Daily trains to the Kent Coast directly from Greenwich line now running over summer
Southeastern’s summer Kent coast trains heading directly along the Greenwich and Woolwich line are now running.
They call at most Kent coastal resort in the north of the county including Margate, Broadstairs, Whitstable and Herne Bay before terminating in Ramsgate.
While the Blackheath tunnel sees a 10-week closure, trains are running directly from stations between Deptford and Charlton but from 11th August services will revert to running from Lewisham and Blackheath as seen last year.
For some years direct summer trains always ran via Greenwich while a direct return trip was on offer too but it appears those are gone.
Services are operated by Networker trains which lack air conditioning so that’s something to bear in mind.
Position yourself in the right seat and a breeze is possible as they reach 75mph but it’s not really a substitute for air conditioning.
For that it’s best to take Thameslink to Medway then change to Southeaster’s long-distance stock.
In terms of timing, the direct morning service departs Woolwich Arsenal at 9:58am and sees an arrival at Whitstable around one hour and 40 minutes later.
Margate is more 1:50 hrs. I may be wrong but that seems slower than previous years.
Overall I suppose in these times of cuts it’s surprising it runs at all, but services in the mornings have unfortunately reduced from a couple to one and there’s no direct return train.
There’s much to do in Margate and nearby towns aside from the beach of course with music events and the Turner gallery to visit. Info on what’s on across Thanet can be found here.
Perhaps Southeastern should inherit the last remaining Class 707 “707024” and “707030” that would make the total of 30 Class 707 City Beam trains on Southeastern metro services. With the Class 376 to continue working alongside with the Class 707.
You obviously do know that Class 376 that are used on Southeastern metro services do not have toilets. And they can’t be used on long distances including to Ramsgate and Margate. Same with the Class 707 City Beam that 28 of them have been transferred from South Western Railway.
And the other two Class 707s “707024” and “707030” are expected to be with Southeastern in Autumn. As of when the rest of the Class 701 Arterios have enter service on the rest of the SWR suburban services that are replacing the Class 455.