Extending The Elizabeth Line – Linking To The Chatham Main Line
Preamble
I believe that everybody in the South East of England needs the best access possible to the Elizabeth Line, by train from where they live.
- The Elizabeth Line serves the important places like Brick Lane, Canary Wharf, the City of London, Heathrow Airport, Liverpool Street station, the Olympic Park, Oxford Street and Paddington station directly.
- Because of its connection to Thameslink, the Elizabeth Line also serves important places like Bedford, Brighton, Cambridge, Gatwick Airport, Luton Airport and Tate Modern with a single change at Farringdon station.
- Using the Elizabeth Line, Thameslink and perhaps a bus, it is possible to get to most important places in Central London.
- The more passengers that use the Elizabeth Line and Thameslink, the more London’s businesses will thrive creating employment and tax revenues.
- It should also be remembered, that using a train to visit central London, probably cuts your carbon footprint.
- The Elizabeth Line also cost a fortune, so perhaps by using it, you will be getting some of your portion of what it cost you back.
This post is one of several, where I discuss how to bring more passengers into the Elizabeth Line network.
The Chatham Main Line
This is the introduction to the Wikipedia entry for the Chatham Main Line.
The Chatham Main Line is a railway line in England that links London Victoria and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway (of which the town of Chatham is part, hence the name).
Services to Cannon Street follow the route as far as St Mary Cray Junction where they diverge onto the South Eastern Main Line near Chislehurst.
Thameslink services to Luton run in parallel from Rainham to Rochester, diverging once across the River Medway at Rochester Bridge Junction onto the North Kent Line via Gravesend and Dartford.
A shuttle service operates on the Sheerness Line which starts at Sittingbourne.
Note.
- The main London terminals for trains to London on the Chatham Main Line are Cannon Street (Peak only), St. Pancras and Victoria.
- Services stop at Rainham station, so passengers can change to the two trains per hour (tph) Thameslink service to Luton.
- St. Pancras has one tph from Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Sittingbourne and Faversham stations.
- Victoria has two tph from Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Sittingbourne and Faversham stations.
- Rochester, Gillingham, Rainham and Faversham can turnback trains to London.
The only connections to the Elizabeth Line are.
- The HighSpeed service to St. Pancras calls at Stratford International, where the connection is tortuous.
- The Thameslink service calls at Farringdon, where the connection is easy.
As an example say you were going from Chatham to Heathrow Terminal 4.
The National Rail timetable suggests this route.
- Southeastern HighSpeed – Chatham to St. Pancras
- Thameslink – St. Pancras to Farringdon
- Elizabeth Line – Farringdon to Heathrow
Note that the change at St. Pancras is not the easiest.
Extending The Elizabeth Line To The Chatham Main Line
In Elizabeth Line To Ebbsfleet Extension Could Cost £3.2 Billion, I talk about this proposal as described in this article on Ian Visits.
One of the key features of Crossrail To Ebbsfleet (C2E) project is that instead of all trains terminating at Abbey Wood, trains will terminate as follows.
- Abbey Wood – 4 tph
- Northfleet – 4 tph
- Gravesend – 4 tph
This will mean that 8 tph would pass through Abbey Wood station.
Gravesend is not the best place to turn trains, so why not turn two tph at somewhere like Rochester, Gillingham, Rainham or Faversham?
If two tph to Rainham is good enough for Thameslink, surely two tph to Faversham could be good enough?
Extending The Elizabeth Line To A New Hoo Station
In Effort To Contain Costs For Hoo Reopening, I discussed opening the new Hoo station.
Consider.
- Hoo junction to Hoo station is no more than five or six miles.
- Aventras have been designed to run on battery power, so I suspect Lizzie’s Class 345 trains could be so fitted.
- Range would be sufficient for one return trip from Hoo junction to Hoo station
- Two tph at Hoo station could be handled by a single platform.
It looks to me, that of the four tph to Gravesend if C2E is built, two tph could go to both of Hoo and Faversham.
