Folkestone West railway station is on the

South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are th ...

in England, serving the western area of

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20 ...

, Kent. It is down the line from London Charing Cross. All trains that call are operated by

Southeastern The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each s ...

. The ticket office, in a room on the extensive 'up' side buildings on the London-bound platform, is staffed only during part of the day; at other times a

PERTIS In the ticketing system of the British rail network, a Permit to Travel provisionally allows passengers to travel on a train when they have not purchased a ticket in advance and the ticket office of the station they are travelling from is closed ...

permit to travel machine, located outside the ticket office, suffices. The substantial 'down' (country-bound) platform building is occupied as offices by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

History

The

reached Folkestone in 1843, with a station being opened at Folkestone Junction (Folkestone East) on 18 December 1843. Folkestone West was opened on 1 November 1863 as Shorncliffe Camp, initially with two platform faces either side of double track. In 1881 the station was rebuilt with two platform faces either side of four tracks. Sometime around 1887 a bay was added to the down platform as from 1887 to 1947 the station served as the southern terminus and interchange for the Elham Valley Railway with services to

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of the ...

. The station was altered during the 1960–61 Kent Coast Electrification as the line from Folkestone Central to near the site of Cheriton Junction was quadrupled. Following the opening of the

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

and the loss of the

boat train A boat train is a passenger train operating to a port for the specific purpose of making connection with a passenger ship, such as a ferry, ocean liner, or cruise ship. Through ticketing is normally available. __NOTOC__ Notable named boat trains ...

traffic, in 1994 the two centre tracks were removed. In 2008 alterations were made on the north side of the station to provide car parking and coach loading bays, the latter in connection with the operation of the 'Orient Express' which until then operated from Folkestone Harbour Station.

Services

All services at Folkestone West are operated by

using and EMUs. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 1 tph to

London St Pancras International St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...

* 1 tph to London Charing Cross via * 2 tph to of which 1 continues to During the peak hours, there are also services to and from London Cannon Street and there is also 1 train per day to . Belmond transferred their Orient Express luxury train services to a new facility at Folkestone West from their original location at Folkestone Harbour. The company runs two British Pullman trains per week between the end of March and the beginning of November, which connect via the

with the

Venice Simplon Orient Express The ''Venice Simplon-Orient-Express'' (VSOE) is a private luxury train service from London to Venice and other European cities. It is currently owned by Belmond, which operates 45 luxury hotels, restaurants, tourist trains and river cruises i ...

train in

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. The ...

References

External links

{{TSGN and SE Stations, Staplehurst=y, High Speed=y, FCC None=y, SN None=y Transport in Folkestone and Hythe Railway stations in Kent DfT Category E stations Former South Eastern Railway (UK) stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1881 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1881 Railway stations served by Southeastern Folkestone 1863 establishments in England