London to Ashford to Dover Line
| London - Ashford- Dover Line |
| Principal stations
Charing Cross or Cannon Street Paddock Wood
|
The London-Ashford-Dover Line is one of two long-distance routes serving the coast of Kent, England; the other being the Chatham Main Line, which runs along the north Kent coast to Ramsgate and Dover via Canterbury East.
Services
Services on this line take the inland route via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Ashford to reach Dover.
The Ashford via Maidstone East Line diverges from the Chatham Main Line at Swanley Junction and joins the "London to Ashford to Dover Line" at Ashford.
Trains on the routes are run by Southeastern.
Services start from Charing Cross or Cannon Street. Other trains run via the Ashford via Maidstone East Line).
History
The line was built by the South Eastern Railway (SER), who were in competition with the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR), hence the duplication of stations in Kent.
The original main line was given sanction by Act of Parliament in 1836, running from London Bridge via Croydon East and Redhill (the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's Brighton Main Line), Tonbridge, and Ashford to Folkestone and Dover. This circuitous route was the result of insistence on the part of Parliament that only one southerly route out of the capital was necessary; forcing the SER to share the LB&SCR's Brighton Main Line. This completely ignored the fact that the main London - Dover road had, since ancient times, followed a much more direct route; and it ignored the fact that the other great railway building projects did take direct routes whenever feasible. A passenger to Dover had a 20-mile longer journey than by the coaching route!
The main line reached Ashford on December 1 1842; the outskirts of Folkestone by June 28 1843; and Dover by February 7 1844. Their locomotive works was built in 1845 moving from New Cross in London.
Due to competition with the LCDR (who had constructed the quicker Chatham Main Line and Ashford via Maidstone East Line (to Sevenoaks, Canterbury, Dover, Ramsgate, Ashford and Maidstone), the SER built a very expensive line via Sevenoaks and Orpington through the North Downs by means of summits and then long tunnels at both Knockholt and Sevenoaks. This "cut-off" line, 24 miles in length, reached Chislehurst on July 1 1865, but took three more years to reach Orpington and Sevenoaks (opening date March 2 1868) and Tonbridge (May 1 1868).
When the SER and LCDR merged in 1899 to form the South Eastern and Chatham Railway (SECR) the stations and track layout at Ashford and Dover were rationalised.
The line was electrified (750v DC third rail) to Sevenoaks by Southern prior World War Two. Post war under the 1955 BR Modernisation plan, electrification was completed.
The Channel Tunnel Rail Link run in parallel to the line from Ashford to where it diverges at Cheriton.
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