This assumes of course that digital signalling can fit all the trains on the North Kent Line between Abbey Wood and Faversham.
Chatham And London Main Line Stations
In these routes, I am assuming that there are two tph on the Lizzie Line between Faversham and Heathrow.
- Chatham and Cannon Street – Lizzie Line to Whitechapel and then District Line
- Chatham and Charing Cross – Lizzie Line to Whitechapel and then District Line
- Chatham and Euston – Lizzie Line to Whitechapel and then Hammersmith & City Line
- Chatham and Farringdon – Lizzie Line direct – Thameslink direct
- Chatham and Fenchurch Street – Lizzie Line to Whitechapel and then District Line
- Chatham and Liverpool Street – Lizzie Line direct
- Chatham and Marylebone – Lizzie Line to Paddington and then Bakerloo Line
- Chatham and Paddington – Lizzie Line direct
- Chatham and Kings Cross – Thameslink direct – Lizzie Line to Whitechapel and then Hammersmith & City Line
- Chatham and St. Pancras – Thameslink direct – Southeastern HighSpeed direct
- Chatham and Victoria – Southeastern direct – Lizzie Line to Whitechapel and then District Line
- Chatham and Waterloo – Lizzie Line to Paddington and then Bakerloo Line
Note how Whitechapel is an important interchange, as I said in Whitechapel Station Is The Preferred Interchange.
Conclusion
I do believe that the Elizabeth Line could be successfully extended to Kent.
London To Rainham And Back On Thameslink
Today was the first Monday of a new timetable and I took a trip to Rainham (Kent) station from London Bridge on the new Thameslink service,, before returning to Abbey Wood station.
Note.
- I took a picture at each station as we went out to Rainham.
- There is a lot of housing and commercial development going on by Dartford and Rochester stations.
- Thameslink are scheduled to run trains between Luton and Rainham (Kent) stations every thirty minutes.
- There were two Class 345 trains at Abbey Wood station.
- I went in a Class 700 train with eight-cars.
There was the odd cancelled train on the route, but what surprised me on the return journey, was that my train passed four Class 700 trains going in the other direction.
I must assume, that Thameslink were training more drivers for the route.
The Service I Took
The Thameslink service between Luton and Rainham, that I took from London Bridge to Rainham is a replacement for the Southeastern service between Charing Cross and Gillingham.
- Both services use the same route between London Bridge and Gillingham.
- Both services stop everywhere between London Bridge and Gillingham.
- Both services are well-connected to other services at Abbey Wood (Crossrail), Woolwich Arsenal (DLR), Greenwich (DLR) and London Bridge (Northern and Jubilee).
- The previous Southeastern service took 66 minutes between London Bridge and Gillingham,
- The current Thameslink service is timetabled to take 82 minutes.
- The Thameslink service takes over forty minutes to turn round at Rainham.
Given that the Thameslink Class 700 trains are 100 mph trains and the previous Class 465 trains are only 75 mph trains, I find it extraordinary that faster and more modern trains are delivering a slower service.
Complaints
There have been complaints about the new timetable, so I asked a couple of station staff, what they felt about the new Thameslink service from Luton to Rainham.
They seemed in favour and added, these points about the service.
- It would help with getting the service out of trouble, when there were delays East of Rainham.
- It gives a direct connection to Dartford.
- The extra capacity will help.
The service to Rainham will surely act as a collector service for those changing to Crossrail at Abbey Wood.
Rainham to Bond Street with a change at Abbey Wood, should be under an hour and a half.
Thameslink To Rainham
Modern Railways in August 2016, said that Thameslink would be running a two trains per hour (tph) service between Luton and Rainham via Greenwich and Dartford.
GTR’s Proposals
This document on their web site gives these outline proposals for Kent Thameslink services.
This is the opening paragraph.
Proposed new all-day Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday Thameslink service on the North Kent line via Greenwich, Dartford and Medway Towns.
They describe it in more detail later.
