An afternoon of trains at Rainham Level Crossing & Ferry Lane HS1 Footbridge, Greater London

A compilation video taken over the course of about two hours in Rainham, a town in the furthest eastern reach of Greater London beside the Thames Estuary. Over 20 minutes of un-interrupted railway and level crossing action is featured - the video is completely free of mid-roll adverts!
At this location, an unusual pedestrianised level crossing on the London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway sits beside High Speed One, the fast Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which cut Ferry Lane in half. The level crossing is now mostly used by pedestrians / cyclists, but has been left in-situ due to the need for HS1 vehicles to access a lineside substation the access road over it leads to, and the crossing is operated as if it were a normal road crossing from Upminster's signalling control centre. The LTSR and HS1 run parallel here, and trains on the latter can be viewed pretty well from a ramped footbridge over it which connects Rainham Marshes and a nearby industrial area directly with the station. I alternated between High Speed One and the Crossing in this video, so you'll see plenty of both! I managed to see plenty of c2c services along-side two Intermodal freight trains, Southeastern Class 395 'Javelins', and Siemens 'Velaro' Class 374 Eurostar services, though sadly no 373's as all their expected diagrams ended up being run by some of the 374's seen.
I sadly caught two instances in consecutive lowerings where impatient passengers jumped over the barriers at the crossing during my time here (6:17 and 7:49), and this not being too uncommon here in the past has lead Network Rail to consider it as high-risk. It can't be closed as the lineside HS1 substation would be inaccessible due to the close proximity of Rainham Marshes Nature Reserve and the LTSR.
Due to engineering work on the main line between Upminster and Pitsea, additional appearances from half-hourly diverted Shoeburyness services were seen, adding to the rail action on the LTSR over the level crossing which can be seen lowering a total of THIRTEEN times throughout this video - plenty of chance to hear this crossing's unique-sounding alarms! Even a seasonal Rail Head Treatment Train can be seen making its appearance to get in on the fun. The usual 'chapters' are also not entirely applicable due to the format of this video as I was alternating between filming HS1 and the crossing quite a lot, though rest assured I have made my best efforts in editing to minimise the gaps where nothing happens. Most of the time not filled by trains (not much in this video really!) is spent showcasing the level crossing in the usual detail. Enjoy!
Date filmed: 28/10/2023
Videos filmed between 13:50 and 16:10
Route(s): London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway (Tilbury Loop) | High Speed One
- Rainham (London) Station (RNM) | Near Wennington Crossovers
Crossing type: Manually Controlled Barrier crossing with CCTV (MCB-CCTV)
Location: Ferry Lane, Rainham (RM13 9YH)
Borough: London Borough of Havering
Video highlights:
Two intermodal freight services seen from 0:30
A Top & Tail Class 69-operated RHTT with 69 007 and 69 003 - 11:22
357 008 'Golden Geese' special livery - 12:52 and 24:18
Two trains at the same time! - 23:06
Train info (as there is not the space here to include all the usual data for 33 trains!)
LTSR:
- The first freight (66 707) was from Tilbury's Seabrook Sidings to Wakefield Europort GBRf
- The second freight (66 596) was from Trafford Park to the London Gateway port at Thames Haven (both Freightliner Terminals)
- The fast, non-stop pairs of c2c Class 357's seen connected London Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness, diverted via Tilbury due to engineering works and running non-stop from Barking to Pitsea
- The single, stopping c2c Class 357's provided stopping services between Fenchurch St. and Grays
- The Rail Head Treatment Train started and terminated in Broxbourne, spending the day blasting leaves from the line around the Thames Estuary / Southend-on-Sea area.
HS1:
- All services heading either to/from St. Pancras International, but:
- The Southeastern Highspeed Services were running to/from Ramsgate and Margate, either running via Ashford and Canterbury, Folkestone and Dover, or Medway and Faversham
- The Eurostar services were providing their trademark international services to/from Europe, these ones running to/from either Paris or Brussells
Train details sourced from:
Real Time Trains: www.realtimetrains.co.uk/sear...
Open Train Times: www.opentraintimes.com/maps
Traksy: traksy.uk/live
Filmed on: Panasonic HC-VX1 in 4K 25fps
Thanks for watching!

[@NWLevelCrossings]

Brilliant Videos, Views and Catches at Rainham! 👍🏻👍🏻 Great catch of that Treatment Train too! 👍🏻 Hope you enjoyed your 2 hours here! Despite the 2 trespassers, which are really annoying.

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thank you very much! There is just so much to film so they went quick. I hate catching misuse on camera, but this is the first time I recall seeing people actually jumping over the barriers, and it happened twice in consecutive lowerings too 😶

[@TheRealTrains806UK]

nice one! I have been loving the alarm on this crossing and it seeems like a lovely place to go!

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thanks very much! Unusual alarms here. There's a lot to film!

[@TheRealTrains806UK]

Yep😁 no problem

[@NorthWestLevelCrossingsChannel]

Excellent Catches 👍

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thank you very much!

[@leveltrains1295]

Nice

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thanks!

[@HelloThisIsRed27Gaming]

Lit!

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Cheers!

[@TheRealTrains806UK]

Bit of a slow barrier as well

[@SouthWestCrossingsUK]

Still manages to hit the floor tho!

[@TheRealTrains806UK]

Lol

[@highburyfan1001]

Is this in Essex I would love to do this. Is there Eurostar?

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

It's just over the border inside Greater London. Yes, there are plenty of Eurostars through here - search up Wennington Crossovers on Real Time Trains and you'll see the high speed line's timetable. Eurostars (ES) run anything to/from the continent

[@SouthWestCrossingsUK]

Great video! I love this crossing and very much the high pitched alarm, i love it! However i dont love trespassing tresspassers twice in a row. Impatient idiots at its finest

[@SouthEastLevelCrossings]

Thank you very much! These are some very quirky-sounding alarms, especially that one. Funny how (from memory at least) I'd never caught anyone jumping over the barriers, and then two do it in consecutive lowerings. Not good at all!