Thanet Parkway Station – 31st July 2023
Thanet Parkway station opened yesterday, so I went to have a look.
I took these pictures.
Note.
- I arrived in a twelve-car Class 395 train and the platforms handled it with ease.
- Both platforms are served by steep stairs and a lift.
- There seems to be 293 car parking spaces and 16 accessible spaces according to the National Rail information page.
- The only worthwhile architectural feature is the use of the existing tunnel to cross under the tracks.
But this station seems to be defined more by what it doesn’t have.
- No cafe or pub within walking distance.
- No convenience store to pick up a few supplies on the way home.
- No chargers for electric vehicles.
- No toilets.
- No staff.
It is a rather underwhelming station.
I have some further thoughts.
Last Train Home
In the early years of this century, C and myself would often spend a day in London, shopping, watching a show and probably having a meal.
- We generally used to drive up from Suffolk and would park near King’s Cross.
- Although, sometimes we would take the train from Whittlesford Parkway station to the South of Cambridge.
So out of curiosity, I looked at the last train to Thanet Parkway yesterday.
It had these times.
- St. Pancras International – 22:37
- Stratford International – 22:44
- Thanet Parkway – 23:50
- Ramsgate – 23:57
- Broadstairs – 00:02
- Margate – 00:07
It could enable long days out or late working in London.
Not Enough Trains
I believe that one train per hour (tph) is not a frequent enough service to London for this station.
Other nearby stations have the following HighSpeed services to St. Pancras International.
- Ramsgate – 3 tph
- Broadstairs – 2 tph
- Margate – 2 tph
In addition, these three stations get a 1 tph stopping service to Victoria.
Perhaps there could be a Thanet Loop service from St. Pancras International.
- It would run via Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Gravesend, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Rainham, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Whitstable, Herne Bay, Birchington-on-Sea, Margate, Broadstairs. Ramsgate, Thanet Parkway, Canterbury West, Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International and Stratford International.
- It would also run both ways at a frequency of 1 tph.
- I estimate that a train to go round the loop would take three hours and thirteen minutes.
This would probably mean fourteen trains would be needed to run the service.
I don’t think they probably have enough.
The Construction Of The New Thanet Parkway Station Is Substantially Complete And It Will Open To Passengers On 31 July 2023
The title of this post, is the same as that of this page on the Network Rail web site.
The opening date is the most important information, but the rest of the page is worth a read, as it gives details of the work, that is still to do.
Much concerns sorting out the kevel crossings.
Extending The Elizabeth Line – Connection To Southeastern High Speed One Services
The Two Stratford Stations
In this post, Stratford station is the station handling Greater Anglia and London Overground, Underground and Docklands Light Railway services, with Stratford International station handles High Speed services.
The Elizabeth Line And The Great Western Railway Services
One of the most important stations on the Elizabeth Line is Paddington, where it connects to the London terminus of the Great Western Railway.
I would expect that quite a few passengers going to the West and Wales on the Great Western Railway, will be transported to Paddington by the Elizabeth Line.
The Elizabeth Line And Greater Anglia Services
Another of the important stations on the Elizabeth Line is Liverpool Street, where the station is the London terminus of the Greater Anglia.
I would expect that quite a few passengers going to East Anglia on the Greater Anglia, will be transported to Liverpool Street by the Elizabeth Line.
Southeastern High Speed One Services
Southeastern runs some High Speed services on High Speed One to provide Kent with an improved service to London.
Current services are
- London St Pancras International to Ramsgate via Faversham.
- London St Pancras International to Ramsgate via Dover Priory.
- London St Pancras International to Margate via Canterbury West.
Note
- All trains are one train per hour (tph).
- All trains stop at Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International.
- All trains are run by 140 mph Class 395 trains.
There has also been talk of running a fourth service to Hastings and Eastbourne via Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International.
St. Pancras Station
All of these trains terminate in three platforms; 11 to 13 at St. Pancras International station.
St. Pancras is not the ideal terminal for the Southeastern High Speed services.
- St. Pancras is not on the Elizabeth Line.
- St.Pancras doesn’t have good connections to Heathrow.
- All connections to the Underground are a long walk.
- Eurostar services are a longer walk.
- East Midland services are also a longer route, with stairs and escalators for good measure.
St. Pancras station was designed by a committee, as a museum to Victorian architecture, rather than as a working station.
