Thanet Parkway railway station has been open for one year today (July 31).
The £44million station has two 250 metre platforms and offers services to St Pancras International via Ashford International and mainline connections to London terminals and across Kent and the Medway towns.
The station opened last year, 13 years after the scheme was first conceived. It had come under fire for low passenger numbers and costs which quadrupled from the original £11m estimate.
Initially it was not allocated to have staff, causing county councillors to raise concerns over safety amid Parkway’s isolated location, but Southeastern brought in staff at first on a temporary basis and then, from March this year, full-time.
Railway bosses say that since opening last summer, the number of services per day has nearly doubled. Last summer, the station was served by an hourly highspeed service alongside a limited peak-time Main Line service to and from Charing Cross.
Today, in addition to the highspeed services, an hourly Main Line service runs throughout the week as well as additional weekend services. Customers for destinations such as Canterbury, Ashford and Ramsgate now get two trains every hour.
They add that the number of customers using Thanet Parkway has increased by nearly 40% per month; starting at just over 6,000 per month last summer to an average of 8,500 in recent months.
In total, Thanet Parkway has provided around 91,000 journeys since opening and it is expected the 100,000th customer will use the station in the next month. That milestone was originally expected to be reached by this month.
The growth in passenger usage has also been recorded at neighbouring Ramsgate and Minster stations too, which have seen a 11% increase in customer journeys between 2022/23 and the last 12 months.
David Wornham, Passenger Services Director at Southeastern, said: “We are building a better, more reliable and sustainable railway and it is fantastic to see the number of people travelling to and from Thanet Parkway and neighbouring stations growing every month.
“Rail, particularly an all-electric railway such as ours, is still the most environmentally friendly and most effective way for large numbers of people to visit our fabulous tourist attractions as well as the various education, employment and healthcare opportunities across our network.
“We also know rail investment is a fantastic enabler of further investment and economic growth and we look forward to the infrastructure first approach of building Thanet Parkway continuing to support a growing east Kent.
“Finally, I would like to pay tribute to the partnership of so many people and organisations which have brought us to this point, in particular our Alliance partners Network Rail, Kent County Council & Thanet District Council.”
David Davidson, Network Rail Kent route director, said: “It’s really pleasing to see Thanet Parkway station being so well used in its first year of operation and the number of daily services nearly doubling.
“Thanet Parkway is Kent’s first new station in eight years and is playing a critical role in encouraging as many people as possible to ditch the car and use the train as their preferred method of travelling.
“This station is just one of a growing number of projects that are benefitting our passengers as a result of our strategic alliance with Southeastern. Most recently, we’ve completed accessibility upgrades at Petts Wood, Plumstead and Bexley stations with complementary work completed by Southeastern to further improve the passenger experience.”
Councillor Rick Everitt, Leader of Thanet District Council, said: “Thanet Parkway is a welcome addition to the district’s transport network, providing an alternative to driving into Ramsgate, and having to park in busy residential roads. It has improved rail options for local people and visitors, and most importantly, without an overall increase in journey times.
“The increase in services is particularly good news as it adds more flexibility for users travelling to London and Ramsgate, and provides direct off-peak links from Parkway to various village stations on the route, including Minster.”
The station and associated works were delivered by Network Rail and funded by Kent County Council, Thanet District Council, the former South East Local Enterprise Partnership and the UK Government. The station is managed by Southeastern and all train services are also provided by Southeastern.
The cost to date:
- Get Building Fund £12,874,000
- Local Growth Fund £14,000,000
- Kent County Council £11,585,319
- Thanet council £2,000,000
- New Stations Fund £3,400,000
- Total £43,859,319 (excluding additional level crossing costs and a cost review report)
KCC’s Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport, Neil Baker, said: “This time last year we were welcoming school children as some of the first passengers to use Thanet Parkway, a vibrant new transport hub.
“I am pleased that more and more people are choosing to use it. This is an investment for the future of east Kent, delivering infrastructure first before development.”
Thanet Parkway is part of Network Rail’s Thanet Corridor Enhancements Programme and designed to be an enabler of further economic growth in Thanet and east Kent.
The station, which is one of eight in Thanet, has parking for 293 vehicles, including 16 for Blue Badge holders, as well as 12 charging points for electric vehicles, with a new road providing access to the station from the A299 Hengist Way.
During the construction Network Rail also upgraded Cliffsend and Sevenscore level crossings. At Cliffsend the automatic half barriers were replaced with full barriers with CCTV controlled from East Kent Signalling Centre in Gillingham.
