Rainham railway station was opened on the 25th January 1858 by the East Kent Railway (later renamed the London, Chatham & Dover Railway) as 'Rainham & Newington', but the suffix was dropped in 1862 when Newington gained it's own station. When the station opened it was somewhat remote to the main community, which had grown up around today's A2. The station had a goods yard which closed on the 2nd April 1962; the shed contained a hand worked crane of 35cwt. The original station building was later replaced by a standard British Rail-type 'CLASP' building which in later years was prone to decay, this was later replaced by a more stylish structure in 1990.
The signal box - exactly 39 miles from London Victoria - opened on the 26th April 1959, replacing one on the other side of the railway. It will be replaced in April 2015 by the new East Kent Signalling Centre at Gillingham. The controlled level crossing barriers were brought into use on the 17th December 1972. 500 yards east of Rainham, the track was quadrupled to Newington under the Kent Coast electrification of 1959. This involved the rebuilding of two overbridges and the lengthening of six under the railway line.
The operator of the station today is Southeastern and the National Rail station code is 'RAI'. The typical off-peak train service contains two trains per hour (tph) to London St. Pancras, operated by high speed 'Javelin' trains; two tph to London Victoria via Bromley South and four tph to Faversham. Two of the Faversham trains terminate there, whilst a third continues to Dover Priory via Canterbury East and the fourth to Ramsgate via Margate.
Rainham (Kent) is not to be confused with Rainham (Essex), on the Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness line!