Ebbsfleet International railway station is in
Ebbsfleet Valley
Ebbsfleet Valley, located in Kent, South East England, southwest of Gravesend, is a new town and redevelopment area within the Thames Gateway regeneration initiative. It is part of the broader Ebbsfleet Garden City project, which encompasses the ...
,
Kent
Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...
, east of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
, England, near
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...
and the
Bluewater Shopping Centre to the west and
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
to the east. The station, part of the
Thames Gateway urban regeneration
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
project, is on the
High Speed 1
High Speed 1 (HS1), officially the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), is a high-speed railway linking London with the Channel Tunnel.
It is part of the line carrying international passenger traffic between the United Kingdom and mainland Euro ...
(HS1) rail line, south-west of
Northfleet railway station, off the
A2 trunk road, from its junction with the
M25 motorway
The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major ring road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 th ...
. It served as a primary park-and-rail service for the London 2012 Olympics.
Ebbsfleet International is owned by HS1 Ltd, which operates the High Speed 1 railway and
St Pancras railway station
St Pancras railway station (), officially known since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a major central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is the terminus for Eurostar services from Belgium, F ...
,
Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International and
Ashford International.
Name
The name Ebbsfleet dates from the seventeenth-century. The station is partly inspired by the name of
Ebbsfleet in Thanet, to the east.
History
As part of the development of the
Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) in the early 1990s, four potential station sites along the route were considered, with two in east London (
Stratford and
Rainham) and two in Kent (Nashenden on the outskirts of
Rochester, and
Ebbsfleet located southwest of
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
).
By August 1994, Ebbsfleet had been chosen over Nashenden, given its less remote location. The station would serve both international and domestic trains, allow
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, Rail transport, r ...
from nearby
M2 and
M25 motorways and stimulate development in the
Thames Gateway. The station was approved as part of the
Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996.
Similar in design to , the station was designed by architect Mark Fisher, working under
Alastair Lansley – the chief architect on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link project. Fisher described the station as "a big, generous light-filled bridge of steel and glass crossing the tracks and spanning the box". Internal finishings of the station were designed by
Jestico + Whiles.
Construction began on Phase 2 of the CTRL project in 2002.
Construction was completed by September 2006.
Opening
The £180m station opened to Eurostar passengers on 19 November 2007, five days after the rest of HS1.
This was because the security and ticketing equipment had to be transferred from and reinstalled at the station. The first daily service was the 05:38 service to Paris, arriving at its destination 132 minutes later.
Serving the
Thames Gateway, the station had an initial service of seven weekday trains to Paris and five to Brussels.
A 2,500-space car park was provided.
A formal opening ceremony in the presence of Dame
Kelly Holmes
Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British Middle-distance running, middle distance Track and field, athlete and television personality.
Holmes specialised in the 800 metres, 800 and 1500 metres events and won gold medals for ...
took place on 29 January 2008.
Residents of
Ashford complained that the service at was downgraded to compensate for the stop at Ebbsfleet and that it made more sense for them now to use
Eurotunnel Shuttle services.
Naming
"Ebbsfleet International Station" was the name originally proposed for the station, but "Dartford International Station" was later proposed at the urging of
Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...
, who felt that
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...
was a name with greater national recognition. Opposition to Eurostar's ‘Dartford International’ proposal came from
Gravesham Borough Council, whose administrative centre at
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
is just two miles () away (even though Ebbsfleet International is in the borough of Dartford and therefore outside Gravesham council's authority);
Southfleet Parish Council; and
Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council, both in the Borough of Dartford.
The similarity of its name to that of
Dartford railway station, away, was also of concern.
Javelin
The Olympic Javelin
[
] or Javelin was a
high-speed train shuttle service operated by Southeastern over High Speed 1 during the
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
and
Paralympics. The service ran for the duration of both games, between
St Pancras International station and this station, via
Stratford International station, which is close to the
Olympic Park.
[
] During the Summer Olympics a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the usual East Kent highspeed service. Two of these were extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet was increased to twelve per hour.
Eurostar suspension
In September 2020, Eurostar announced that due to the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
and subsequent collapse in ticket revenue (down by 90%), both Ebbsfleet and Ashford International stations would not be served by Eurostar services until at least 2022.
In September 2021, Eurostar confirmed that services would not resume until 2023, despite complaints by local politicians that this was "bad for Kent".
Eurostar stated that it would resume services when commercially sensible to do so, as it would initially "focus on destinations where demand is highest".
A further update in August 2022 confirmed that Eurostar might not resume serving the station (along with
Ashford) until at least 2025.
Layout
On High Speed 1 there are avoiding lines in each direction and four platforms, two serving international Eurostar services and two the Southeastern High-speed services. Southeastern services travelling between London and the
North Kent Line
The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...
use a junction to the north of the station and are served by another pair of platforms that curve away to the east.
Ticket barriers control access to all platforms.
A partially built and disused concrete overbridge can be seen to the south of the station. This is believed to have been put in place in preparation for the Ebbsfleet Garden City housing development project; however, it was never needed.
Access and facilities
This station has
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
signage, both in
French and
English. It is one of the relatively few stations in England to have
bilingual
Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...
signage, others being
Wallsend
Wallsend () is a town in North Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne.
History Roman Wallsend
In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of ...
(Latin),
Southall (
Punjabi),
Hereford
Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...
(Welsh),
Whitechapel
Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...
(Bengali),
St Pancras and
Ashford International (French).
Parking
The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) Act allows a total of 9,000 car parking spaces to be constructed, with an initial 6,000 built. The car parks are in a number of areas around the station - north of the North Kent Line, between the North Kent Line and High Speed 1, south of the High Speed 1 and south west of the station building.
