Dartfordrailway station serves the town of Dartford in Kent, England. It is down the line from. Train services from the station are operated by Southeastern and Thameslink. Southeastern 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 where three lines from London meet:
Westbound services normally terminate at London Charing Cross, London Cannon Street, London Victoria and, for Thameslink trains, Luton and Bedford. Services from London also continue through Dartford to Greenhithe to terminate at Gravesend, Strood, Rochester or Gillingham. Thameslink trains terminate at Rainham. Many of the terminating services at Dartford form London bound services, but the remainder will be stabled and maintained at Slade Green Depot approximately two miles west on the North Kent Line. There are several sidings to the east of the station where terminating trains can be stabled until such time as needed to return to Dartford to form London bound services or until drivers are available to return the train to Slade Green Depot.
History
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 was replaced by a glass and metal ticket office complex in 1972. A footbridge leads across the line to the two island platforms. Replacement of the 1972 station building was approved in 2011, with enabling works started late that year, and major works commenced in mid-2012. The new building was completed in November 2013.
In 1960, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met by chance at the station, going on to be the core writing team of the Rolling Stones. There is a plaque on the London-bound platform to commemorate this fact. Dartford railway station gained a lot of attention due to the high numbers of people travelling using this line, mistakenly not knowing that Oyster cards were not valid, and there was evidence of being approached by staff and receiving penalty fares. In September 2015 Transport for London extended the London fare zones to add Dartford to zone 8, thus allowing Oyster and Contactless payment methods to be used there.
Services
The typical off-peak service from the station is:
2tph to via &
2tph to via Woolwich Arsenal &
2tph to London Charing Cross via
4tph to London Charing Cross via, 2tph of which are stopping services and 2tph are semi fast
2tph to via Bexleyheath
4tph to, 2tph of which are stopping services and 2tph are semi fast
2tph to Rainham
Connections
Routes 414, 423, 455, 477, 480, 490 serve the station. Fastrack routes A and B serve the station. Go-Coach Hire routes 429, Dart 1 and Dart 2 serve the station. London Buses Routes 96, 428 and 492 serve the station. London Travelcards and Bus Passes are valid on these throughout the entire route.
Dartford entered the TfL zonal Oyster/contactless system on Sunday 6 September 2015, in Zone 8. Whilst season tickets, daily capping and contactless weekly capping are set at standard Zone 8 levels, single fares from Dartford are lower than "standard" Zone 8 fares. This followed Southeastern agreement to seek to bring Oyster/Contactless PAYG to Dartford by 31 January 2016 as part of the 2014–2018 franchise extension.
Passenger representation
Dartford Rail Travellers' Association campaigns for improvements across the seven railway stations in the Dartford area - Dartford, Stone Crossing, Greenhithe for Bluewater, Swanscombe, Ebbsfleet International, Longfield and Farningham Road. The group operates through social media on Facebook and Twitter.
