Barming railway station

Barming railway station is located in Tonbridge and Malling Borough, west of Maidstone in Kent, England and approximately 1 mile from Barming and Maidstone Hospital. Barming railway station and all the trains serving it are operated by Southeastern.

History
Barming station opened on 1 June 1874 as part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway's Maidstone Line from Swanley Junction to Maidstone. The goods yard had two sidings, one of which served a goods shed. Freight facilities were withdrawn on 5 December 1960. The signal box closed on 24 April 1982.

The platforms are of 6-car length only, despite a small number of peak-hour services being formed from 8 cars. The original station building remains on the down (Country-bound) platform 2, with a substantial wooden shelter on the up (London-bound) platform. The ticket office is manned for limited hours during the morning peak period on Mondays to Fridays; at other times a PERTIS 'permit to travel' machine, also located on the down platform, suffices. A passenger information screen is located on the down platform 2 and provides information relating to train running times for both platforms. The station entrances/exits are on the down Platform 2. There is no level access to Platform 1.

The concrete footbridge which spanned the tracks at the western end of the station, linking the platforms, was life-expired and demolished in early 2013. It was an example of the standard pre-fabricated design built at the Southern Railway's concrete factory at Exmouth Junction, east of Exeter. The replacement footbridge to the standard Network Rail design is at the extreme eastern end of the station.

Services
The typical off-peak service from the station is one train per hour to Ashford International via Maidstone East and one train per hour to London Victoria.

There is also a limited peak hour service across London via the Thameslink route, serving Elephant & Castle, Blackfriars, City Thameslink, Farringdon and St Pancras thence certain intermediate stations to Bedford.

Car park
Barming Station has an 88-capacity car park [pay and display] operated for Southeastern by fellow Go-Ahead group company Meteor Parking. It has 2 ticket machines which accept cash and credit/debit cards. The car park adjoins the down Platform 2. Alternatively, car park patrons may pay at the station ticket office when open.