Sevenoaks railway station

Sevenoaks railway station serves the town of Sevenoaks in Kent, England. Train services are provided by Southeastern and First Capital Connect.

Trains from the station run northbound to London Bridge, Cannon Street (direct at peak times), Waterloo East and London Charing Cross via Orpington, to London Blackfriars via Swanley and Catford, and southbound to Ashford International and Ramsgate via Dover Priory, and also Tunbridge Wells and Hastings.

History
Sevenoaks railway station was opened on 2 March 1868. It was formerly known as "Tubs Hill", after the adjacent area. There is a second station, on the branch to Swanley Junction, which opened on 2 June 1862. It is named after the Bat & Ball local inn which is now closed, and serves the north end of the town.

The two lines to Sevenoaks were electrified in January 1935. It was the first station in Britain to be rebuilt in the later well-known British Rail red, white and blue colour scheme. When the station was reconstructed in the 1970s a new ticket office was built replacing the old wooden S.E.R. building. Two additional side platforms were also abolished.

Sevenoaks is part of the rail franchise which, post-privatisation, was served by Connex South Eastern. Subsequent to their 'sacking' in 2003 due to poor financial management (although their train operating performance had been very poor), services were operated by South Eastern Trains, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA). On 1 April 2006, Southeastern, owned by Govia, took over management of the station as part of the new Integrated Kent Franchise.

Accidents
7 June 1884 - A double-headed freight train ran into the rear of another freight train at Tub's Hill station. Both crew of the first train were killed. the Hildenborough signalman was charged with causing their deaths. The trains were being worked under the time interval system.

24 August 1927 - the Sevenoaks railway accident. River class tank locomotive No. 800 River Cray derailed at Shoreham Lane between Dunton Green and Sevenoaks. Thirteen people were killed and 20 were injured. The locomotives were withdrawn and rebuilt as tender locomotives.

Services


Travel times to and from Charing Cross is 30 - 35 minutes and London Bridge is 25 minutes. Hastings, Dover and Canterbury is 60 minutes.

As of the May 2012 timetable off-peak services from this station from Monday to Friday are:


 * 6 tph (trains per hour) to London Charing Cross (fast service)
 * 2 tph to London Charing Cross (stopping service via Grove Park)
 * 2 tph to Kentish Town (stopping service via Bromley South and Catford)
 * 2 tph to Hastings via Tunbridge Wells (one semi-fast, one slow)
 * 2 tph to Tunbridge Wells
 * 1 tph to Dover Priory and Canterbury West, dividing at Ashford International
 * 1 tph to Ramsgate dividing at Ashford International with one portion travelling via via Dover Priory and the other via Canterbury West

On Saturdays the services from this station are:
 * 6 tph to London Charing Cross (fast service)
 * 2 tph to London Charing Cross (stopping service via Grove Park)
 * 2 tph to London Blackfriars (stopping service via Bromley South and Catford)
 * 2 tph to Hastings via Tunbridge Wells (one semi-fast, one slow)
 * 2 tph to Tunbridge Wells
 * 1 tph to Ramsgate via Dover Priory and Canterbury West, dividing at Ashford International
 * 1 tph to Ramsgate via Canterbury West

Platforms
There are two island platforms - 1 & 2, and 3 & 4.
 * Platform 1- Fast trains starting south of Sevenoaks fast to London Bridge, Waterloo East, Charing Cross and Cannon Street
 * Platform 2- Slow trains starting/terminating at Sevenoaks to Charing Cross and Cannon Street via Orpington and Lewisham
 * Platform 3- All trains running south of Sevenoaks via Tonbridge (destinations are Tunbridge Wells, Hastings, Ashford International, Canterbury and Ramsgate).
 * Platform 4- Slow trains to Blackfriars, St Albans, Luton and Bedford via Bromley and Peckham Rye which all start/terminate here.

From 22 March 2009 the trains to Blackfriars were extended through to Kentish Town off-peak, and some services through to St Albans, Luton and Bedford.

During the peak period there are fast direct services to London Cannon Street.