Travelling with kids, beach towels, buckets, spades, inflatables, a picnic and having to change trains can be tricky – which is why Southeastern is helping customers in south east London get straight to the seaside over the school holidays.
Extra weekday trains leave London Victoria at 09:22 each day, calling at selected south east London stations and on to the coast, with a choice of trains returning to London on the way home.
Additional trains also leave London Cannon Street at the weekend, with direct return journeys at the end of the day.
Southeastern’s station manager for Margate, Edward Goddard, said:
“With so many fantastic beaches and seaside destinations on our doorstep we’re pleased once again to have been able to add extra trains over the summer holidays to help our customers get to the coast.
“It means many people won’t have to change trains but can hop on a train from a station close to them, sit back and looked forward to being the first to see the sea!
“What’s more, travelling by train is a lot less stressful than driving, with no traffic jams on the busy coastal roads and no searching for parking spaces – which means it’s better for the environment too.”
The extra departure will run on weekdays during school holidays, from 24 July until 1 September. Leaving Victoria at 09:22, it will call at Lewisham, Blackheath, Charlton, Woolwich Arsenal, Plumstead, Abbey Wood, Slade Green, Dartford, Greenhithe for Bluewater, Gravesend, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham, Faversham and onto the coast, Whitstable, Herne Bay, Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate.
Southeastern has also added more seaside trains at weekends from Victoria running every half an hour until Friday 1 September, as well as extra trains from Cannon Street and London Bridge at weekends – including in the return direction.
Customers travelling from London St Pancras will be on the beach in super quick time thanks to Southeastern’s high speed service.
As well as these additional services, customers travelling to Margate will be able to benefit from the newly-refurbished café, work on which enabled long-hidden heritage features to be rediscovered.
The work was carried out with the assistance of the Railway Heritage Trust and Network Rail, both of which contributed significant funding to uncover and restore this space to its original splendour.
