R A I LT R AC K - The Railways Archive

Route characteristics
DESCRIPTION This route comprises a high-density commuter railway and
much lower-density rural services in Kent.
The route consists of three separate lines to Dartford, where they merge
and continue to Rochester where the Swanley–Ramsgate Line is joined. The
route includes branch lines from Lewisham–Hayes, Strood–Paddock Wood,
Sittingbourne–Sheerness and Faversham–Dover. Linespeed is 60mph as far as
Dartford, then 70mph to Strood, 60mph to Newington and 90mph to
Route vision
Our vision for the route is to build on the current capacity by providing more
seats on peak services into London with a 12-vehicle train suburban network and
by improving journey times, possibly by 2003. This will be aided by the Dartford
resignalling scheme currently under way and by the Thameslink 2000 project.
Connex is assessing the provision of additional seats through lengthening existing
trains. Off peak, it is Connex’s aspiration to move to a Connex Metro concept of
four trains per hour and over time to increase the range of through-journey
opportunities.
Route development and customer requirements
Working with customers, we will improve charter punctuality by two percentage
points over the next two years. This improvement, which will vary across service
groups, will typically result in 16% fewer trains arriving at their destinations more
than five minutes late.
Connex and the Franchising Director have aspirations for journey-time
reductions on a number of sections of route, both through practical linespeed
increases, and by taking advantage of the superior acceleration and braking of
new rolling stock. Route clearance work for Connex’s new 375 fleet has begun,
and the operating areas of the 365, 465 and 466 fleets will be extended.
On the Medway Valley Line (Strood–Paddock Wood) we are working
with Kent County Council and the Medway Unitary Authority to improve
transport facilities.
These are the route improvements we plan to deliver
Ramsgate. The route is two track throughout with the exception of a short
single-track section on the Sheerness branch.
The route primarily ser ves the passenger mar ket, but has important freight
flows to terminals at Thamesport (Grain) and Sheerness.
All passenger lines are electrified. The south-east London area of the route
operates close to capacity.
Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) Section I will impact on the Fawkham Junction to
Swanley section of this route, for which the signalling will be enhanced to enabl e
the Eurostar service to successfully integrate with the domestic services. The
t i m e t a ble in 2003 will provide the opportunity to optimise use of the capacity by
all services, reduce journey times, and move to 12-vehicle suburban services. We
will also investigate capacity enhancement through the Medway towns in advance
of Section 2 of the CTRL.
Discussions are taking place to develop Greenhithe Station as an alternative
transport route to the Bluewater retail development. Options include the
provision of interchange facilities and a dedicated bus link.
The route will continue to play an important part in delive ring a rail freight
s e rvice to North Kent. Both Thamesport and Sheerness freight terminals are
expected to continue to grow and rail will play an increasingly important role in that
g r owth. Va rious aggregate depots around the route are expected to be serve d .
At Holborough we are carrying out a feasibility study on behalf of Blue
Circle to reconnect the cement works site to the network.
We believe that latent demand exists in North Kent for a new rail-freight
terminal for which Northfleet is one of the options under consideration.
CAPACITY CHANGES TO MEET FRANCHISING DIRECTOR, PTE AND CUSTOMER REQUIREMENTS AND DELIVER ROUTE VISION
LOCATION PROPOSED SOLUTION YEAR REF
London–Ramsgate and Dover Route clearance for Class 375 1999
Charlton Enhanced station facilities for Millennium Dome access 1999
Woolwich Arsenal–Falconwood–New Eltham–Strood Resignalling scheme and track layout changes to facilitate 12-vehicle operation 2001
Hoo Junction Relocation of crossover, to allow easier access to freight yard 2001
Holborough New freight connection 2002
Swanley–Fawkham Junction Track and signalling enhancements in conjunction with CTRL Section 1 2003
Rochester–Gillingham Capacity enhancement 2007
Swanley–Ramsgate Linespeed improvements Study complete by 2000
Charing Cross–Gillingham by all routes via Dartford Infrastructure enhancement to enable 12-vehicle operation Study complete by 2000
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G
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D
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