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North Kent International Travel- Now and Then

Monday 19^th November 2007 saw a new era for railways in North Kent. International travel to Europe direct from the area is now once again possible with the opening of Ebbsfleet International station for Eurostar services to France and Belgium. This has not been available since 1939, when the Gravesend West Street boat train services to Holland via the Batavier shipping line ceased on the outbreak of WWII.  

                                               International travel 2007:14.05 St Pancras – Paris 18 November 2007 

The new line, the first new main line in this country for 100 years, has been a long time in the making. The first construction work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (now known as High Speed 1) started with the commencent of boring of the Channel Tunnel itself in 1986, the final link up between the French and English tunnels coming in Ist December 1990, with the official opening in May 1994 to London. Trains however had to share the existing railway with domestic services between Cheriton, where the Channel Tunnel starts and the purpose constructed terminal at Waterloo opening in 1994.

Originally, the whole high speed route was to be constructed as a single project. However, in 1998 it ran into financial difficulties and with its future looking uncertain the project was split into two separate phases, to be managed by Union Railways (South) and Union Railways (North).

Section 1 of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, the 74 km (46 mile) section of high-speed track from the Channel Tunnel to Fawkham Junction at Longfield, opened in September 2003, giving a partial high speed service on a 25KV AC overhead supply, although the Eurostar trains still shared existing tracks and ran on the 750 V DC 3^rd rail supply between Fawkham Junction and London Waterloo.

With the opening of the 39.5 km (24 mile) Section 2 of the project on 14 November 2007 between Southfleet Junction and London St Pancras, the line is finally complete. Journey times from the new Ebbsfleet station are approximately: Paris in 2h 00mins; Brussels in 1h 37 mins. A far cry from the journey time between Rotterdam and Gravesend West Street by steamship.

In addition to Paris and Brussels, it will now be possible to travel direct to Continental destinations such as Lille, Marne-La Valle  (for Disneyland) and with changes to Avignon and the French Alps.

The route includes a 2.5 km (1.5 mile) tunnel under the Thames and Northfleet peninsula, which emerges at Purfleet where it crosses the M25 on a viaduct, then runs alongside the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway as far as Dagenham, where it enters a 19 km (12 mile) tunnel before emerging over the East Coast Main Line near St Pancras. The tunnel is interrupted by the new Stratford International railway station expected to open in 2010 in time for the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Domestic commuter services linking Ebbsfleet with St Pancras, Ashford, Gravesend and the Medway towns are expected to commence in 2009, using the Hitachi Javelin trains. Govia has been awarded the contract to run the new high speed commuter services from St Pancras making use of the HS1 route. This is the first high speed commuter service this country has seen.

The importance of the HS1 route for the London commuter is mainly for the Kent domestic services. These will run from St. Pancras International, taking 8 minutes to reach Stratford International and 15 minutes total to reach Ebbsfleet, where a massive housing development of 10,000 homes is planned in the old Blue Circle Eastern Quarry, to be known as Kent Thames side. This is effectively a new town and will have a major impact on the quality of life in the area.

After Ebbsfleet, trains will either run onto the existing Medway lines via Springhead Junction at Northfleet and onto the North Kent Line, or they will continue to Ashford on the HS1 and then travel via existing lines to their final destinations. Domestic commuter services to Kent will not begin operating until December 2009. Travel times and frequencies  from St Pancras are expected to be;

Journey times for passengers travelling from Ramsgate and East Kent through the Medway towns and Thames Gateway to the centre of London are expected to reduce by up to 35 minutes.

In 2012 Govia will provide the flagship 'Olympic Javelin' rail service that helped London secure the Olympic Games, linking St Pancras and Stratford in less than 8 minutes, Ebbsfleet being some 14 minutes away.

