Crossrail Extension To Gravesend
A possible Crossrail Extension to Gravesend has been safeguarded, although because Crossrail doesn’t call at St. Pancras for Eurostar, I feel that extending Crossrail to Ebbsfleet International station to catch Continental trains there, would be part of any extension to Gravesend.
This Google Map shows both Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend stations.
Ebbsfleet International And Gravesend Stations
Ebbsfleet International is to the West and Gravesend is to the East.
There would have to be some major construction work, but it would probably be feasible.
However this Google Map of Gravesend Station shows a serious problem.
Gravesend Station
As can be seen, it is a very cramped site. These pictures show the station.
I doubt any extension to Gravesend will terminate at Gravesend station.
There is a page on the Crossrail web site, which is entitled Safeguarding. This is said.
An additional extension from Abbey Wood to Gravesend and Hoo Junction, has been safeguarded however there are no current plans to extend the railway beyond the route currently identified.
This is a Google Map of the Hoo Junction area to the East of Gravesend.
Hoo Junction
Currently, it is occupied by a freight yard. It certainly could be used as the terminus, but it is about ten kilometres East of Ebbsfleet International station.
So could a train on the North Kent Line that runs from the current Crossrail terminus at Abbey Wood to Gravesend, do a detour to Ebbsfleet International?
This Google Map shows the lines in the Ebbsfleet International area.
Lines Around Ebbsfleet
The North Kent Line starts in the top left at Swanscombe station, crosses over the lines into Ebbsfleet International. It then goes through Northfleet station, before going off in a South-Easterly direction to Gravesend.
A connection could surely be built so that after passing Swanscombe station, the trains on the North Kent Line could pass through Ebbsfleet International, rather than through Northfleet station.
An alternative would be to provide a proper connection perhaps using a travelator between Northfleet and Ebbsfleet International stations.
One problem to sort out would be the level of services through Abbey Wood, that continue on to Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend.
Bluewater Shopping Centre By Train
Out of curiosity, and because I needed to go shopping, I went to Bluewater Shopping Centre by train.
It probably wasn’t the best day to go, as there had been a freight train derailment at Charlton and I did have a terrible journey home, with a dreadful change at Waterloo East. Without the train derailment, I would have gone using the DRL to Woolwich Arsenal and then getting a train direct to Greenhithe, but I had to go via the dreaded Charing Cross, which was built in the wrong place for East London. After London Bridge station is complete, that will also be another easy route. One thing that would make trips to Bluewater easier for me, is if it was Freedom Pass territory., which only extends to Dartford two stations away.
Greenhithe is a interesting station, in that it was built in 2008 using a modular system, that has been used elsewhere.
I have included a picture of the excellent bus terminal at Bluewater, which is by the enormous Marks and Spencer.
The shuttle bus is the usual rigmarole of a paper ticket, rather than a siple touch of my bus pass. When will those outside London realise that you do ticketing with a contactless card these days and not the same technology my great-great-grandparents would have recognised from the nineteenth century. The journey is only short as this Google Map shows.
Greenhithe Station And Bluewater
Note that Greenhithe is the more Easterly of the two stations at the top of the map, which are both on the North Kent Line.
I do think that in the future, Greenhithe Station to Bluewater could be one of those places, where a spectacular high-tech people mover could be an attraction in its own right. I estimate the as the crow flies distance at under fifteen hundred metres.
By comparison the Emirates Air Line cable car in London is a kilometre, so this would be a virtually off-the-shelf solution. This Google Map show there is plenty of space around the station.
Greenhithe Station
It probably won’t happen, but I wouldn’t bet against it, especially if Bluewater goes in for a large expansion.
Lunch At Rye
I stopped off at Rye for lunch at the Mermaid Inn, which was a gentle walk up the hill from the railway station.
I had a simple but excellent lunch of grilled plaice, new potatoes and some freshly-cooked broccoli, washed down with half of real cider.
It really isn’t difficult to create a simple gluten-free meal, as the Mermaid showed. In some ways, it’s ironic to get a good gluten-free meal in a town with the name of Rye!
It was just what I needed on a bitterly cold day.
My only problem with Rye was that there weren’t any maps at the station and if it hadn’t been for the map I printed off the Mermaid’s website, it would have been difficult to find.
I shall go back in the sun and explore Rye. I’ll certainly find the Tourist Information and give them a piece of my mind on the lack of information.
To Brighton The Long Way
As it had been a long time, since I’d been to the Rye area in Kent, I decided to go to see Ipswich at Brighton, by taking the long way round via Ashford, Brighton and Lewes.
