Canterbury West railway station

Canterbury West railway station is the busier of the two stations in Canterbury in Kent, England. All services are operated by Southeastern with both classic and high speed trains serving the station.

Although called Canterbury West the station is about 1/2 mi due north of Canterbury East station, and only about 20 yards to its west.

The station and its line was built by the South Eastern Railway, while Canterbury East was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway.

History
The station opened on 6 February 1846 when the South Eastern Railway began services to Ashford. Two months later in April services were extended to Ramsgate, and to Whitstable after conversion of the Canterbury and Whitstable Railway and closure of the North Lane terminus. The station was built with two central through tracks and three platforms, one for the Whitstable branch.

On 1 July 1889 the Elham Valley Railway reached Canterbury from Folkestone and at this time the run-in boards read Canterbury (SER) Change for Whitstable and Elham Valley Line.

The Whitstable branch closed to passenger traffic on 1 January 1931, and traffic from the Elham Valley into Canterbury ceased from 1 December 1940. Following the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme Phase 2 in 1960 electric services started on 9 October 1961. Freight services were withdrawn on 13 September 1965 and the central through tracks were removed later in 1979.

In December 2009, Canterbury West became part of the Southeastern High Speed service to London St Pancras using the High Speed line from Ashford, significantly reducing journey times to London.

In 2010 the railway station was refurbished to improve the station's accessibility. Funded by the Department for Transport's Access for All Scheme, the main change was the construction of a new footbridge allowing a step-free route between the station entrance and both platforms using two lifts. Other improvements include new tactile paving along the edge of the platform, new toilet facilities, new customer information screens and lighting, the redecoration of the ticket office and changes to the car park layout.

Station facilities


A ticket office (manned part-time) and two ticket machines are contained within the main ticket hall, and the station is fitted with ticket barriers.

There are cafes on both platforms, and toilets on the London-bound platform.

There is parking and a taxi rank.

Services
the typical off-peak service from the station is:


 * 1tph (trains per hour) to London St Pancras
 * 2tph to London Charing Cross, via Ashford and Sevenoaks
 * 2tph to Ramsgate, one continuing to Margate