High Speed One Route (With acknowledgements to Wikpedia)

0 London St Pancras Thameslink 2000 tunnels East Coast Main Line London west tunnel 7.5 km Temple Mills Eurostar Depot  9 km Stratford International Temple Mills Line 10 km London east tunnel 10 km 21 km Ripple Lane freight connection Rainham viaduct 0.5 km 27 km Aveley viaduct 1 km 30 km Thurrock viaduct 1.2 km 32 km River Thames tunnel 2.5 km 37 km Ebbsfleet International North Kent Line Section 1 - Section 2 boundary 39 km Fawkham Junction link line Chatham Main Line for London Waterloo 50 km Medway Viaduct over Medway 1.2 km 54 km North Downs Tunnel 3.2 km 88 km Ashford cut and cover tunnel 1.5 km South Eastern Main Line 89 km 90 km Ashford International Ashford flyover, 91 km Marshlink Line,  South Eastern Main Line South Eastern Main Line 106 km Dollands Moor Freight terminal M20 108 km CTRL/Euro tunnel boundary Cheriton Shuttle Terminal  109 km Channel Tunnel

Now lets have a look at the 19/20th Century option

           Batavier Line poster from 1916                                       International travel 1938: Boat train at Gravesend West

       The 19th century expansion of the railway network in Kent , and to Gravesend in particular started in 1845 with the purchase of the Medway Canal Companies' single track line through the Higham -Strood canal tunnel by the South Eastern railway.  It wasn’t long before other railway companies cast their eyes upon the potential traffic in Gravesend, and the next on the scene was the London, Tilbury and Southend railway with its commencement of a cross Thames ferry service in 1854.

The main rival to the South Eastern railway arrived in the late 1850’s in the form of the London , Chatham and Dover railway, and it was from a junction with their line at Fawkham that the Gravesend Railway (later known as the West Street branch) commenced. Work started on 30^th June 1883 with the cutting of the 1^st sod at the Gravesend , Stuart Road terminus known as Gravesend West Street . The new line was opened on 10 May 1886 with a short extension to the new West Street pier built as part of the scheme.

The line continued as a cross country route, picking up useful business from both rural and local manufacturing concerns as well as providing a direct link passenger service to London , and also providing connections to the Rosherville gardens via dedicated station. Opportunities for the leisured traveller to travel from Victoria   to Southend, Walton-on-the Naze, Clacton and Yarmouth by sea were provided from West Street pier via the Belle Steamers pleasure steamers. This tradition carried on into the 1960’s with the General Steam Navigation vessels use of the pier for their pleasure steamers such as the “Royal Daffodil” “Royal Sovereign” and “Queen of The Channel” providing similar destinations plus routes to France and the Kent Coast .

Gravesend West Street ’s career in international travel started surprisingly enough at the height of the 1^st World War in 1916, with the starting of daily sailings to and from Rotterdam provided by the Dutch shipping company, the Batavier Line. A boat train service was run from London Victoria with limited intermediate stops . Prior to 1923, a slip coach portion for Swanley was provided. The route was originally run by the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij company until 1920 when it went into liquidation and the ships then sailed under the Müller banner, when the Rotterdam - London (Gravesend) service was known as the Batavier Line named after the ships who sailed on this route. 

The cards below top left shows the sisters Batavier II & III of 1897 as built. A space was left for the passenger to append the number of the ship, II in this case.

 The other three cards show the 1897 sisters Batavier II & III as rebuilt in 1909/10 (the card back being a reverse of the card above it).

                                          Batavier Line Ships plying the Gravesend - Rotterdam route.

The service was favoured by those who wished to travel discreetly, such as the British Diplomatic Service and members of the Dutch Royal family. Ships ceased to use Gravesend West Street pier at the outbreak of World war II in 1939 and the subsequent German occupation of Holland. The service did return post-war, but used the facilities at Tilbury rather than Gravesend . 

For a more photos of the Batavier Line ships, try this fascinating site dealing with shipping  postcards Batavier line@ simplon

The Gravesend West Street branch continued carrying passengers until August 1953, with freight finally succumbing to Gravesend in March 1968. That hasn't been the end of the line though; for a  period in the 1970's a coal concentration depot was opened at Southfleet for the supply of coal to the then new cement works at Northfleet. Coal was brought in by train and transhipped by road to the works for firing of the rotating kilns. However the line lives on in part, as the track bed  where H & R Class tanks once trundled their humble way is now part of the HS1 link line to Fawkham Junction.