I arrived at Ashford on the high speed Class 395 from St. Pancras and from there to Rye, I had a very clean Class 171 to myself.
My Personal Class 171
With some of the controversy about the lack of toilets on Crossrail, it is interesting to note that the six car Class 395 has only two toilets, whilst the two car Class 171 has just a single. So it would appear that there isn’t much demand for toilets-on-the-go in Kent.
On a serious note, the journey from Ashford to Rye is on the Marshlink Line, which has recently been looked at for electrification so that high-speed services can come from St. Pancras to Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne via Ashford. It’s reported here in Kent Online.
If you look at the area from Ashford to Eastbourne, it is not one of the most prosperous places in the South East, although it has improved in recent years, so the promoters of the scheme might have a point, when they say an improved train service might give the whole area a lift.
An electrified Marshlink Line connecting Ashford to Ore where the existing third-rails finish could be one of those additions to the rail network, where because it’s there, you get all sorts of unexpected benefits.
The electrification would have to be third rail, which is probably something Network Rail want to avoid. But this would mean that apart from the freight services to Dungeness Power station, all the services along the South Coast could be electric, as third rail running is no problem for the Class 395. The Class 171 would find employment elsewhere.
The case is probably not a strong one, as if it was when the Marshlink Line had problems in Ore Tunnel a couple of years ago, the powers that be, would have taken the opportunity presented by the line closure to electrify it.
What will probably result in the electrification of the Marshlink Line is developments on the diesel-operated Uckfield branch of the Oxted Line. In the discussion of the future of this line on Wikipedia, various scenarios are put forward that could result in the full electrification of this line. If this happens, then electrification of the Marshlink Link would remove the Class 171 trains from Sussex and Kent, which surely would be a saving in train care costs.
According to this report in the Sussex Express, the council is backing electrification of both lines.
Electrifying two rail lines in East Sussex, including Uckfield to Hurst Green, is the best way of improving capacity, reducing journey times and boosting the county’s economy, a council chief said.
East Sussex County Council has designated the electrification and dual tracking of the Uckfield to Hurst Green and Hastings to Ashford lines as its key priorities for improving rail infrastructure and services.
The report also mentions an East Sussex Council Council report entitled Shaping Rail In East Sussex.
I have read this and it is a sensible document, that shows the council is serious about providing a good rail service for the area.
One thing the report mentions is that Thameslink was going to go to Eastbourne, but this has now been dropped. Other reports show that many commuters would like to be in London in seventy minutes instead of the current ninety and they had hoped a direct link via Thameslink would have helped achieve this. I doubt, going from Eastbourne to London via Ashford, would be anywhere near the magic seventy.
After 2018 when Thameslink is fully open, the pressure on railways in East Sussex will inevitably increase. Especially, as it is a county, where a lot of the roads are not an easy alternative.
I do wonder if electrification and dualling of these two lines is going to be one of a host of infrastructure projects announced before May.
Should Crossrail Go To Dartford And Gravesham?
here has been a call this week reported in the Kent News by local council leaders for Crossrail to be extended to Dartford and Gravesham.
Given that there is a garden city planned at Ebbsfleet, on the face of it, this could seem to be a good idea. This map taken from the Garden City web site, shows the layout of the new city.
Ebbsfleet Garden City
Note Ebbsfleet International station in the top right. The map below shows the area from Google Earth.
In addition to Ebbsfleet International, three stations are shown. From west (left) to east, they are Swanscombe, Northfleet and Gravesend on the North Kent Line.
Note how there is a loop on the North Kent line to serve Ebbsfleet.
Rail Lines At Ebbsfleet
I use the Southeastern HighSpeed service to get to places like Rochester, Dover and Broadstairs, generally joining the service at Stratford or St. Pancras. It is a good, fast service with modern Class 395 trains, but often when I travel the trains are run almost for my benefit alone.
I think that a general sorting out of train services in Kent, and particularly the Highspeed service will happen. Consider the following.
1. Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne could be added to the Highspeed network, by electrifying the Marshlink line. These trains will go straight through Ebbsfleet on HS1.
2. There is no easy connection between HS1 and Crossrail, unless you walk between Stratford International and Regional stations. In fact HS1 doesn’t connect easily to lots of places, due to not stopping at Stratford, where the interchange, except to the DLR is dreadful anyway.
3. Rochester, Strood and North Kent generally needs all the help it can get to lift the economy.
The obvious thing to improve things would be to have cross platform interchange between the North Kent Line, Crossrail and HS1, at Ebbsfleet International. Or if that is not possible, due to the design of the current station, they could apply the rules that have been so superbly demonstrated at Reading, Leeds and Derby.
