Kent Coast line

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Kent Coast Line
Southeastern EMUs at Ramsgate in 2019
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Kent South East England
Service
Type	Suburban rail, Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Rolling stock	Class 375 Class 395 Class 465 (peak hours and a few summer services only) Class 466 (peak hours and a few summer services only)
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
hide Route map (Click to expand)

show v t Kent Coast line
Legend
Chatham Main Line to Faversham Margate Margate Sands (closed 1926) (closed 1953) Broadstairs Tivoli (closed c. 1873) Ramsgate Harbour Tunnel Ramsgate Harbour (closed 1926) Dumpton Park Ramsgate Town (closed 1926) Ramsgate St Lawrence for Pegwell Bay (closed 1916) Ebbsfleet and Cliffsend Halt (closed 1933) Ashford to Ramsgate line to Ashford International Richborough Castle Halt (closed 1939) East Kent Light Railway to Shepherdswell & Richboro Port Sandwich Betteshanger Colliery Deal Walmer Martin Mill Guston Tunnel Chatham Main Line to Faversham Charlton Tunnel Priory Tunnel Dover Priory Dover Harbour Tunnel Dover Harbour (closed 1927) Hawkesbury Street Junction Train ferry to Dunkirk Pier Junction Admiralty Pier (closed 1909) Dover Western Docks (closed 1994) Dover Town (closed 1914) Archcliffe Junction South Eastern Main Line to Ashford International

The Kent Coast Line is the railway line that runs from Minster East Jn to Buckland Jn connecting Ramsgate and Dover Priory in the English county of Kent.

It was electrified (750 V DC third rail) by BR under the 1955 Modernisation Plan.

Services[]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (August 2021)

As of December 2019, the off-peak service is hourly each way between Dover Priory and Ramsgate, with trains at both ends continuing towards London St. Pancras via Ashford International and Faversham respectively. Services are operated by Southeastern using class 395 units.

During the morning peak trains additionally run from Ramsgate to Dover and then onto the South Eastern Main Line to Charing Cross or Cannon Street, returning in the evening peak. A small number of the peak services run to Minster on the Ashford to Ramsgate line before reversing back onto the coast line as a school service, running Ramsgate-Minster-Sandwich-Deal in the mornings and the reverse in the evenings.^[1]

History[]

The South Eastern Railway's (SER) first main line went to Dover via Folkestone and Ashford. The SER Ashford to Margate Broadstairs and Ramsgate (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 Railway (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 Broadstairs.

Dover track layout[]

The Railway Clearing House produced a map that shows the complex layout of this area. This shows the separate connection to the pier where trains used to board ferries.

References[]