Westenhanger railway station


Westenhanger railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the villages of Westenhanger and Stanford, as well as Folkestone Racecourse, in Kent. It is down the line from London Charing Cross. The station and all trains that call are operated by Southeastern.

History

The station was built by the South Eastern Railway. The line through the station opened on 28 June 1843, before construction had started. It was announced on 28 November 1843 and was planned to be the station serving Hythe; the SER Chairman Joseph Baxendale hoped to stand as a candidate in the next general election for that constituency. It opened on 7 February 1844 along with the extension from to. An inn was built next to the station in September.
The station became a junction when the SER's branch line to opened on 10 October 1864. However, it was inconveniently placed, and the SER considered closing it and building a station somewhere else. Ultimately, the station was not closed and Sandling railway station opened.
In 1898, a station about 250 metres west of Westenhanger was built to serve the adjacent Folkestone Racecourse. It was only used on race days. It closed in the 1960s.
British Rail proposed the closure of the station as from 3 February 1969. Objections were made which were considered by a Transport Users' Consultative Committee, after which the Minister of Transport decided against closure.
In 2017, Shepway District Council announced plans to build a garden town next to the station, with around 12,000 new homes.

Facilities

The station is un-manned; a ticket machine is available. The one-time station building is unused.

Services

From January 2015 the off-peak service has been reduced from 2 trains per hour in each direction to 1: