Medway Valley Line

Medway Valley Line
Railways in Kent
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Kent South East England
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Rolling stock	Class 466 Class 395 Class 465 Class 375
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge

[v · d · e]Medway Valley Line

Legend North Kent Line To London Bridge and other London Termini Strood Docks Original Strood Station, later goods depot Strood line joins North Kent Line at North Kent Jct Rochester Bridge Jct To Chatham Main Line Former alignment to Rochester High Speed 1 Chatham Main Line To Swanley and London Victoria Cuxton Cement works Halling Cement works To quarry Cement works Cement works 2ft 6in line to River Medway Snodland New Hythe Aylesford newsprint Aylesford M20 Swanley to Ashford (via Maidstone East) Line Maidstone Barracks London Road Tunnel, 55 yards (50 m) Maidstone West Lockmeadow Tovil Goods Yard Tovil East Farleigh Teston Crossing Halt Wateringbury Yalding Gravel pit River Medway Beltring & Branbridges Halt Transfesa Depot Paddock Wood SEML Hawkhurst Branch Closed 10 June 1961

The Medway Valley Line is the name given to the railway line linking Strood and the Medway Towns with Maidstone West and onward to Paddock Wood, Tonbridge and London St Pancras International (peak only). The section from Maidstone West to Tonbridge passes through some of Kent's most picturesque countryside along the narrower sections of the River Medway.

History

The line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway (SER). The first stage opened on 25 September 1844 and was a branch off the SER's first main line that crossed Kent between the coast ports of Dover and Folkestone and the LBSCR's main line at Redhill. The junction was at Paddock Wood and followed the Medway Valley up to the county town of Maidstone that had been by passed by the new main line. Twelve years later, on 18 June 1856 the line was extended up the Medway Valley to the North Kent Line at Strood (which had opened in 1847). The SER merged with local rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) on 1 January 1899 to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). Post World War One, the railways were "grouped" and the SECR became part of Southern Railway.

For a brief period in the 1990s some services were extended to Gillingham (Kent) via Rochester and Chatham. This involved reversing trains and switching tracks at Strood.

It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail service on 28 September 2007.

Infrastructure

Track

The line is double track throughout, with a maximum speed of 70 mph.

Stations

The line serves the following stations: Strood, Cuxton, Halling, Snodland, New Hythe, Aylesford, Maidstone Barracks, Maidstone West, East Farleigh, Wateringbury, Yalding, Beltring, Paddock Wood and Tonbridge

Signalling

During 2005, the signalling systems were upgraded, replacing the traditional semaphore signals with colour light signals.

Electrification

The line from Strood to Maidstone West was electrified (at 750 V DC third rail) by the Southern Railway, opening on 2 July 1939. The rest of the line from Paddock Wood to Maidstone West was electrified under Stage 2 of Kent Coast electrification by BR's 1955 Modernisation Plan, opening to traffic on 18 June 1962.

Train services

Class 466 EMU 466 009 at Maidstone West operating on the Medway Valley Line

Services are operated by Southeastern.

Trains typically run a half-hourly service between Strood and Maidstone, and typically hourly through to Paddock Wood. There is no longer an early morning service to London Bridge. Since the December 2009 timetable change, trains continue to Tonbridge rather than terminate at Paddock Wood.

Future services

On 18 March 2011, Southeastern announced the start of a new high speed service from Maidstone to St Pancras International via Strood on a trial basis.

A trial service commenced on 23 May 2011^[1] and comes as a result of changes on the North Kent line to improve punctuality of existing services.

Vince Lucas, service delivery director said, “We’re pleased to be able to introduce this new service from Maidstone West to London. The new service will provide the people of Maidstone with an alternative way of getting into London each morning. It will also help improve the reliability and punctuality of services along the North Kent Line and the Sidcup line into London by reducing the number of trains running through the Rochester area, as experience has shown this is vulnerable to congestion and delays.”

The new service will consist of three departures from Maidstone West in the morning at 06.56, 07.26 and 07.56. The return journeys will depart St Pancras International at 17.14, 17.44 and 18.14. The new services will call at Strood, Gravesend, Stratford International and St Pancras International with journey times of approximately 50 minutes.

There will also be one service in the morning departing St Pancras International at 06.25 to Maidstone West. In the evening there is one service departing at 19.13 from Maidstone West to St Pancras International. Passengers will continue to be able to travel twice an hour from Maidstone West to St Pancras International in 59 minutes changing at Strood.

To introduce this new service, existing services to and from Rochester and Faversham will be diverted. To ensure that Rochester receives the same number of trains, the current Broadstairs services* will call additionally at Rochester. These services will be increased to 12 carriages to accommodate the additional passengers. More information can be found here

Traction and rolling stock

From Monday 3 October, services on this route were strengthened to four carriages until May 2012. This was done by joining two Class 466s together. Also, one of the three allocations is booked as a 465. This includes 465/0/1/2s only though.

465012 sits at Cuxton 4/10/11

From 23 May, Class 395s became regular peak only visitors to the Medway Valley Line, operating a new trial high speed service between Maidstone West and St. Pancras International via Strood.

Class	Image	Type	Cars per set	Top speed		Number	Operator	Notes	Built
				mph	km/h
Class 395 Javelin		EMU	6	140 (HS1) 100 (Mainline)	225 (HS1) 160 (Mainline)	29	Southeastern	Peak time high speed services between Maidstone West and St.Pancras International	2007–2009
Class 375		EMU	4/3	100	160	140 (112 in service)	Southeastern	Used on The Medway Valley Line when 466s not available or in ice/snow	1999–2005
Class 465 Networker		EMU	4	75	121	147	Southeastern	At least one 465 used for services on weekdays	1991–1994
Class 466 Networker		EMU	2	75	121	43	Southeastern	These units are regularly in operation on the line.	1993–1994

References

1. ^ http://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent_business/home/2011/may/23/maidstone_high_speed.aspx

Further reading

• R.V.J.Butt, (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Patrick Stephens Ltd.  ISBN 1 85260 508 1

• John Glover, (2001). Southern Electric. Ian Allan Ltd.  ISBN 0 7110 2807 9

External links

• http://www.kentrail.org.uk/medway_valley_line.htm - Map of the Medway Valley Line (Strood to Paddock Wood)
• http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ - Ordnance Survey website.