Wye railway station serves Wye in Kent, England, on the Ashford to Ramsgate line. The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern.

Wye
National Rail
General information
LocationWye, Ashford
England
Grid referenceTR048469
Managed bySoutheastern
Platforms2
Other information
Station codeWYE
ClassificationDfT category E
History
Opened6 February 1846
Passengers
2018/19Increase 0.256 million
2019/20Increase 0.258 million
2020/21Decrease 77,282
2021/22Increase 0.169 million
2022/23Increase 0.185 million
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

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The first plan for a station near Wye was in 1812, when John Rennie the Elder proposed building a canal to connect the River Medway in North Kent with the River Rother in East Sussex. A tramway would connect Wye to the canal. The proposal was abandoned in favour of through railways.[1]

The station was opened by the South Eastern Railway in 1846, along with the rest of the line from Ashford to Canterbury West.[2][3] It was a constructed next to a level crossing with the main road, on the grounds that Parliament believed trains would not be frequent.[4] A crane for goods traffic was installed in 1852.[5] The station began serving local gravel goods traffic in 1919.[6] Freight facilities were closed on 10 June 1963.[7]

Racecourse station

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On the opposite side of the level crossing a separate station was opened in March 1882 to serve the racecourse. It was closed in May 1974 (with the last horse racing meeting) and subsequently demolished.[8]

Facilities

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The platforms were connected by a concrete footbridge in 1960. This was replaced with a 12.5-metre (41 ft) steel footbridge in 2015.[9] The staffed level crossing at the south end of the station required manual operation of the gates and was formerly a local traffic bottleneck[10] but was replaced with automated crossing gates in December 2022.[11]

The station is staffed for part of the day. There is a passenger-operated ticket machine located on the Ashford-bound platform, by the footbridge.[12]

The station buildings on the Ashford-bound platform contain the booking office. There is a shelter on the Canterbury-bound platform.[13]

Services

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All services at Wye are operated by Southeastern using Class 375 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:[14]

Additional services, including trains to and from London Cannon Street and London St Pancras International call at the station during the peak hours.

Preceding station   National Rail Following station
Southeastern

References

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Citations

  1. ^ Gray 1990, p. 6.
  2. ^ Butt 1995, p. 256.
  3. ^ McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 53.
  4. ^ Gray 1990, p. 244.
  5. ^ Gray 1990, p. 248.
  6. ^ Gray 1998, p. 125.
  7. ^ McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 128.
  8. ^ Railway Passenger Stations by M.Quick page 486
  9. ^ "Wye Station Footbridge". Nusteel Structures. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  10. ^ "Wye level crossing closure to cause diversions and traffic in Ashford". Kent Online. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  11. ^ Castle, Liane (3 January 2023). "Villagers welcome new automated level crossings in Wye and Chartham as traffic reduced". Kent Online. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
  12. ^ "Wye". SouthEastern. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  13. ^ "Wye". National Rail. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
  14. ^ Table 197, 207 National Rail timetable, December 2023

Sources

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51°11′06″N 0°55′44″E / 51.185°N 0.929°E / 51.185; 0.929