Direct summer trains to Kent coast from Woolwich line return this spring
Southeastern trains running directly from the Greenwich and Woolwich line to various seaside towns in Kent return from this May.
In keeping with last year trains will run on Saturdays via Greenwich owing to another 10-week Blackheath tunnel closure from May 2025.
Services head past Dartford towards Medway then carry on towns such as Whitstable, Herne Bay, Margate then Ramsgate from Saturday 24 May.
On a Saturday two trains run with the first leaving departing Greenwich at 8:30am then another at 9:30am.
Those in east London (or beyond) can head to Abbey Wood via the Elizabeth line for an onward connection with a journey time of 1 hour and 23 minutes to Whitstable, for example.
While HS1 calls at Stratford it’s often more expensive and the Elizabeth line and a change may prove more convenient.
As ever you could also take a train to Medway and change but some value the directness of the direct service from south east London.
Returns times
Return trains on Saturdays leave Ramsgate at 4:46pm and 5:46pm calling at coastal towns before the last direct train of the day arrives in Abbey Wood at 7:37 pm, Woolwich Arsenal 7:42 pm, Charlton 7:48pm and Greenwich 7:55pm.
It does stop at all stops along the line up to Cannon Street and you can find your exact station here.
Whilst after seven days of cloud (at the time of writing) spring and summer may feel some way off it’ll be here before you know it with events on at various towns.
Margate sees a fair bit of live music and gigs these days with a pretty lengthy line up over spring and summer at Dreamland.
Trains on Sundays are not yet uploaded onto online timetables but may appear closer to the time. Weekday journeys normally run over the summer holidays but again are not yet uploaded.
I am just wondering when will the Elizabeth Line plan to Expand from Abbey Wood to Ebbsfleet in the future? 1
It would make sense to expand the Elizabeth Line to Ebbsfleet in the future. A lot of people who live in the area do commute in to London for work.
There was a consultation for a Rapid Bus Network to serve the area including Ebbsfleet a couple of years ago. But like with many expensive consultations nothing materialised and they are put on the back burner so to speak.
Northfleet station isn’t too far from Ebbsfleet International station. And it only takes like 10 minutes walking from Northfleet to Ebbsfleet International.
Jolly good!
I find the direct service particularly useful for the coastbound journey as the connection would otherwise be a bit of a pain. On the return the connection onto the Thameslink is very efficient (or was on last year’s timings), so no bother if it’s not convenient to use the direct service both ways.
Worth mentioning it can be cheaper to split the ticket at Faversham.