Charing railway station

Charing railway station serves Charing in Kent, England. It is 53 miles 11 chains (85.5 km) down the line from London Victoria. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern.

Charing
Main building, platform 2 and road bridge in 2012
Location	Charing, Ashford England
Grid reference	TQ950491
Managed by	Southeastern
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	CHG
Classification	DfT category E
Key dates
1 July 1884	Opened
9 October 1961	Electrified
14 April 1984	Signal box closed
Passengers
2015/16	72,652
2016/17	74,688
2017/18	72,940
2018/19	86,140
2019/20	89,554
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

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.[3] 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 one on the up side. It was taken over for military use during World War II. Electrification also saw the addition of a footbridge, but by 16 May 1964 freight operations ceased. Charing's signal box closed on 14 April 1984, when the upgraded Maidstone East Panel took control of the whole line.[4]

Services

Platform 1 seen from platform 2.

All services at Charing are operated by Southeastern using Class 375 and Class 377 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[5]

• 1 tph to London Victoria via Maidstone East
• 1 tph to Canterbury West

Additional services including trains to London Blackfriars call at the station during the peak hours.

References

1. "Kent Rail". p. 2. Retrieved 20 July 2008.
2. Butt 1995, p. 57.
3. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Historical Background.
4. Mitchell & Smith 1995, Charing.
5. "Timetable 3: London to Ashford and Canterbury via Maidstone East" (PDF). Southeastern, May 2020.

Sources

• Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
• Mitchell, Vic; Smith, Keith (1995). Swanley to Ashford. Midhurst: Middleton Press. ISBN 1 873793 45 6.

External links

• Train times and station information for Charing railway station from National Rail