Gravesend Central
 

In 2006, the Department for Transport (DfT) launched the ‘’Access for All’’ programme, which aimed to provide step-free access at over 160 medium-sized Network Rail stations in England, Scotland, and Wales. This involved spending £35 million per year up to 2015 to equip key stations with ramps and platform lifts, the latter of which required, in most cases, completely new footbridges. The footbridges thus far erected at selected stations have proven to be quite imposing, austere constructions, not built in sympathy with existing buildings. This situation is now well demonstrated at Orpington, which was one of the first South Eastern Division stations to receive a new footbridge as part of the scheme.

Gravesend was placed in the fourth wave of stations to receive platform lifts, and 2013 was outlined as the expected year of completion. The site retained a roofed lattice footbridge, which was erected in about 1895 during a partial rebuild of the station (prior to this, passengers used to cross the tracks on the level). These works saw the installation of new platform canopies in place of the existing trainshed roofs and the construction of notable brick-built extensions on ‘’up’’ side. The 2013 proposals outlined a replacement footbridge at the western end of the station, but works here would be more extensive than at other sites. Four tracks separated two platform faces and the proposals were as follows:

·         Demolition of the surviving base of the water tower, at the London end of platform 1. It sat on the proposed site of the new footbridge.

 

·         Removal of the existing lattice footbridge, once the new footbridge was complete.

 

·         Removal of the existing ‘’up’’ through line. This was to make way for a new island platform, capable of accommodating twelve-vehicle ‘’Networker’’ formations.

 

·         Conversion of the existing platform 1 to a London-facing bay. This was to create the unusual spectacle of a single-track being sandwiched in-between two platform surfaces (those of the current platform 1 and the new island). However, artists’ impressions suggested that the face of the island platform next to the bay line would be fenced off, preventing a train being boarded from either side. Thus, the station was to have three operational platform faces after the works, including the existing platform 2 (which was to be re-numbered ''3'').

 

·         The existing platforms were to be lengthened to match the extent of the new island, to accommodate twelve-car trains, and the layout completely re-signalled.

The contract for the works, worth £19,000,000, was awarded to engineering firm ''C. Spencer Ltd'' in April 2013. By October 2013, the water tower base had been demolished to clear the site for the ''up'' side staircase and lift shaft of the footbridge. On Sunday 17th November, the station was closed for the assembly of the large footbridge sections which had arrived by road in the early hours of that morning. The new footbridge was scheduled to come into use on Sunday 1st December 2013 and its predecessor is to be dismantled and lifted out of place on the same day. Current documentation suggests it is not the end of the line for the lattice footbridge and after its components have spent a period in store, it will be donated and reassembled in some form on a preserved railway.

The footbridge replacement forms preliminary works to more disruptive alterations, which will see the station closed completely from 22nd December 2013 to 5th January 2014 inclusively. This will permit the remodelling of the track layout, reducing the number of lines from four to three, and building of the aforementioned island platform upon the former site of the ''up'' through line.

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