The first new railway station in Kent for nearly a decade is celebrating its first birthday today (31st July).
Thanet Parkway, situated between Ramsgate and Minster, provides highspeed services to London St Pancras International in a little over an hour, alongside Main Line services linking neighbouring attractions and destinations with other central London stations.
Since opening last summer, the number of daily services has increased from 51 to 80. 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 popular destinations such as Canterbury, Ashford and Ramsgate now get two trains every hour with many value advance fares available.
Alongside this increase in service provision, the number of customers using Thanet Parkway has increased by nearly 40% per month; starting at just over 6,000 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.
This growth in passenger usage is also seen at neighbouring Ramsgate and Minster stations too, which has seen an 11% increase in customer journeys between 2022/23 and the last 12 months.
All involved in the development, construction and operation of the station expect the number of customers to continue to increase as demand for Southeastern services increases alongside further expected development in the immediate area and the wider east Kent.
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 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 with the number of services per day having nearly doubled since opening last summer.
“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.”
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.”
Cllr 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.”
Thanet Parkway is part of Network Rail’s Thanet Corridor Enhancements Programme and is designed to be an enabler of further economic growth in Thanet and east Kent. The station and associated enabling 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.
Thanet Parkway has two 250-metre platforms that can accommodate spacious 12-car trains, offering highspeed services to St Pancras International via Ashford International in as little as 70 minutes, as well as Main Line connections to London terminals and across Kent and Medway.
It also provides connections to a wide range of leisure destinations enabling customers to visit places such as Canterbury (17 mins), Margate (16 mins), Ashford International (32 mins) and Broadstairs (11 mins).
The station has a huge car park as befitting a parkway station with parking available 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. The station also provides the potential for an integrated transport hub in the future.
There is cycling and pedestrian access to Cliffsend village with both bike racks and bike storage facilities available.
During the construction, to allow trains to call safely at the station, 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.
The station and level crossing works have been jointly funded by the Government’s Department for Transport (DfT), the former South East Local Enterprise Partnership (SELEP), the Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Thanet District Council and Kent County Council.
The investment is part of Network Rail’s Thanet Corridor Enhancements Programme which includes upgrades to Dibleys, Ships Meadow and Grove Ferry crossings to permit line speed increases between Ashford, Canterbury West and Ramsgate.
Station includes:
- Step-free lift access to platforms
- Assisted Boarding Points on both platforms
- Accessible toilet
- Tactile paving for wayfinding
- 11 Passenger Help Points with Hearing Loops for remote assistance
- Waiting shelters and seating
- CCTV for security
- Defibrillator
- Ticket vending machines