Ebbsfleet International Station Must Be The Largest Parkway Station In The UK
It holds nearly five thousand cars and it is served by Southeastern High Speed Services.
Thanet Parkway Station Will Open This Year
Thanet Parkway station is under construction.
- It will have nearly three hundred parking spaces.
- It will be served by Southeastern High Speed Services.
- It should open in May 2023.
This station will need a good connection to London.
Could An Interchange Between The Elizabeth Line And Southeastern High Speed Services Be Provided At Stratford?
Such an alternative interchange would be popular with passengers.
- The Elizabeth Line from Stratford currently serves the West End, the Northern section of the City of London, East London, Liverpool Street, Paddington and the West End directly.
- The Elizabeth Line from Stratford currently serves Canary Wharf, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Euston, Heathrow, King’s Cross. Reading, St. Pancras and Victoria with a change at Whitechapel.
- The Central Line, which shares platforms with the Elizabeth Line serves Bank and the West End directly.
- The Overground is easily accessed for travel across North London to Richmond.
- The Jubilee Line is easily accessed for travel to London Bridge, Waterloo and Westminster.
It would be connected to two large parkway stations and lots of parking all over Kent.
I believe that Stratford must be promoted as an alternative terminus for Southeastern High Speed Services.
Today, I walked both ways between two Stratford stations.
These pictures show the route I took between Stratford and Stratford International stations, through the Eastfield Shopping Centre.
Note.
- I went through the Shopping Centre.
- I passed Marks & Spencer’s large food hall, excellent toilets and a Food Court.
- By the Food Court is an exit that leads to an entrance to Stratford International station.
- The walk took about 10 minutes.
- It was vaguely level.
- Lifts by-passed the escalators.
- One thing that makes the journey to London easier, is to travel in the Eastern end of the train, as the lifts and escalators at Stratford International station, are at that end.
It does need some better signage, but they were doing a bit of refurbishment, so that may already be underway.
It could be a very high quality interchange and it is already better than St. Pancras.
Coming back I took the longer route outside the Shopping Centre.
Note.
- I just turned left out of the entrance, walked along the road and turned right past the bus station.
- If the weather had been colder or wetter, I’d have gone back via the Shopping Centre.
- The walk took about 12 minutes.
I think normally, I’d go back through the Shopping Centre, as there’s a Marks and Spencer Food Hall on the route and it’s slightly quicker and often warmer.
Could Stratford Station Be A London Superhub Station?
When you consider the stations connected to Stratford in London, East Anglia and Kent, it has an excellent collection.
- Airports – Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Southend and Stansted
- Cities – Cambridge, Canterbury, Chelmsford, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich and Southend-on-Sea
- London Main and Terminal Stations – Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Clapham Junction, Euston, Farringdon, King’s Cross, London Bridge, Liverpool Street, Marylebone, Moorgate, Paddington, Victoria and Waterloo
- Major Areas – Canary Wharf, City of London, Hampstead, Olympic Park and West End
- Ports – Dover, Felixstowe, Folkestone and Harwich
You can even get a train to Slough, with a change at Whitechapel.
I would think it already is a London Superhub Station.
Birth Of A Station
Thanet Parkway station is under construction and should be opened in May next year.
Work is progressing as this Google Map shows.
Note.
- The A299 goes across the top of the map.
- The Ashford – Canterbury – Ramsgate Line runs diagonally from South-West to North-East across the map.
- Ashford and Canterbury are to the South-West.
- Ramsgate is to the North-East.
The new Thanet Parkway station appears to be being built on the triangular site between the A299 and the railway.
- There appear to be two entrances/exits to the station from the A299.
- The pedestrian bridge over the railway is under construction.
- The roads and walkways around the station are being laid.
This video gives more details of the station.
Parking At Thanet Parkway
According to the video, there are nearly three hundred parking spaces, with a number of disabled spaces and spaces with charging for electric cars.
Is that going to be enough spaces?
But at least, there may be fields around the station, that could be used to provide additional parking.
Richborough Energy Park
This Google Map shows the area around the station and to the South towards Richborough.
Note.
- The under-construction Thanet Parkway station is in the North-East corner of this map to the West of the village of Cliffsend.
- The dual-carriageway of the A256 runs North-South down the map to a roundabout.
- To the West of the roundabout is Richborough Energy Park.
This Google Map shows the are round the energy park and the roundabout in more detail.
