The
Kent Coast Line is railway line that runs from
Dover PrioryDover Priory railway station is the main station in Dover in Kent, with the other station being Kearsney situated on the outskirts of Dover. . All train services are provided by Southeastern...
to
MargateMargate railway station serves the town of Margate in Thanet in Kent, England. Train services are provided by Southeastern.Trains from the station generally run to London Victoria via , or to via Ramsgate, Canterbury West and Ashford International...
in the
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of
KentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
.
It was
electrifiedRailway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...
(750v DC third rail) by
BRBritish Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...
under the 1955 Modernisation Plan.
Services
Services are operated by
SoutheasternLondon & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...
, using
Class 375The British Rail Class 375 Electrostar electric multiple unit train was built by Bombardier Transportation at their Derby Works, from 1999 to 2005...
Trains. Typical service is hourly from
Charing CrossCharing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...
to Ashford, dividing there into a part to
Ramsgate via Canterbury WestThe Ashford to Ramsgate line is the railway that runs from Ashford to Ramsgate via Canterbury West. The same termini can be reached by the Kent Coast LineThe line is electrified .-Services:...
, and a part via the Kent Coast Line. See South Eastern Main Line.
A small number of the services via the Kent Coast Line (via
Dover PrioryDover Priory railway station is the main station in Dover in Kent, with the other station being Kearsney situated on the outskirts of Dover. . All train services are provided by Southeastern...
) call additionally at
MinsterMinster railway station serves Minster in Kent and surrounding villages. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Southeastern.- History :...
on weekday mornings and afternoons, acting as a school service.
History
The
South Eastern RailwayThe South Eastern Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1836 until 1922. The company was formed to construct a route from London to Dover. Branch lines were later opened to Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Canterbury and other places in Kent...
's (SER) first mainline went to Dover via Folkestone and Ashford. The SER Ashford to
Margate-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
BroadstairsBroadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...
and
RamsgateRamsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
(via Canterbury West) line was then extended south to Deal. This was linked up by the "Dover & Deal Joint Railway" with their bitter rival the
London, Chatham and Dover RailwayThe London, Chatham and Dover Railway was a railway company in south-eastern England from 1859 until the 1923 grouping which united it with other companies to form the Southern Railway. Its lines ran through London and northern and eastern Kent to form a significant part of the Greater London...
(LCDR).
Upon the joint management of the SER and LCDR in 1899 the track layout at Ashford rationalised, with Thanet receiving similar treatment (by Southern) in the 1920s.
The line was electrified under the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan, in "Kent Coast Electrification
(Stage 2)" opening January 1961.
The building of the railway was significant in the development of seaside resorts like
BroadstairsBroadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...
.
Dover track layout
The Railway Clearing House produced a map that shows the compex layout of this area. This shows the separate connection to the pier where trains used to board ferries.