Dartford railway station serves the town of Dartford in Kent, England. All train services from the station are operated by Southeastern, which also manages the station. Dartford is a major interchange station in the North Kent region of the Southeastern network. Ticket barriers control access to the platforms.
The station is the nodal point for three lines from London:
- the North Kent Line, via Woolwich Arsenal
- the Bexleyheath Line,
- the Dartford Loop Line via Sidcup.
Lines terminate west of Dartford at London Charing Cross and London Cannon Street via London Bridge, and London Victoria.
The first station was opened here by the South Eastern Railway it extended its North Kent Line from Gravesend on 30 July 1849, taking the line from there to London. The original station building had an Italianate design; this has now been replaced by a modern, more efficient ticket office complex using glass and metal. A footbridge leads across the line to the two island platforms, which are capable of a very large number of train movements during a working day. There are four carriage sidings at the country end of the station.
In the future, Dartford station may form part of a Crossrail extension line, linking to London St Pancras station and Heathrow airport.
British Transport Police maintain a neighbourhood policing presence at Dartford.
In 1960, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met by chance at the station, resulting in the formation of The Rolling Stones.
Read more about Dartford Railway Station: Gallery
Famous quotes containing the words railway and/or station:
“Her personality had an architectonic quality; I think of her when I see some of the great London railway termini, especially St. Pancras, with its soot and turrets, and she overshadowed her own daughters, whom she did not understand—my mother, who liked things to be nice; my dotty aunt. But my mother had not the strength to put even some physical distance between them, let alone keep the old monster at emotional arm’s length.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“How soon country people forget. When they fall in love with a city it is forever, and it is like forever. As though there never was a time when they didn’t love it. The minute they arrive at the train station or get off the ferry and glimpse the wide streets and the wasteful lamps lighting them, they know they are born for it. There, in a city, they are not so much new as themselves: their stronger, riskier selves.”
—Toni Morrison (b. 1931)