Medway Valley Line

Medway Valley Line
Railways in Kent
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Kent South East England
Termini	Strood Paddock Wood (Services Continue to Tonbridge)
Operation
Opened	1856
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Southeastern
Rolling stock	Class 395 Class 375/3 Class 375/6/7/8/9 (Occasional) Class 465 (Rare) Class 466 (Rare)
Technical
Line length	21 Miles 19ch
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Operating speed	70 Mph

Medway Valley Line
Legend
North Kent Line to London Bridge and other London Termini Strood Docks Strood( original station later goods depot ) Strood line joins North Kent Line at North Kent Junction Rochester Bridge Junction to Chatham Main Line former alignment to Rochester Chatham Main Line to Swanley and London Victoria High Speed 1 Cuxton Cement works Halling File:BSicon exlBSTf.svg   Cement works File:BSicon exlBSTg.svg to quarry x20px Cement works Cement works 2-foot line to River Medway Snodland New Hythe Aylesford newsprint Aylesford M20 motorway Lafarge Aggregates sidings x20px Swanley to Ashford Line via Maidstone East Maidstone Barracks London Road Tunnel ( 55 yd  50 m  ) Maidstone West Lockmeadow Tovil Goods Yard Tovil East Farleigh Teston Crossing Halt Wateringbury Yalding Gravel pit River Medway Beltring Transfesa Depot South Eastern Main Line x20px Hawkhurst Branch closed 10 June 1961 x20px Paddock Wood South Eastern Main Line

The Medway Valley Line is the name given to the railway line linking Strood and the Medway Towns with Maidstone West and onward to Paddock Wood, Tonbridge and London St Pancras International (peak only). The section from Maidstone West to Tonbridge passes through some of Kent's most picturesque countryside along the narrower sections of the River Medway.

History

The line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway (SER). The first stage opened on 24 September 1844 and was a branch off the SER's first main line that crossed Kent between the coast ports of Dover and Folkestone and the LBSCR's main line at Redhill. According to a contemporary report in The Times newspaper, the opening of the branch line was an attempt to convey hops and fruit traffic back to Maidstone, which was losing trade to various points along the Dover line. The junction was at Paddock Wood and followed the Medway Valley down to the county town of Maidstone that had been by-passed by the new main line. Twelve years later, on 18 June 1856 the extension of the line further down the Medway Valley was opened, to join the North Kent Line at Strood (which had opened in 1847). The extension was built by the railway contractor Edward Betts, who lived locally at Preston Hall and through whose estate the line partially passed. Betts arranged for his local station at Aylesford to be built in a much grander style than the other country stations along the line.

The SER merged with local rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) on 1 January 1899 to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR). Post World War One, the railways were "grouped" and the SECR became part of Southern Railway.

For a brief period in the 1990s some services were extended to Gillingham (Kent) via Rochester and Chatham. This involved reversing trains and switching tracks at Strood.

It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community rail service on 28 September 2007.

Infrastructure

Track

The line is double track throughout, with a maximum speed of 70 mph, except between Paddock Wood and Tonbridge where the maximum speed is 100 mph.

Stations

The line serves the following stations: Strood, Cuxton, Halling, Snodland, New Hythe, Aylesford, Maidstone Barracks, Maidstone West, East Farleigh, Wateringbury, Yalding, Beltring, Paddock Wood and Tonbridge

Signalling

During 2005, the signalling systems were upgraded, replacing the traditional semaphore signals with colour light signals.

Electrification

The line from Strood to Maidstone West was electrified (at 750 V DC third rail) by the Southern Railway, opening on 2 July 1939. The rest of the line from Paddock Wood to Maidstone West was electrified under Stage 2 of Kent Coast electrification by BR's 1955 Modernisation Plan, opening to traffic on 18 June 1962.

Train services

File:375302 Maidstone West 19 may 2012.jpg

Class 375/3 EMU 375302 at Maidstone West operating on the Medway Valley Line

Services are operated by Southeastern.

Trains typically run a half-hourly service between Strood and Maidstone, with one train per hour carrying on through to Paddock Wood. There is no longer an early morning service to London Bridge. Since the December 2009 timetable change, some trains continue on to Tonbridge rather than terminate at Paddock Wood.

High Speed introduction

On 18 March 2011, Southeastern announced the start of a new high speed service from Maidstone to St Pancras International via Strood on a trial basis. During the morning rush hour, there are 3 trains from Maidstone West to St Pancras International, and 1 train heading in the opposite direction. In the evening rush hour, the service is reversed (3 trains to Maidstone West, and 1 train to St Pancras International).

A trial service commenced on 23 May 2011 and comes as a result of changes on the North Kent line to improve punctuality of existing services. This service has since been made permanent.

Traction and rolling stock

The Main Rolling stock used on the line is Class 375/3 Electrostars but the other variants of Class 375 may occasionally appear. Prior to the May 2012 Timetable changes Class 466 or Class 465 Networkers were used, these units still appear on the line when a 375 unit fails or is unavailable.

From 23 May 2011, Class 395s became regular peak only visitors to the Medway Valley Line, operating a peak high speed service between Maidstone West and St. Pancras International via Strood.

Class	Image	Type	Cars per set	Top speed		Number	Operator	Notes	Built
				mph	km/h
Class 395 Javelin		EMU	6	140 (HS1) 100 (Mainline)	225 (HS1) 160 (Mainline)	29	Southeastern	Peak time high speed services between Maidstone West and St.Pancras International	2007–2009
Class 375	200px		3 or 4	100	160	140		All services usually operated by 375/3s but 375/6/7/8/9s may occasionally appear.	1999–2005

Further reading

• ISBN 1-85260-508-1

• ISBN 0-7110-2807-9

External links

• http://www.kentrail.org.uk/medway_valley_line.htm – Map of the Medway Valley Line (Strood to Paddock Wood)
• http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/ – Ordnance Survey website.