Rochester railway station

Rochester
Rochester station building opened on 13 December 2015
Location
Place	Rochester
Local authority	Borough of Medway
Coordinates	51°23′19″N 0°30′30″E / 51.38861°N 0.50833°E / 51.38861; 0.50833Coordinates: 51°23′19″N 0°30′30″E / 51.38861°N 0.50833°E / 51.38861; 0.50833
Grid reference	TQ745684
Operations
Station code	RTR
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2012/13	1.162 million
– Interchange	25,073
2013/14	1.241 million
– Interchange	24,467
2014/15	1.305 million
– Interchange	26,515
2015/16	1.385 million
– Interchange	45,610
2016/17	1.632 million
– Interchange	25,575
History
1 March 1892	Opened
13 December 2015	Resited
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Rochester from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Rochester railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Rochester, Kent. It is 33 miles 61 chains (54.3 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Sole Street and Chatham.

The station and most trains that call are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink, including a handful of peak services to and from Bedford operated by the latter.

In December 2015 a new station on Corporation Street opened 500 metres to the west of the original station which it replaced. It is now closer to the town centre and its historic buildings.

Construction

On 16 January 2014 Gallagher Ltd cast the reinforced concrete base slab for a new subway for the station.^[1] A little over a year later, on 26 January 2015, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin 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.".^[2] According to the billboards adjoining the station site, the 900-tonne concrete subway was to be the first part of the project to be completed; this was scheduled took place over Easter 2015.^[3] Office of Rail Regulation confirmation of the closure of the old station were exhibited at Charing Cross station and elsewhere in October 2015.^[4]

• 
  Rochester (original) station building closed on 13 December 2015.
• 
  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

Medway Towns
North Kent Line (& High Speed) to London Bridge & St Pancras Chatham Main Line to Victoria & Blackfriars Medway Valley Line to Maidstone 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 and Ramsgate

Typical off-peak frequencies in trains per hour are:^[5]

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

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Sole Street or Meopham		Southeastern Chatham Main Line		Chatham
Strood		Southeastern High Speed 1
Strood		Thameslink Chatham Main Line		Chatham
	Disused railways
Rochester Bridge Line and station closed		London, Chatham and Dover Railway Chatham Main Line		Chatham Line and station open

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rochester railway station.

• Train times and station information for Rochester railway station from National Rail