REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT / EAST KENT
When Kent’s first new station in eight years opened in 2023, plenty of people were ready to call it a white elephant. The numbers tell a different story — and they matter for everyone building, investing, and operating in east Kent.
It is easy to forget how much scepticism greeted the opening of Thanet Parkway. The £44 million station — built between Ramsgate and Minster, with two 250-metre platforms, 293 parking bays, and a high-speed link to London St Pancras in just over an hour — was branded a vanity project before its first train had even called. Costs had quadrupled from the original estimate. Critics queued up to question whether east Kent really needed an eighth station.
Two years on, the data has settled the argument.
From sceptics’ poster child to Southeastern’s fastest-growing station
According to figures published by the Office of Rail and Road earlier this year, passenger entries and exits at Thanet Parkway rose by 116 per cent in the year to March 2025 — climbing from 57,238 to 123,724. That makes it the fastest-growing station on the entire Southeastern network. It is a remarkable trajectory for a parkway station that doubters predicted would never get off the ground.
Daily train services have grown from 51 at opening to 80 today, with hourly high-speed services to St Pancras now complemented by an hourly main-line service throughout the week and additional weekend trains. Two trains an hour now connect the station to Canterbury, Ashford, and Ramsgate. Crucially, neighbouring Ramsgate and Minster have not lost out: usage at both has risen by around 11 per cent over the same period, suggesting Thanet Parkway is generating new demand rather than cannibalising existing journeys.
“Thanet Parkway is playing a critical role in encouraging as many people as possible to ditch the car and use the train.”
— David Wornham, Passenger Services Director, Southeastern
Why this matters: connectivity is the multiplier
Infrastructure-first development is a phrase that gets used a lot and meant rarely. Thanet Parkway is one of the few recent examples in the south-east where the railway has genuinely arrived ahead of the demand. Kent County Council made a deliberate bet — build the station, accept the criticism, and trust that the development case would catch up. The early evidence is that it has, and faster than the original business case projected.
For occupiers, that translates into a step-change in talent reach. A 70-minute commute to central London is widely regarded as the threshold that opens up the capital’s labour market in both directions. East Kent has had high-speed services from Ashford and Ebbsfleet for years; Thanet Parkway extends that reach decisively into the Isle of Thanet itself, bringing Margate, Ramsgate, and Broadstairs inside the daily commuter belt.
For the inward-investment story, that changes everything. The 2019 housing-impact study commissioned by Thanet District Council was clear that east Kent’s distance from London — both in miles and in journey time — had historically dampened price growth, employment, and business location decisions. Drop the journey time below the magic hour-and-a-bit threshold and the calculus shifts. Comparable parkway investments at Corby and elsewhere have shown that businesses cite rail connectivity as a primary factor in choosing where to locate.
What the next five years look like
The growth curve is unlikely to flatten. Several factors are still feeding through:
- Service frequency has roughly doubled since opening, and Southeastern has signalled further timetable enhancements as demand builds.
- Parking capacity (293 bays plus 12 EV charging points) has not yet become a constraint, leaving genuine headroom for further passenger growth.
- Local Plan housing allocations across Thanet — including the planned communities at Manston Green and Westwood — sit squarely within the catchment, with thousands of new homes still to be delivered.
- Network Rail’s Thanet Corridor Enhancements Programme is upgrading level crossings between Ashford, Canterbury West, and Ramsgate, allowing line-speed increases that will trim journey times further.
- Tourism and weekend travel continue to outperform expectations. Margate’s cultural revival, Turner Contemporary, and Dreamland have made the town a genuine London weekend destination — and the station is increasingly part of the trip.
What it means for Engine Works Park
Engine Works Park sits firmly inside the catchment that Thanet Parkway is reshaping. The station’s success matters to occupiers at the park for three concrete reasons.
First, labour supply. The same connectivity that draws London weekenders to Margate works in reverse for employers in Thanet. Skilled staff who live in Ashford, Canterbury, or further along the high-speed line can now reach the area in a way that was simply not viable a decade ago. For trade counter, light industrial, and urban logistics operators competing for talent, that broadens the recruitment pool meaningfully.
Second, client and supplier access. The 70-minute London journey time changes how feasible day-trip business meetings, supplier visits, and inspections become. East Kent has long suffered from a perceived remoteness that is increasingly out of step with reality.
Third, the regeneration tide. The 116 per cent year-on-year passenger growth is a leading indicator. It reflects rising confidence, rising activity, and rising demand for the kind of quality commercial space — flexible industrial, business park, and urban logistics — that east Kent has historically lacked. Engine Works Park has been designed and delivered to meet exactly that demand.
The bigger picture
Infrastructure projects are easy to criticise on the day they open and hard to value until the network effects compound. Thanet Parkway is a useful case study in how to read these things. The headline cost overrun told one story. The 250-metre platforms, the future-proofed design, the deliberate decision to put the station ahead of the development — those told another. Two years on, it is becoming clear which story is the one that matters.
East Kent has been waiting for this kind of moment for a long time. It is here.