London Connections has an article, where it discusses extending Crossrail to the east in Kent. It says this.
The original proposal was for Crossrail’s south-eastern arm to terminate at Ebbsfleet. Ebbsfleet seemed an obvious choice, but more thorough analysis showed some disadvantages. Curtailing it at Abbey Wood had distinct attractions to the planning team who would naturally would take a risk-adverse attitude to the project.
From an operational point of view, it would eliminate the need for Crossrail trains to run on third rail routes and therefore simplify train construction and add robustness to the plan. It would also leave this route self-contained and not at the mercy of trains on the south-eastern sector, which was already notorious for being vulnerable to problems anywhere on the crowded network affecting the whole service. It also had the added attraction of reducing the cost of a minimal-viable Crossrail project.
So yet again, Southern Railway’s third-rail electrification throws a spanner in the works.
It certainly needs a bit of planning to sort out the problems of the past.
I suspect that engineers, architects and real railwaymen, will sit round a table in a pub somewhere and get the special engineering fag packets and strong coffee out.
They do have some formidable resources at their disposal.
1. The dual-voltage Class 395 trains, which if more were needed could probably be built in the UK.
2. Acres of space at Ebbsfleet International.
3. A new cross-platform interchange between the Kent Lines and Crossrail at Abbey Wood.
4. In a few years time, ERTMS will have arrived to enable trains to go a lot more places on the comprehensive network south of the Thames.
5. Transport for London may well have succeeded in adding the lines to South East London to the London Overground, that they were refused this year. This would have enabled Dartford, Gravesend, Rochester or even Ebbsfleet to be the terminal of an extended New Cross branch of the East London Line.
6. Transport for London has all of the traffic statistics from payment cards, so they just need to analyse rather than speculate.
I have a feeling that there may be a better solution to getting better access to Dartford and Gravesham, than the simplistic one of extending Crossrail.
The UK To Get A Huguenot Heritage Centre
My mother’s family was of Huguenot ancestry, with her father being an engraver of note.
So I was pleased to see an article in The Times saying that a Huguenote Heritage Centre is being set up at The French Hospital in Rochester.
Medway Thinks About A Cable-Car
According to this article, Medway is thinking about it’s own version of the Emirates air-line.
I doubt they’re the only place that’s thinking about it.
Margate’s Roller Coaster
According to news reports, it’s now on English Heritage’s At Risk Register. Read about it in the Telegraph here.
It’s funny, but it’s the only roller coaster I’ve ever been on.
Top Gear Demolish Gravesend
Or at least part of the Kings Farm Estate was given the treatment on tonight’s program.
Search for Kings Farm Estate, Gravesend on Google and it would appear that the estate won’t be missed by the good people of Kent.
A Funeral
As you get older, you always seem to go to more and more funerals. They are changing though. Or at least those in the Church of England are, as I have no experience of a funeral service in another religion.
In some way I first sensed the change when Alex died. I had known her for some years and it was on her recommendation that my late wife went to the oncologist, Professor Davidson. Alex, a confirmed atheist or at least an agnostic, had planed the funeral with the vicar, who happened to be married to her best friend. Despite being a funeral, it was in some ways a joyous occasion, with popular hymns and songs, everybody in colours and the ladies in hats. The vicar even blasphemed from the pulpit.
When my wife died, she gave her body to medical science and we didn’t have a funeral at all at the time. We just had a gathering at the house and those that wanted to said a few words. It worked for us.
Yesterday, I went to Christine’s funeral, who was a cousin of my late wife. Not sure what the relationship is, but she came to my wife’s memorial service in Southwark Cathedral. In fact she sat next to me. So in addition to everything else, she deserved my respect and I felt it was essential that I go.
The funeral service was in Minster Abbey on the Isle of Sheppey. I had actually attended two other funerals there of Christine’s mother and sister.
It is a lovely old parish church, founded in the 660s, that is one of the unknown gems of England. Sheppey is not an island noted for very much, but a trip across the bridge from the M2 is worth it, just to view this church.
The church was packed and it was a good service, with a wonderful speech from her sister. It must help friends and family, when so many people come and I would hate to be a lone mourner at a funeral.
It was followed by a cremation at Bobbing. Crematoria of my past, tend to be soulless and depressing places. But this one, which was opened only a few years ago, had been designed to make the passing of someone dear to you, a better experience. That is if there is one!
I shall remember the chapel with the sunlight streaming through the window, until the day I die.
The Anonymous Widower 