Buses and coaches
The station is served by
Fastrack buses operated by
Go Ahead London, which connect it to
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...
,
Bluewater,
Greenhithe,
Swanscombe and
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
. Despite being in close proximity to the station, Northfleet has no bus connection to the station.
Taxis
There is a taxi rank directly outside the station entrance/exit. Car rental services for both leisure and business are located in the concourse. The interchange facilities lie at either end of the main
station box
A station box is a term in the construction industry: It describes a box-like underground structure for a transportation system, for example a metro or tube station.
Station boxes are built in two methods – "top-down" or "bottom-up". In the "bot ...
- taxis, buses and set down at the northern end (to also serve the NKL platforms) and coaches to the south of the station box.
It was formerly planned that
Crossrail
Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...
would terminate at a separate station between
Northfleet
Northfleet is a town in the borough of Gravesham in Kent, England. It is located immediately west of Gravesend, and on the border with the Borough of Dartford. Northfleet has its own railway station on the North Kent Line, just east of Ebbsf ...
and
Ebbsfleet International but under the current plan,
Abbey Wood
Abbey Wood is an List of areas of London, area in southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and bordering the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 ...
further west will be the eastern terminus. However, a
Crossrail
Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...
extension from
Abbey Wood
Abbey Wood is an List of areas of London, area in southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and bordering the London Borough of Bexley. It is located east of Charing Cross. According to the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 ...
to
Gravesend
Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
(
Hoo Junction) remains safeguarded.
Pedestrian access
Northfleet railway station is approximately to the north-east, although the walking distance between the two stations is significantly longer, approximately if roadside footpaths are followed. There is a shorter walking route (approximately ) through the car park to the north of Ebbsfleet station, but there are no footpaths provided and this way is obstructed by the car park access barriers. There are no specific pedestrian or cycle route signs for Ebbsfleet station on any of the possible routes between the stations. Gravesham Council acknowledges that the existing provision is inadequate, although it is a complex planning issue to resolve as whilst Northfleet is in Gravesham, Ebbsfleet station is just over the border in the
Borough of Dartford
The Borough of Dartford is a local government district with borough status in the north-west of the county of Kent, England. It is named after its main town of Dartford, where the council is based. Other notable settlements include Greenhithe ...
, and there are many other stakeholders involved.
Services
Domestic services
Service history
On 29 June 2009, Southeastern started a weekday preview service between and
Ebbsfleet International, extending to during peak hours. On 7 September the service was enhanced by a few services to
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...
via or
Dover
Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...
. A regular service began on 13 December 2009.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour was:
[
]
* 4 tph to
London St Pancras International
* 2 tph to
* 1 tph to via
* 1 tph to
Additional trains, in peak hours only, serve , via the Medway towns, and .
Current services
All domestic services at Ebbsfleet International are operated by
Southeastern using
EMUs.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
* 4 tph to
London St Pancras International
* 2 tph to via of which 1 continues to
* 1 tph to Ramsgate via
* 1 tph to via
Additional services, including two daily return services between London St Pancras International and call at the station during the peak hours.
International services
Since the opening of Ebbsfleet station in 2007, Eurostar has transferred a number of trips from Ashford to the newer station. Ashford International has a wider variety of destinations such as Calais, Lille, Brussels, Disneyland Paris, the French Alps, Paris, Lyon, Avignon and Marseille, but with fewer services to them. In contrast, Ebbsfleet International has services to only the core destinations (Paris, Brussels and Lille) and the Disneyland Paris service, but with much more frequent services.
Eurostar services are not used for non-international journeys, as the infrastructure and train design is not suitable for national travel, and there is no feasible reason to do so. Since the station's opening, Eurostar has withheld passenger usage statistics for international services, citing commercial confidentiality.
As of May 2019, the typical
Eurostar
Eurostar is an international high-speed rail service in Western Europe, connecting Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The service is operated by the Eurostar Group which was formed from the merger of Eurostar, ...
services was:
* 6 trains per day to
Paris Gare du Nord
* 6 trains per day to
Brussels-South, via
Lille Europe (some via Ashford International)
* 4 trains per week to
Marne-la-Vallée–Chessy (
Disneyland Paris
Disneyland Paris is an entertainment resort in Marne-la-Vallée, France, located about east of Paris. It encompasses two theme parks, seven Disney-owned hotels, two convention centers, a golf course, an arena, and a shopping, dining and entert ...
) via Ashford International and Lille Europe.
Eurostar services have been suspended since 31 March 2020. As of August 2022, Eurostar intends to resume service in 2025 at the earliest.
Gallery
File:Ebbsfleet3709.JPG, Departures
File:Ebbsfleet3716.JPG, The track towards the Medway Viaduct.
File:Ebbsfleet3726.JPG, Details of the track, looking west, showing descending link from the North Kent Line
The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...
.
File:Ebbsfleet3734.JPG, Showing the North Kent link line with a 12 car unit on the North Kent Line
The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...
approaching the junction.
Notes
References
External links
Ebbsfleet International stationAlways touch out project details
BBC picture gallery*
ttps://web.archive.org/web/20070531025220/http://www.ebbsfleetgateway.com/ Ebbsfleet GatewayHS1 Javelin Trains
{{TSGN and SE Stations, High Speed=y, FCC None=y, SN None=y
Railway stations in Kent
Transport in the Borough of Dartford
DfT Category B stations
Railway stations opened by Network Rail
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2007
Railway stations served by Southeastern
Railway stations in Great Britain served by Eurostar
UK railway stations with juxtaposed controls