Gillingham railway station (Kent)

Gillingham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Gillingham, Kent. It is 35 miles 75 chains (57.8 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Chatham and Rainham.

Gillingham
Location	Gillingham, Borough of Medway England
Coordinates	51.386569°N 0.549886°E
Grid reference	TQ775683
Managed by	Southeastern
Platforms	3
Other information
Station code	GLM
Classification	DfT category C1
Key dates
July 1858[1]	Opened as New Brompton
May 1886	Renamed New Brompton (Gillingham)
1 Oct 1912	Renamed Gillingham
Passengers
2015/16	2.629 million
Interchange	0.183 million
2016/17	2.731 million
Interchange	0.313 million
2017/18	2.744 million
Interchange	0.308 million
2018/19	2.747 million
Interchange	0.170 million
2019/20	2.515 million
Interchange	0.161 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The station and most trains that call are operated by Southeastern. Following a timetable change on Sunday 20 May 2018, some trains are also operated by Govia Thameslink. It is commonly suffixed as Gillingham (Kent) to distinguish it from the similarly named station in Dorset.

The station first opened in 1858. It currently has three platforms (two for London-bound services and one for country-bound services) and a passenger lift from the station entrance to the platforms.

The station underwent an extensive facelift between 2010 and 2012. This included a new entrance, better pavements, new roof, refurbished waiting rooms, and new cycle storage units.[2]

Services

Medway Towns
North Kent Line & HS1 to London Bridge & St Pancras Chatham Main Line to Victoria & Blackfriars Medway Valley Line to Maidstone West Halling Cuxton Strood Rochester Bridge│Strood (1st) Rochester Bridge Goods station Rochester Common Rochester (2015–) Rochester (1892–2015) Chatham Central River Medway Chatham Gillingham Rainham Chatham Main Line to Faversham, Dover & Ramsgate

London bound services from Gillingham terminate at London Victoria via Rochester, the line through Meopham and Bromley South; London St Pancras via Ebbsfleet International; and Luton via London Blackfriars.

Trains from London Charing Cross used to terminate on platform 1 and either then continue eastbound to Gillingham Rail Depot or then become London bound services to Charing Cross. Platform 1 is now a spare platform due to the introduction of Thameslink services terminating and starting from Rainham, however it can still be used for peak hour services to and from Victoria via Denmark Hill. Through trains from the east run from Platform 2. Trains from platform 3 (far left) usually go to Ramsgate or Dover.

Looking coastbound. The building on the left is a train crew depot.

The May 2018 off-peak service from the station in trains per hour is:[3]

• 2 tph to London St Pancras via Gravesend and Ebbsfleet International (High Speed)
• 1 tph to London St Pancras via Faversham, Ramsgate, Deal, Dover Priory and Ashford International (High Speed)
• 1 tph to Faversham (High Speed)
• 3 tph to London Victoria via Bromley South with 1 tph stopping at Denmark Hill (Main Line)
• 2 tph to Dover Priory via Canterbury East (Main Line)
• 1 tph to Ramsgate via Faversham and Margate (Main Line)
• 2 tph to Luton via Dartford, Greenwich, London Bridge and St Pancras (Main Line)
• 2 tph to Rainham (Main Line)

References

1. Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
2. "Station revamp ahead of 2012 London Olympics". Archived from the original on 2 April 2012. Retrieved 11 August 2011.
3. Table 212 National Rail timetable, May 2016

External links

• Train times and station information for Gillingham railway station (Kent) from National Rail