Chilham | |
Symbol Location: | gb |
Symbol: | rail |
Borough: | Chilham, Ashford |
Country: | England |
Grid Name: | Grid reference |
Manager: | Southeastern |
Platforms: | 2 |
Code: | CIL |
Classification: | DfT category F2 |
Opened: | 6 February 1846 |
Footnotes: | Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road |
Chilham railway station is a railway station in Chilham, Kent. It is on the Ashford to Ramsgate line between and . The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Southeastern.
The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway (SER) on 6 February 1846, as the first part of their line towards Thanet, which opened as far as on this date.
There are level crossings near both ends of the station, since the SER were unsure about the levels of traffic on the line and decided to cross several roads at-grade instead of bridges. Trains that delayed cars at the crossings for more than five minutes would be fined.
The station attracted attention from other railway companies. A proposal was put forward for a branch line from Chilham to, but rejected by the SER. In retrospect, this turned out to be a mistake as the East Kent Railway, later to become the London, Chatham & Dover Railway (LCDR), built their own line to Faversham, competing with the SER for London - Thanet traffic. In response, the SER proposed building a line from its station at to Chilham across the River Medway and the North Downs, in order to cut demand for the LCDR. This plan was withdrawn after the SER realised such a scheme would probably involve also constructing a line from Canterbury to Dover.
Goods services were withdrawn from the station on 15 August 1966.
All services at Chilham are operated by Southeastern using EMUs.
The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:
Additional services, including trains to and from London Cannon Street and London St Pancras International call at the station during the peak hours.
Citations
Sources