No trains at Dartford, Stone Crossing, Greenhithe for Bluewater or Swanscombe on Sunday 6 September. Buses replace them, and Victoria services are off too.

Dartford station will be closed all day on Sunday 6 September, along with every other station on the line east of Slade Green. Southeastern has confirmed the closure in its own planned engineering listing, and it is a bigger day of disruption than the borough has seen this summer.

Engineering work between Plumstead and Gravesend closes some of the lines. On top of that, a separate scheme in the London Victoria area means no Southeastern trains at all will run to or from Victoria that day, which takes out the Bexleyheath route into Dartford as well.

These stations close all day and will be served only by replacement buses:

  • Dartford
  • Stone Crossing
  • Greenhithe for Bluewater
  • Swanscombe
  • Crayford
  • Bexley
  • Albany Park
  • Northfleet

Crayford, Bexley and Albany Park are in the London Borough of Bexley, and Northfleet is in Gravesham, but all four sit on the routes Dartford passengers use.

What actually runs

Two replacement bus routes cover the gap, and Southeastern says both are accessible:

  • Slade Green to Gravesend, calling at all stations
  • Sidcup to Dartford, calling at all stations

The trains that do run are these:

  • Woolwich line: London Cannon Street to Slade Green via Greenwich, running normally
  • Bexleyheath line: London Cannon Street to Slade Green via Bexleyheath, running normally
  • Sidcup line: London Charing Cross services will run only as far as Sidcup, not to Dartford or Gravesend
  • London Victoria to Dartford: will not run at all

Because the Victoria service is gone, Southeastern warns of “a reduced service of two trains per hour from stations between Barnehurst and Blackheath”.

Thameslink is out east of Plumstead too. No Thameslink trains will run between Plumstead and Gravesend, with a revised service between Kentish Town and Plumstead and between Gravesend and Rainham. Thameslink tickets will be accepted at no extra cost on Southeastern trains between London Bridge and Barnehurst or Slade Green, and on Southeastern services onward to Gravesend.

The practical version

If you are heading into London from Dartford that Sunday, the fastest route is almost certainly a bus to Slade Green and a train from there into Cannon Street, on either the Greenwich or the Bexleyheath line. Both run normally all day. Going the other way, a bus from Sidcup gets you back to Dartford.

Two groups should plan ahead in particular. Anyone travelling to Bluewater by train loses Greenhithe for Bluewater and Swanscombe for the whole day, so Fastrack Route A from Dartford or Route B from Gravesend and Ebbsfleet becomes the sensible way in. And anyone who normally uses Victoria needs a different plan entirely, because no Southeastern service reaches it that day; the alternatives are Cannon Street, Blackfriars or London Bridge, with free London Underground travel between the central termini.

Replacement buses take longer than trains and get busy. Southeastern’s standard advice applies: allow extra time, and check the pick-up point at your station, because it is often not the front entrance.

The Sunday after that

Sunday 13 September brings a second, different closure. No trains will run through or call at Lewisham, and the London Victoria to Dartford service will not run. Cannon Street to Slade Green trains via Bexleyheath will be diverted via Sidcup instead and will skip Lewisham, and replacement buses will run between New Cross and Dartford via Bexleyheath, calling at all stations.

Dartford station itself stays open on the 13th. It is the Lewisham interchange and the Victoria service that go.

And the bank holiday: nothing

For completeness, this bank holiday weekend is clear on the railway here. The only Southeastern engineering work listed for Saturday 29 to Monday 31 August is bridge repair between Lewisham, Beckenham Junction and Hayes, which does not affect any Dartford borough station. The roads are quiet too: National Highways has published no closures at all around Dartford across the whole weekend, which we cover in our Dartford roadworks and travel page.

What it means for you: put Sunday 6 September in the diary now. Dartford station is shut, Bluewater loses its station, and Victoria is unreachable by Southeastern train. Buses to Slade Green and a train from there is the workable route into town. If you can move a Sunday trip to the Saturday, do; Saturday 5 September has no planned engineering work at all, and Southeastern says a normal Saturday timetable will operate.

Sources

Engineering work can change. Check with Southeastern or National Rail before you travel.