Note.
- The Richborough substation in the South-West corner of the map.
- The Richborough Energy Park sits to the East of the substation.
- The solar panels to the North of the roundabout are the 4.9 MW Ebbsfleet Solar Farm, which is part of Richborough Energy Park.
Richborough Energy Park is an ongoing project.
The national grid interconnector from the original power station is still in place, and is now the grid link for the 300 MW offshore Thanet Wind Farm.
It is the terminal for the NemoLink interconnector to Belgium.
Wikipedia says this about future plans.
The current owner of the site, BFL Management Ltd, plan to bring the site back into use as a £750 million green energy park. There are additional plans to create additional recycling and green energy facilities on site, including an anaerobic digester, a waste processing plant, a biomass combined heat and power generator, a pyrolysis plant and a peak demand 30MW diesel generator. When fully operational, the park could provide up to 1,400MW of power, employing 100 full-time equivalent, with up to 500 jobs in the construction phase.
I am surprised, that there is no mention of batteries or energy storage.
This press release from Network Rail is entitled Charge While You Travel With New Electric Vehicle Charging Points At Network Rail Stations.
This the body of the press release
Rail passengers with electric vehicles will be able to charge while they travel thanks to the introduction of 450 new electric vehicle charging points at Network Rail-managed car parks at railway stations.
The charging points, powered by guaranteed renewable energy, provide enough power to fully charge a vehicle in as little as 3-4 hours.
In this phase, Network Rail has powered: 160 charging points in Reading, 111 in Manchester, 84 in Edinburgh, 56 at Leeds and 41 in Welwyn Garden City.
Electric vehicle charging points will be installed across 10% of car parking spaces (approximately 779 spaces) at car parks managed by Network Rail by March 2024.
Rail is already the leading form of green public transport and this marks another milestone in Network Rail’s commitment to a low-emission railway – making sure rail is environmentally-friendly, resilient to climate change and able to provide an excellent service for years to come.
The new Compleo charging points are marked with green parking bays and passengers can pay for what they need quickly and easily via the APCOA Connect app.
Note, that there is no mention, if these are vehicle-to grid (V2G) chargers.
In Airport Plans World’s Biggest Car Parks For 50,000 Cars, I stated my belief that car parks, with hundreds or even thousands of vehicles could be turned into giant grid batteries.
- All electric vehicles, when they are parked would be plugged in to V2G chargers.
- The vehicle and the grid, would know your expected return time and how much power you would need. Probably from a parking app, assisted by AI!
- If the grid borrowed your electricity, whilst you were away, you wouldn’t know, until you received the payment for the loan.
- If your car runs on hydrogen, the parking could also handle the battery, that all hydrogen-powered vehicles have.
Thanet Parkway station would be an ideal station for such a parking system for electric vehicles.
Kent On The Cusp Of Change – Thanet Parkway Station
The Kent On The Cusp Of Change article in the July 2017 Edition of Modern Railways talks of the Thanet Parkway station.
The article says this about the station.
Thanet Parkway, a new station on the East side of Ramsgate, is one infrastructure investment that is steaming ahead. Due to open in 2020, the aim is that the new station will be launched with a reduced journey time from Thanet to London.
Currently, the fastest services between London and Ramsgate take seventy-five minutes.
As Ramsgate station, gets three Highspeed trains per hour to London, I could envisage a very passenger-friendly service of four trains per hour between St. Pancras and Thanet Parkway.
The only section of line between Thanet Parkway and London, that is not high speed line, would be the section East of Ashford station.
I wonder what times to Canterbury, Thanet Parkway, Ramsgate and Margate could be achieved if this section were to be improved.
I suspect somewhere between sixty and seventy minutes between St. Pancras and Thanet Parkway is possible.
Conclusion
Thanet Parkway seems to be a well-planned new station, as many new stations seem to be.
See Also
These are related posts.
- Abbey Wood Station
- Ashford Spurs
- Crossrail
- Elimination Of Slow Trains
- Fawkham Junction Link
- Highspeed Routes
- High Speed To Hastings
- Historic Routes
- Longfield Station
- Maidstone
- Reading To Tonbridge
- Thameslink
- Track Improvements
- Ultimate Class 395 Train
- Victoria As A Highspeed Terminal
To know more read Kent On The Cusp Of Change in the July 2017 Edition of Modern Railways.
The Anonymous Widower 