Thanet Parkway: Passenger numbers up 40% at new station

Passengers are able to travel from Thanet Parkway to London in 70 minutes

Monthly passenger numbers at a Kent rail station have increased 40% since it opened six months ago.

But Thanet Parkway has come under fire for low passenger numbers and costs greater than the original £11m estimate.

Kent County councillor Barry Lewis called it "a humungous white elephant".

Kent County Council (KCC), which has paid more than £7m towards the station, said it was "an investment for the future".

Thanet Parkway, the county's first new station in eight years, cost £39.3m on completion.

Located between Ramsgate and Minster, it aimed to improve connectivity between east Kent and the capital by providing access to mainline and high speed train services.

According to figures from Southeastern, there have been a total of 34,698 journeys to and from Thanet Parkway up to the end of December.

The company said it had seen a 40% increase in monthly users since July, with an average of 261 passengers entering and exiting each day.

In December there were ticket sales for 8,115 journeys to and from the station, almost 12 times less than nearby Ramsgate, where 96,430 journeys were made in the same time period.

Councillor Barry Lewis called the new station a "humungous white elephant"

David Wornham, passenger services director at Southeastern, said he was "really pleased" that customer numbers were "continuing to steadily increase."

He added: "We expect this to continue and for Thanet Parkway to remain an important investment, which will benefit the community for decades to come."

Mr Lewis, the opposition Labour group spokesperson for transport on Kent County Council, has called for the reintroduction of free parking at the station and a bus service from nearby towns.

He said: "Thanet Parkway was built on a lie that it would bring prosperity to Thanet. It hasn't.

"People are voting with their feet and not using it."

In a statement KCC said: "We are pleased that usage of Thanet Parkway continues to grow in line with our expectations.

"We have always been clear that the station is an investment for the future, delivering on KCC's key ambition to provide infrastructure first before development."