New cross-London journey opportunities providing multiple connectivity opportunities will be created between Luton – St Albans City – West Hampstead Thameslink – Central London (via London Bridge) – Greenwich – Abbey Wood – Dartford – Rochester – Rainham. This new route will provide multiple new connections with the new east to west Elizabeth Line (formally Crossrail) at Abbey Wood. The route can also be operated by 8 or 12 car trains.
I will now add a few comments.
The Eastern Terminal
In Rainham (Kent) Station, I took a look at the proposed terminal.
- Rainham station is Thameslink-ready with a bay platform 0 of sufficient length for a twelve-car Class 700 train.
- Rainham station can probably handle the two trains per hour (tph) from Luton without undue fuss.
- Rainham as a terminal means the string of important stations in the Medway towns, which includes Gravesend, Strood, Rochester, Chatham and Gillingham, could all be served by Thameslink.
- The only other station beyond Gravesend with a bay platform is Rochester.
- Terminating at Rainham doesn’t increase the train frequency over the busy level crossing.
- Terminating at Rainham gives 5 tph from Gravesend to Rainham and 7 tph between Rochester and Rainham, which creates a high-capacity frequent route through the Medway Towns.
It would appear to be the sort of choice, that is difficult to fault.
Should The Thameslink Service Stop At More Stations?
Coming back from Rainham today, I took a Highspeed service to Gravesend, from where I caught a Gillingham to Charing Cross service that was following a few minutes behind.
As there are several stopping services on the line, perhaps stopping at a few important stations will be sufficient.
- Greenhithe for the shopping at Bluewater.
- Dartford for all the connectivity.
- Abbey Wood for Crossrail.
- Greenwich for the culture and the Docklands Light Railway.
Stopping patterns could be altered to fit traffic patterns, passengers requirements and new property developments
Eight-Or Twelve-Car Trains
It would all depend on the traffic, but there doesn’t seem to be any reason why either train size can’t be used between Luton and Rainham.
Related Posts
A Design Crime – Ebbsfleet International Station
Between Abbey Wood And Belvedere Stations
Connecting North Kent And The Medway Towns To Ebbsfleet International Station
Extending Crossrail To Gravesend
What Do You Do With A Problem Like Sheppey?
Rainham (Kent) Station
There are two stations with the same name and this Rainham station is the one in Kent, which is to the East of Gillingham on the Chatham Main Line.
It is a busy station, which has these typical off-peak services.
- 2 trains per hour (tph) to London St Pancras via Chatham and Ebbsfleet International
- 3 tph to London Victoria via Chatham and Bromley South (1ph calling at Denmark Hill)
- 1 tph to Sittingbourne and Faversham only
- 2 tph to Dover Priory via Canterbury East
- 2 tph to Ramsgate via Margate
Adding them up gives 5 tph in both directions, with a choice of Highspeed or traditional services to and from two London termini.
The station has benefited from the East Kent Resignalling Project. This is said in Wikipedia.
Rainham has a new bay platform off the up-line, which can accommodate a 12-car train, labelled Platform 0. It is now being used as a Terminus for a couple of evening rush hour trains.
It would appear to be an extra platform, that has been fitted well into the layout of the station.
If Thameslink does run a service from Rainham to Luton from 2018, the platform would have no difficulty turning the two trains per hour.
This will give a 2 tph service to three London termini; London Bridge, Blackfriars and St. Pancras on its way to Luton.
The level crossing at the station, probably limits the number of trains through Rainham station, despite the fact that some may be timed to pass in the station, which reduces the number of times it closes to road traffic.
So using the bay platform 0 for Thameslink, increases the frequency to the West of the station to 7 tph, but leaves that through the crossing at 5 tph.
It seems to be a sensible way to increase train frequencies without choking road traffic too much.
I very much like the thinking behind the design.
Related Posts
A Design Crime – Ebbsfleet International Station
Between Abbey Wood And Belvedere Stations
Connecting North Kent And The Medway Towns To Ebbsfleet International Station
Extending Crossrail To Gravesend
What Do You Do With A Problem Like Sheppey?
The Anonymous Widower 