Direct daily trains from Woolwich line to Margate, Whitstable and Kent resorts back again
Daily morning trains from the Woolwich line are set to begin again next week offering a direct service to the Kent coast from the Woolwich line.
There’s changes this year as the train will leave from Victoria and heads via Lewisham rather than from London Bridge via Greenwich.
That means that only stations from Charlton can enjoy the direct rain past Dartford and Medway onto coastal resorts.
There’s no service from Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill and Westcombe Park for the first time in many years.
For many a direct may not be a big deal (after all, a change in Medway does the job) but for those of us with children or those mobility impaired a direct train without a change can be a massive help and makes the journey a bit smoother and easier.
The daily direct morning train leaves Victoria from next Monday each weekday over the summer holidays at 09:22 and arriving at Woolwich Arsenal at 09:56 and Abbey Wood at 10:02.
That also makes an Elizabeth line change at Abbey Wood to Kent possible for those in east London.
A schedule for the service can be seen on the excellent RealTimeTrains website here, though it doesn’t show stops at Woolwich Dockyard nor Belvedere and Erith. Though the Southeastern timetable (which isn’t the best) says it does.
Southeastern have been contacted for comment. Even a potentially good bit of PR here for Southeastern turns into confusion and apart from me, it appears no one else nor the company bother advertising this route each summer.
Why aren’t they putting lots of posters up and broadcasting it on social media?
After leaving Dartford the train heads to Whitstable, Herne Bay (site of the first Wetherspoons I ever went into fact fans) before going to Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate.
To be honest, I should be paid for this free advertising for Southeastern every year despite their lack of effort!
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Perhaps they have since updated the timetable, but it’s now not showing stops at Woolwich Dockyard, Belvedere or Erith.
It’s diabolical that they don’t publicize this service. It’s almost like they don’t want anyone to use it!
Who knows? Something that always made me laugh was that private companies were supposed to be better at marketing and rail privatisation would unleash that.
They’ve rarely ever advertised and that is long before it came under direct DfT control. And yet many people are interested. Posts on it always get a lot of interest.
Thank you so much. Great information
Great info. Any idea how you get back without changing?
Best option is same-platform change to Thameslink at Rochester
May just ride this for two novelty’s, a direct train from Victoria to the Woolwich line and the semi fast pattern, makes a change from the boring all stops everywhere Thameslink & Cannon Street trains that plague the line now
Great information there. One minor point… Are you sure you haven’t misread the SouthEastern timetable? I just checked it and it shows the morning Ramsgate service not stopping at Woolwich Dockyard, Belvedere or Erith – consistent with Real Time Trains. Confusingly, the return service in the evening does stop at those stations and goes to Cannon Street via Greenwich, instead of Victoria.
I think it’s recently changed. I had a screenshot somewhere I believe of the earlier timetable let me see if I can find it.