Charing railway station

Not to be confused with Charing Cross railway station

Charing railway station serves the village of 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
General information
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
2019/20	89,554
2020/21	26,234
2021/22	60,508
2022/23	75,588
2023/24	89,516
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

The ticket office is staffed 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 377 EMUs.

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

• 1 tph to London Victoria via Maidstone East
• 1 tph to Ashford International

Additional services, including trains to and from London Charing Cross call at the station during the peak hours.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Lenham		Southeastern Kent Downs line		Ashford International
	Disused railways
Lenham		British Rail Southern Region Maidstone line		Hothfield