Strood railway station

Strood
The station in June 2011
Location
Place	Strood
Local authority	Borough of Medway
Coordinates	51°23′48″N 0°30′02″E / 51.3968°N 0.5005°E / 51.3968; 0.5005Coordinates: 51°23′48″N 0°30′02″E / 51.3968°N 0.5005°E / 51.3968; 0.5005
Grid reference	TQ740693
Operations
Station code	SOO
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*
2009/10	0.885 million
2010/11	1.057 million
2011/12	1.108 million
– Interchange	0.401 million
2012/13	1.109 million
– Interchange	0.430 million
2013/14	1.099 million
– Interchange	0.423 million
History
Original company	South Eastern Railway
Pre-grouping	South Eastern and Chatham Railway
Post-grouping	Southern Railway
18 June 1856 (1856-06-18)	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Strood from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Strood Railway Station serves the town of Strood in Medway, England. It is on the North Kent Line and is a terminus for the Medway Valley Line. Train services are operated by Southeastern.

History

Strood railway station in 1909, note several details; The old SER terminus is where the sidings are to the right of the station. Also note the two lines over the Medway.

Medway Towns
Legend 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

The South Eastern Railway (SER) had reached Strood in 1845 as the terminus of the line from Gravesend.^[1] In 1856, this line was linked to the existing Maidstone branch from Paddock Wood,^[2] which had opened in 1844.^[1] The new line left the line from Gravesend between Strood Tunnel and the original Strood terminus; a new Strood station was provided on the Maidstone line, and it opened with the line on 18 June 1856.^[2][3]

The station became a junction with the opening of the first section of the East Kent Railway (EKR) between Strood and Chatham on 29 March 1858.^[4] The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (which the EKR had become in 1859) soon opened their own route from Rochester towards London, the first portion as far as Bickley opening on 3 December 1860.^[5] The curve connecting the LCDR line with Strood station fell into disuse (apart from one goods train in each direction per day), but passenger services over this line were reintroduced in early 1877 at the insistence of the Mayor of Chatham. The Mayor's name was Toomer, and the line then became known as the "Toomer Loop".^[6]

Although Strood station was the property of the SER, the Toomer Loop, together with the stations at Rochester and Chatham, was LCDR property. A second junction at Strood was bought into use on 20 July 1891, when the first section of the Rochester & Chatham Extension was opened, by which SER trains reached their own stations at Rochester and, from 1 March 1892, Chatham.^[7] This line was to the north-east of, and largely ran parallel to, the LCDR line; it had its own bridge over the Medway. On 1 January 1899 the SER and LCDR entered into a working union which traded as the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SE&CR) and set about eliminating duplicated facilities.^[8] In 1911, a connecting line was put in between the SER and LCDR on the south-eastern side of the SER's Rochester Bridge; this allowed trains from Strood to reach the LCDR stations at Rochester and Chatham from October 1911.^[9] In 1927 (after the SER & LCDR had merged with other railways to form the Southern Railway), another connecting line was put in between the former SER and LCDR routes on the north-eastern side of the SER's Rochester Bridge; this enabled the LCDR's bridge to be taken out of use.^[10]

Southeastern introduced a full timetable of domestic high-speed services branded Southeastern Highspeed over High Speed 1 between London St Pancras and Ashford International on 13 December 2009, although public preview services had been running since 29 June 2009. High-speed trains use High Speed 1 calling at Stratford International and Ebbsfleet International. Trains from London to the Medway towns and Faversham leave the high-speed line at Ebbsfleet and continue via the North Kent line through Gravesend, Strood, Rochester. A limited peak hour service now also operates between St Pancras and Maidstone West via Ebbsfleet and Strood.^[11]

At the same time there was the largest change to the timetable in the area in 40 years in order to accommodate the extra trains. To use the train service over the High Speed 1 section of line generally requires payment of a surcharge.^[11]

Facilities

Strood station (lower centre) from the north-east. The train at centre left is on the viaduct carrying the Chatham Main Line. The train centre right is on the Medway Valley Line. Upper background are the viaducts carrying the M2 motorway and behind that the High Speed 1 rail line. The photo was taken before the bridge between platforms was built; from this viewpoint the bridge would be at the far end of the platforms.

The station has three platforms; Platform 1 is directly accessible from the station building. Platforms 2 and 3 are on an island platform. The entrance, ticket office and ticket barriers adjoin Platform 1, with a tunnel from that platform leading to the island. In 2014, a new bridge with lifts was built at the southern end of the station to replace the tunnel and provide wheelchair access to the island platform. As of summer 2015 both the bridge and tunnel are open.

Platforms 2 and 1 mainly handle traffic to and from London respectively, with Maidstone West and Paddock Wood services terminating at and returning from Platform 3.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is:^[12]

• 2tph to London St Pancras via Gravesend and Ebbsfleet International
• 2tph to London Charing Cross via Dartford and Blackheath
• 2tph to Gillingham (Kent)
• 2tph to Faversham, of which 1tph is extended to Margate, Ramsgate, Deal and Dover Priory, Ebbsfleet International and London St Pancras
• 2tph to Maidstone West, of which 1tph is extended to Paddock Wood and Tonbridge.

Special peak hours service

• 4tpd to Maidstone West and St Pancras via Gravesend.^[13]

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Higham		Southeastern North Kent Line		Rochester
Gravesend		Southeastern High Speed 1		Rochester or Snodland (peak only)
Terminus		Southeastern Medway Valley Line		Cuxton
	Disused railways
Higham Line and station open		South Eastern Railway Chatham Extension		Rochester Common Line and station closed

References

1. 1 2 Dendy Marshall, C.F.; Kidner, R.W. (1963) [1937]. History of the Southern Railway (2nd ed.). Shepperton: Ian Allan. p. 287. ISBN 0-7110-0059-X. 
2. 1 2 Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 296
3. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 223. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508. 
4. ↑ Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 326
5. ↑ Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 327
6. ↑ Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 340
7. ↑ Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 313
8. ↑ Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 355
9. ↑ Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 360
10. ↑ Dendy Marshall & Kidner 1963, p. 406
11. 1 2 UK Tra.in wiki Licensed CC-BY-SA
12. ↑ Table 208 & 212 National Rail timetable, May 2016
13. ↑ "High-speed trains start from Maidstone". Kent Messenger Group. Retrieved 23 May 2011. 

External links

Media related to Strood railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• Train times and station information for Strood railway station from National Rail
• Old photograph of Strood station from Medway Archives and Local Studies Centre website