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Rochester railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the town of Rochester, Kent. It is 33 miles 61 chains (54.3 km) down the line from London Victoria and is situated between Sole Street and Chatham.
The station and most trains that call are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink, including a handful of peak services to and from Bedford operated by the latter.
In December 2015 a new station on Corporation Street opened 500 metres to the west of the original station which it replaced. It is now closer to the town centre and its historic buildings.
The first station opened as part of the East Kent Railway in 1892. It was set back some distance from the High Street to the east of the busy junction at Star Hill, and access to the platforms was via tunnels from the ticket office.
On 16 January 2014 Gallagher Ltd cast the reinforced concrete base slab for a new subway for the station. A little over a year later, on 26 January 2015, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin was given a tour of the site, and was quoted as saying, "Rochester’s new station will be a big improvement for this historic town. It will benefit commuters and visitors thanks to longer trains and more seats for passengers.". According to the billboards adjoining the station site, the 900-tonne concrete subway was to be the first part of the project to be completed; this was scheduled took place over Easter 2015. Office of Rail Regulation confirmation of the closure of the old station were exhibited at Charing Cross station and elsewhere in October 2015.
Platform 1 serves trains towards Strood, Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International, Dartford, Meopham, Bromley South into London.
Platform 2 serves trains towards Gillingham, Faversham, Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury East, Dover Priory, and Ashford International via Sandwich and Deal.
Platform 3 has now opened up at a through platform, service trains towards Gillingham, Faversham, Ashford International and the Kent Coast. Trains can also terminate here before heading back towards London. As the through line runs all the way through Platform 4 of the old Rochester station, it can be used to hold long freight services to allow passenger services to pass, removing a bottleneck.
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