Dover Priory railway station

Dover Priory
The station entrance
Location
Place	Dover
Local authority	District of Dover
Grid reference	TR313415
Operations
Station code	DVP
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	3
DfT category	D
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11	0.934 million
– Interchange	0.158 million
2011/12	0.915 million
– Interchange	0.195 million
2012/13	0.905 million
– Interchange	0.177 million
2013/14	0.943 million
– Interchange	0.133 million
2014/15	0.961 million
– Interchange	0.138 million
History
Key dates	Opened 22 July 1861 (22 July 1861)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Dover Priory from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Railways in Dover
Legend
Chatham Main Line Ramsgate Branch and Kent Coast Line to London Victoria and other London Terminals Charlton Tunnel Dover Priory Dover Harbour Tunnel Dover Harbour 1861-1927 Mileage Change ↑ 77 mi 76 ch (Victoria) ↓ 76 mi 50 ch (Charing Cross) Hawkesbury Street Junction Connection to Train Ferry Pier Junction Admiralty Pier 1860-1909 Dover Marine/Western Docks 1909-1994 Dover Town 1844-1914 Archcliffe Junction South Eastern Main Line to London Charing Cross and other London Terminals

Dover Priory railway station is the main station in Dover in Kent, England, with the other open station being Kearsney situated on the outskirts of Dover. (See this list for the other now-closed stations). All train services are provided by Southeastern. It is located in the south-east corner of the UK rail network and is the southern terminus of the South Eastern Main Line.

Services

A high speed service to St Pancras

As of September 2016 the off peak service is:

• 1tph (trains per hour) to London St Pancras via Ashford International
• 1tph to Charing Cross railway station London Charing Cross via Sevenoaks railway station Sevenoaks
• 2tph to London Victoria via Chatham & Bromley South
• 1tph to London St Pancras via Deal

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Folkestone Central		Southeastern High Speed 1 London-Sandwich		Terminus
				Martin Mill
Folkestone Central		Southeastern South Eastern Main Line		Terminus
Folkestone Central		Southeastern Kent Coast Line		Martin Mill
Terminus		Southeastern Chatham Main Line - Dover Branch		Kearsney
				Canterbury East
	Disused railways
Kearsney Line and station open		British Rail Southern Region Chatham Main Line - Dover Branch		Dover Marine Line and station closed
		British Rail Southern Region Chatham Main Line - Dover Branch		Dover Harbour Line open, station closed

History

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of lines around Dover

Dover Priory opened on 22 July 1861^[1] as the temporary terminus of the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR). It became a through station on 1 November 1861, with the completion of a tunnel though the Western Heights to gain access to the Western Docks area, where LCDR created Dover Harbour station^[1] The station was known as Dover Town but was renamed in July 1863 (leading to rival SER to adopt the name for one of its Dover stations).^[1]

In 1868 stationmaster Edward Walsh(e) was murdered by 18-year-old Thomas Wells, a porter for the LCDR,^[2] after having rebuked him for poor work. Wells was convicted and hanged.^[3]

The Southern Railway consolidated passenger services at Priory in 1927 and modernised the station in 1932.^[4] The Chatham Main Line into Priory was electrified in 1959 as part of Stage 1 of Kent Coast Electrification, under the BR 1955 Modernisation Plan.^[5] The line up to Ramsgate, via Deal, was subsequently electrified under stage two of Kent Coast electrification in January 1961.^[5] The line from Folkestone into Priory was electrified in June 1961.^[5]

The high-speed service to London St Pancras started in 2009,^[6] after the track in the tunnels to the south was realigned to allow for emergency evacuation from rolling stock without end doors.

Services to and from Folkestone Central were suspended on 24 December 2015 due to major damage to the track and sea wall near Dover harbour caused by strong winds & tidal surges.^[7] A replacement bus service was in operation between the two stations, along with a modified timetable whilst repair work was carried out. This was expected to continue throughout 2016, whilst a new £44.5 million viaduct was constructed to replace the present rail embankment & sea wall.^[8] The project was scheduled for completion in December 2016, but progressed faster than originally anticipated - the line reopened on 5 September 2016.^[9]

See also

• List of railway stations in Dover
• Port of Dover

References

External links

• Media related to Dover Priory railway station at Wikimedia Commons

Coordinates: 51°7′34.16″N 1°18′18.43″E / 51.1261556°N 1.3051194°E / 51.1261556; 1.3051194