Rochester 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

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, Kent. It is down the line from and is situated between and . The station and most trains that call are operated by

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

and

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying m ...

, including a handful of peak services to and from operated by the latter. In December 2015 a new station on Corporation Street opened to the west of the original station which it replaced. It is now closer to the town centre and its historic buildings.

Original station

The first station opened as part of the

East Kent Railway The East Kent Railway (EKR) was an early railway operating between Strood and Faversham in Kent, England, during 1858 and 1859. In the latter year it changed its name to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway to reflect its ambitions to build a ...

in 1892. It was set back some distance from the High Street to the east of the busy junction at Star Hill, and access to the platforms was via tunnels from the ticket office.

New station

On 16 January 2014 Gallagher Ltd cast the

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

base slab for a new subway for the station. A little over a year later, on 26 January 2015,

Transport Secretary The Secretary of State for Transport, also referred to as the transport secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for the policies of the Department for Transport. The incumbent i ...

Patrick McLoughlin Patrick Allen McLoughlin, Baron McLoughlin, (born 30 November 1957) is a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, he first became the Member of Parliament (MP) for West Derbyshire following the 1986 by-election. The constituen ...

was given a tour of the site, and was quoted as saying, "Rochester’s new station will be a big improvement for this historic town. It will benefit commuters and visitors thanks to longer trains and more seats for passengers.". According to the billboards adjoining the station site, the concrete subway was to be the first part of the project to be completed; this was scheduled took place over Easter 2015.

Office of Rail Regulation The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) is a non-ministerial government department responsible for the economic and safety regulation of Britain's railways, and the economic monitoring of National Highways. ORR regulates Network Rail by setting its ...

confirmation of the closure of the old station were exhibited at

Charing Cross station Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South Eastern Main Line to Dover via Ashfo ...

and elsewhere in October 2015. File:Rochesterrear.jpg, Rochester (original) station building closed on 13 December 2015. File:New Rochester (re-located) railway station.JPG, Under construction platforms (on the left) and the large entrance hall (on the right).

Layout

Platform 1 serves trains towards Strood, Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International, Dartford, Meopham, Bromley South into London. Platform 2 serves trains towards Gillingham, Faversham, Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury East, Dover Priory, and Ashford International via Sandwich and Deal. Platform 3 has now opened up at a through platform, service trains towards Gillingham, Faversham, Ashford International and the Kent Coast. Trains can also terminate here before heading back towards London. As the through line runs all the way through Platform 4 of the old Rochester station, it can be used to hold long freight services to allow passenger services to pass, removing a bottleneck.

Service

Services at Rochester are operated by

and

using , , , and

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to

London St Pancras International St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...

* 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 via * 2 tph to Additional services including trains to and from and

London Cannon Street Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and connected London Underground station in Travelcard zone 1 located on Cannon Street in the City of London and managed by Network Rail. It is ...

call at the station in the peak hours.

References

External links

{{TSGN and SE Stations, Chatham=y, Ashford=y, Abbey Wood=y, Sidcup=y, High Speed=y, SN None=y

Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

Railway stations in Medway DfT Category D stations Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1892 Railway stations served by Southeastern Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway