At last, Thanet Parkway railway station opened this morning. At a cost of at least £45 million and riding – the final bills aren’t in. We now have another railway station in Thanet, number eight, but this is a railway station with a twist.
As more and more people understand the climate crisis, here we have a brand spanking new railway that you can only get to if you drive. Unbelievable isn’t it ? And although there’s a nice new bike rack – there’s no cycle path. In fact the only path at the station is into Cliffsend.
Also this station is unstaffed meaning if you need a hand for any reason at all, help could be a very long way away. You’ll have to hang on and wait even if it’s an emergency. And oh, go before you go! It doesn’t have toilets.
Apart from looking very austere. It’s certainly one of the least welcoming railway stations I’ve ever visited.
It’s interesting that even Kent County Council are now saying that this is a mistake. Once they realised that the proposed housing estate destined for the Manston site wasn’t going to happen the folly of this giant spend was self evident.
I repeatedly called for the efficacy of this project to be looked at. I first spoke out about it in the council chamber in 2017 shortly after being elected, where I queried the journey time to London, which the glossy brochure said was faster. I pointed out they were quoting a time from sandwich to Stratford .
The truth is if I use this station to travel to London, by the time I’ve left my home, got in my vehicle, driven to Parkway and parked and then got on a train journey, door to office or door to theatre it’s actually going to take me longer! Not only this the cost of car parking at the station means it’s actually more costly.
On the platform today, I felt very unsafe. I simply can’t imagine using this station at any time of the day let alone at night where I fear I would feel very isolated. This is a muggers paradise.
I failed to see what we’ve gained from this monstrous, dangerous white elephant.
Yet again, the ruling Conservative Kent county council has let us down with its lazy short sighted decision making. They lacked the bravery to do the right thing, especially after Covid when commuting changed forever. They needed to look at this decision and put the brakes on it. They didn’t.
