Charing railway station

Not to be confused with Charing Cross railway station
Charing National Rail

Main building, platform 2 and road bridge in 2012
Location
Place Charing
Local authority Ashford
Grid reference TQ950491
Operations
Station code CHG
Managed by Southeastern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Decrease 75,810
2011/12 Increase 79,420
2012/13 Decrease 77,416
2013/14 Decrease 67,236
2014/15 Decrease 66,616
History
1 July 1884 Opened
9 October 1961 Electrified
14 April 1984 Signal box closed
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Charing from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Charing railway station serves Charing in Kent, England. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern.

The ticket office is manned only during part of the day; at other times a PERTIS 'permit to travel' machine, located outside the station building on the 'down' side, suffices.

The next station eastwards (towards Ashford) used to be Hothfield, however it was closed in 1959, although it remained a 'request' stop for railway staff throughout the 1960s.[1]

History

Main entrance in 2009.

The station was opened on 1 July 1884,[2] as part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) extension to Ashford West of the 1874 line to Maidstone, which itself was a branch off the LCDR's Sevenoaks branch of 1862, which joined the LCDR mainline of 1840 at Swanley.[2] In the wake of 1955 British Rail Modernisation plan, the "Kent Coast Electrification" scheme saw the suburban electrification of the previous Southern Railway extended from Maidstone East through to Ashford.[1] The goods yard comprised five sidings on the down side and oe on the up side.[3] Electrification also saw the addition of a footbridge, but by 16 May 1964 freight operations ceased.[1] Charing's signal box closed on 14 April 1984, when the upgraded Maidstone East Panel took control of the whole line.[1]

Services

Platform 1 seen from platform 2.

The typical off-peak service from the station is one train per hour to Ashford International and one train per hour to London Victoria via Maidstone East.

There is also a peak hour service via Thameslink across London, serving City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras International before travelling onto Bedford.

Preceding station National Rail Following station
Lenham   Southeastern
Maidstone East Line
  Ashford International
Disused railways
Lenham   British Rail
Southern Region

Maidstone East Line
  Hothfield

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Kent Rail". p. 2. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
  2. 1 2 "Kent Rail". p. 1. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
  3. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Charing.
Sources
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Coordinates: 51°12′29″N 0°47′24″E / 51.208°N 0.790°E / 51.208; 0.790

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.