Kent. It is down the line from and is situated between and Gillingham. 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. There are two platforms, one for each direction and both capable of accommodating 12-coach trains. There are tunnels at either end of the station: Fort Pitt Tunnel (428 yards) at the London end, and Chatham Tunnel (297 yards) at the country end.

History

Chatham Station geograph-3083847-by-Ben-Brooksbank

The station was opened on 25 January 1858, when the

London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England. It was created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through Lond ...

(LCDR) (then known as the East Kent Railway) opened a single line eastwards to

Faversham Faversham () is a market town in Kent, England, from Sittingbourne, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2 road (Great ...

. Two months later (29 March 1858) the link with the

North Kent Line The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...

Strood Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. Strood forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It ...

was opened; and the new railway reached

Dover Priory The Priory of St. Mary the Virgin and Martin of Tours, St. Martin of the New Work, or Newark, commonly called Dover Priory, was a priory at Dover in southeast England. It was variously independent in rule, then occupied by canons regular of t ...

in 1861. The

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham, Kent, Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham; at its most extens ...

branch connection is made near Gillingham. As built the station had two platforms with the station buildings being on the Down side. A note on the working drawings states that the station had to be visible from Fort Pitt. About 1881 it was rebuilt with two island platforms, and the station buildings were moved onto the road bridge, then known as Rome Place. In 1958 the station was converted back to two platforms as part of the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme, Stage 1. The station had been electrified in 1939 but the 1958 scheme lengthened the platforms to 12 car EMUs, which due to the geography of the station - between two tunnels - necessitated the abandoning of the other platforms. A modern entrance and booking hall replaced the originals in 1981. Further remodelling in the 1990s and 2000s has seen the ticket office moved twice, accompanied by the opening, closing and re-opening of retail areas. A small, general corner store also opened. The building is located at one side of the road bridge (now Railway Street) over the track, with a

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

rank located between the road and the building. Stairs lead down to the platforms. A

cafe A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargil ...

is located on the London bound platform. There is also a coffee shop located at the main entrance of the station. In May 2021, work began on replacing the footbridge. The new bridge has lifts enabling step-free access. This work was completed as part of the Access for All scheme. Asquith Xavier plaque A plaque in the waiting room commemorates Asquith Xavier, a local resident who ended a colour bar at British Railways in London by fighting to become the first non-white train guard at Euston railway station in 1966.

Services

Services at Chatham are operated by Southeastern and

Thameslink Thameslink is a mainline route on the British railway network, running from , , , , , and via central London to , , , Rainham, , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying more than ...

using , , , and

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 2 tph to London St Pancras International * 3 tph to (2 of these run non-stop from and 1 runs via ) * 2 tph to via and * 1 tph to * 2 tph to * 1 tph to * 1 tph to via * 2 tph to Additional services, including trains to and from

London Charing Cross Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a London station group, central London railway terminus between the Strand, London, Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South ...

via , and fast trains to and from London Cannon Street call at the station during the peak hours.

References

External links

Chatham station's page on the KentRail website
{{TSGN and SE Stations, Chatham=y, Abbey Wood=y, Sidcup=y, High Speed=y, FCC None=y, SN None=y Railway stations in Medway DfT Category C1 stations Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1858 Railway stations served by Southeastern Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway