Chartham railway station


Chartham railway station is in Chartham, Kent, on the Ashford to Ramsgate line. The station, and all trains serving it, is operated by Southeastern.

Facilities

The station is to the north of Chartham village and south of the A28 road which runs parallel from Ashford to Canterbury. It is unmanned, but has electronic indicator boards and a ticket machine. There are two platforms, connected by a footbridge. A manually operated level crossing is at the south end of the station, by the signal box.

History

The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway in September 1850, some time after the line from Ashford to Canterbury was completed. In common with several other stations on the line, there was a level crossing as the SER did not believe the line would attract sufficient traffic for bridges.
Goods services were withdrawn from the station in 19 November 1962.

Incidents

At around 06:45 on 9 October 1894, a waggon of hop-pickers on their way to work at Horton Chapel Farm was struck by the delayed 04:15 down Ashford to goods train. Canterbury West goods train. Five hop-pickers were killed instantly, with a further two dying from their injuries later. The investigation found that the waggon driver had left the opening of the gates to children in poor visibility, and had failed to stop before crossing. The train crew whistled at least three times while approaching the crossing. The Inspecting Officer, Charles Scrope Hutchinson, criticised the South Eastern Railway for the excessively long rostered hours of the train crew. Ultimately, blame was assigned to the waggon driver and the SER was exonerated.

Services

As of December 2019, the off peak service at the station in trains per hour is:
During the peak hours, the service is strengthened with additional services between London Charing Cross and calling at the station.