Where are Maidstone Class 395s maintained overnight?

[reuban]

So two trains from Maidstone to STP happen in the morning, I presume the stock is stored in a siding or depot near Maidstone the night before?

 

[JonathanH]

So two trains from Maidstone to STP happen in the morning, I presume the stock is stored in a siding or depot near Maidstone the night before?

No, they come from St Pancras, having first run there from Ashford in one case and Faversham in the other.

 

[brad465]

Yes Maidstone doesn't have any usable stabling; the one carriage siding present at Maidstone West hasn't been used in a really long time (I believe its last use was before 395s even existed), and in any case it's not accessible from P1, without a complex reversing manoeuvre.

 

[30907]

Fairly sure the EMU berthing facilities were at Barracks back in the (pre-395) day.

 

[Surreytraveller]

Is Maidstone even a crew depot? In which case the crews would have to come from elsewhere if trains were berthed there

 

[Blindtraveler]

Yes I sometimes witness the empties going through Chatham for this depending on what time I'm traveling of a morning, it's not very often it happens as I don't tend to go full fat peak time during the week but it has happened once or twice

 

[JonathanH]

Yes I sometimes witness the empties going through Chatham for this depending on what time I'm traveling of a morning, it's not very often it happens as I don't tend to go full fat peak time during the week but it has happened once or twice

There are no empties through Chatham for the Maidstone West service.

It runs off
1F07 0528 Faversham to St Pancras International
5T95 0650 St Pancras International to Gravesend
1T96 0712 Gravesend to Maidstone West
1T95 0746 Maidstone West to St Pancras International

The other one is empty through Strood.

5J03 0441 Ashford Down Sidings to Ashford International
1J03 0510 Ashford International to St Pancras International
5T90 0555 St Pancras International to Maidstone West
1T91 0646 Maidstone West to St Pancras International

The two evening ones go back to St Pancras as well.

5J92 1630 Ashford International to St Pancras International
1T90 1725 St Pancras International to Maidstone West
5T90 1826 Maidstone West to St Pancras International
1J60 1937 St Pancras International to Margate

1C53 1620 Ramsgate to St Pancras International
1T94 1825 St Pancras International to Maidstone West
5T94 1926 Maidstone West to St Pancras International
1J68 2137 St Pancras International to Margate

 

[reuban]

Thanks all

 

[godfreycomplex]

Is Maidstone even a crew depot?

Maidstone Barracks TCD closed in 1985. There was talk about opening a conductor only depot (so not for the 395s) at Maidstone East but I don’t know how far that got.

 

[reuban]

Why not sell the empty stock as a service?

 

[CFRAIL]

Why not sell the empty stock as a service?

I imagine timings and demand. You'd have to path it to take longer in passenger service plus there's not likely to be demand.

 

[JonathanH]

Why not sell the empty stock as a service?

One of them runs in service from Gravesend to Maidstone West. The others seem to need to run fast.

One other point is that it gives them flexibility to do something different with the empty stock if the timetable changes, by not creating an expectation that the empty services will run permanently.

 

[reuban]

One of them runs in service from Gravesend to Maidstone West. The others seem to need to run fast.

One other point is that it gives them flexibility to do something different with the empty stock if the timetable changes, by not creating an expectation that the empty services will run permanently.

Fair enough makes sense, seems to me lots of inefficiencies and lost opportunities in the uk railway network

 

[IrishDave]

Why not sell the empty stock as a service?

My understanding is that HS1, unlike Network Rail, charges different track access charges for passenger trains vs empty stock moves. So my guess is the cost of running it in service wouldn't be justified by the additional revenue. That would also explain why the one that does run in service starts from Gravesend, once it's off HS1.