Rochester's New Station

all pictures and report by Colin Price

The new railway station at Rochester - much closer to the centre of the city - opened on 13th December 2015. The old station remains pro-tem making the city, for a short while, a "Tale of Two Stations". Well it seems appropriate to get in a Dickensian reference, even if distorted! Colin Price visited on the 13th January 2016 to see how things have come along. You may care to compare this with pictures from Rochester in our Kent Coast Infrastructure report from March 2015.

(above) To commence, this picture was actually taken on 22nd October 2015 to show the distance between the two stations. 395029 is calling at the old Rochester station with the 09:25 St Pancras - St Pancras, and the new station is taking shape behind.

(below) The spacious and light entrance to the new Rochester station, quite a contrast to the old station.

(above) Looking approximately south from the new station showing the proximity of Rochester Cathedral and Castle, the heart of the city.

(below) The old signal box at Rochester, still in use at present. It was originally scheduled for demolition after Easter 2015 when the line was due to be resignalled. It stands in the way of what will be the down loop, which the new station is having to do without at the moment. 375815 trailing 375820 is departing towards Chatham brings with the 12:37 Victoria - Ramsgate.

(above) Looking towards Rochester Bridge Junction (i.e. east towards London), part of the down loop will be brought into use after Easter 2016 when the resignalling is now scheduled to go ahead. So for several months it will be a bay platform facing towards London.

(below) Signals at the west end of the station waiting to be commissioned over Easter 2016. On the right a new car park being constructed, which when finished should provide an interesting vantage point of this end of the station.

(above) 375617 approaching with 12:20 Dover Priory - Victoria. Visible to the left of the gantry support is the ramp end of the up platform at the old station, again showing the proximity of the two stations.

(below) 395005 arriving with 13:26 Faversham - St Pancras past the new signal at the end of the down platform waiting to be commissioned, and the temporary hoarding behind which the down loop platform will be finished during the spring and summer of 2016.

It is believed that the canopies on the old platforms have already been taken down, and over the weekend of 30th & 31st January there will be some significant demolition work to the old station. When resignalling and construction work are complete both the down main and down loop will be fully reversible, and all three platforms are 12 car length as opposed to the old platforms which were 10 car length.