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| Kent Coast Line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 SoutheasternEMUs at Ramsgate in 2019 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Owner | Network Rail | ||
| Locale | Kent South East England | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Suburban rail,Heavy rail | ||
| System | National Rail | ||
| Operator(s) | SE Trains | ||
| Rolling stock | |||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 16mi 64ch (27.03 km)[1] | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge | ||
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TheKent Coast Line is therailway line that runs from Minster EastJunction to Buckland Jn connectingRamsgate andDover Priory in theEnglish county ofKent.
It waselectrified (750 V DC third rail) byBR under the1955 Modernisation Plan.
As of November 2021[update], the off-peak service is operated as an extension of theSouth Eastern Main Line service fromCharing Cross toDover Priory. Trains run hourly terminating atRamsgate. Services are operated bySE Trains usingclass 375 units. Some peak trains useCannon Street or areHigh Speed 1 services to or fromLondon St. Pancras or the Class 465/466 Networkers are also used in the Peak Hours or in the summer timetable services from London Cannon Street extended to Ramsgate via Greenwich, Woolwich Arsenal and Dartford.[2]
During the late 2010s, the entire off-peak service was run as part of the High Speed domestic service, running in a loop around the coast with trains at both ends continuing towards St. Pancras viaAshford International andFaversham.[3][4] This service was ended after the COVID pandemicmassively reduced rail use.[5]
A small number of the peak services run toMinster on theAshford to Ramsgate line before reversing back onto the coast line as a school service, running Ramsgate-Minster-Sandwich-Deal in the mornings and the reverse in the evenings.[2]
TheSouth Eastern Railway's (SER) first main line went to Dover via Folkestone and Ashford. The SER Ashford toMargateBroadstairs andRamsgate (via Canterbury West) line was then extended south to Deal. In 1881 this was linked up by the "Dover & Deal Joint Railway" with their bitter rival theLondon, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR).
Upon the joint management of the SER and LCDR in 1899 the track layout at Ashford rationalised, with Thanet receiving similar treatment (by Southern) in the 1920s.
The line was electrified under the BR1955 Modernisation Plan, in "Kent Coast Electrification (Stage 2)" opening January 1961.
The building of the railway was significant in the development of seaside resorts likeBroadstairs.
The Railway Clearing House produced a map that shows the complex layout of this area. This shows the separate connection to the pier where trains used to board ferries.
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