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
LocationRainham, Borough of Medway
England
Coordinates51.366411°N 0.611328°E / 51.366411; 0.611328
Grid referenceTQ818662
Managed bySoutheastern
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeRAI
ClassificationDfT category C2
Key dates
25 Jan 1858[1]Opened as Rainham and Newington
1 Aug 1862Renamed Rainham
Passengers
2015/16 1.776 million
2016/17 1.821 million
2017/18 1.823 million
2018/19 1.935 million
2019/20 1.870 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
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.

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:

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

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.
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