Strood railway station serves the town of
Strood in
Medway
Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to ...
, England. It is on 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 Line ...
and is also a terminus of the
Medway Valley Line. It is down the line from .
Train services 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 sep ...
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 ...
.
History
The
South Eastern Railway (SER) had reached Strood in 1845 as the terminus of the line from Gravesend.
In 1856, this line was linked to the existing
Maidstone
Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it wi ...
branch from ,
which had opened in 1844.
The new line left the line from Gravesend between Strood Tunnel and the
original Strood terminus; a new ''Strood'' station was provided on the Maidstone line, and it opened with the line on 18 June 1856.
The station became a junction with the opening of the first section of the
East Kent Railway (EKR) between Strood and on 29 March 1858. The
London, Chatham & Dover Railway (which the EKR had become in 1859) soon opened their own route from towards London, the first portion as far as opening on 3 December 1860. The curve connecting the LCDR line with Strood station fell into disuse (apart from one goods train in each direction per day), but passenger services over this line were reintroduced in early 1877 at the insistence of the Mayor of Chatham. The Mayor's name was Toomer, and the line then became known as the "Toomer Loop".
Although Strood station was the property of the SER, the Toomer Loop, together with the stations at Rochester and Chatham, was LCDR property. A second junction at Strood was bought into use on 20 July 1891, when the first section of the Rochester & Chatham Extension was opened, by which SER trains reached their own stations at
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 ...
and, from 1 March 1892,
Chatham. This line was to the north-east of, and largely ran parallel to, the LCDR line; it had its own bridge over the Medway. On 1 January 1899 the SER and LCDR entered into a working union which traded as the
South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SE&CR) and set about eliminating duplicated facilities. In 1911, a connecting line was put in between the SER and LCDR on the south-eastern side of the SER's Rochester Bridge; this allowed trains from Strood to reach the LCDR stations at Rochester and Chatham from October 1911. In 1927 (after the SER & LCDR had merged with other railways to form the
Southern Railway), another connecting line was put in between the former SER and LCDR routes on the north-eastern side of the SER's Rochester Bridge; this enabled the LCDR's bridge to be taken out of use.
Southeastern introduced a full timetable of domestic high-speed services branded Southeastern Highspeed over High Speed 1 between
London St Pancras and Ashford International on 13 December 2009, although public preview services had been running since 29 June 2009. High-speed trains use High Speed 1 calling at Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International. Trains from London to the Medway towns and Faversham leave the high-speed line at Ebbsfleet and continue via the North Kent line through Gravesend, Strood, Rochester. A limited peak hour service now also operates between St Pancras and Maidstone West via Ebbsfleet and Strood.
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At the same time there was the largest change to the timetable in the area in 40 years in order to accommodate the extra trains. This meant that rail services from Newington and Teynham were cut, in order to facilitate this new service.
To use the train service over the High Speed 1 section of line generally requires payment of a surcharge.
In December 2017, the station received a £2.59 million refurbishment which included new entrances, a larger booking hall and a new waiting room.
Facilities
The station has three platforms; Platform 1 is directly accessible from the station building. Platforms 2 and 3 are on an
island platform
An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular o ...
. The entrance, ticket office and ticket barriers adjoin Platform 1, with a tunnel from that platform leading to the island. In 2014, a new bridge with lifts was built at the southern end of the station to replace the tunnel and provide wheelchair access to the island platform. As of summer 2015 both the bridge and tunnel are open.
Platforms 2 and 1 mainly handle traffic to and from London respectively, with , Tonbridge and services terminating at and returning from Platform 3.
Until the early 1980s, an additional entrance to the station was located on Station Road. The entrance was a continuation of the station subway, the external building is still extant on Station Road, although all windows and doors have been bricked up. The building contained a small ticket office.
Services
Services at Strood 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 sep ...
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 ...
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 ...
.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
* 2 tph to via and
* 1 tph to
London St Pancras International
* 2 tph to
* 1 tph to via
* 2 tph to via
During the peak hours, there are additional Southeastern services to
London Charing Cross
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 Ashf ...
via which start and terminate at Strood. Additional services to Maidstone West, Tonbridge and Faversham also run during the peak hours.
There are also 4 peak hour trains per day between Maidstone West and London St Pancras International, operated by Southeastern.
References
External links
Old photograph of Strood station from Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre website
{{TSGN and SE Stations, Abbey Wood=y, Sidcup=y, Medway Valley=y, High Speed=y, FCC None=y, SN None=y
Railway stations in Medway
DfT Category D stations
Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1856
Railway stations served by Southeastern
Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway