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Canterbury East[REDACTED]
Station building
General information
Location	Canterbury, City of Canterbury England
Grid reference	TR146572
Managed by	Southeastern
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	CBE
Classification	DfT category C1
History
Opened	9 July 1860
Passengers
2019/20	1.097 million
Interchange	15,740
2020/21	0.280 million
Interchange	6,273
2021/22	0.771 million
Interchange	8,680
2022/23	0.936 million
Interchange	9,490
2023/24	1.059 million
Interchange	29,607
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Canterbury East railway station is on the Dover branch of the Chatham Main Line in England, and is one of two stations serving the city of Canterbury, Kent.

The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern.

Location

The station is 61 miles 65 chains (99.5 km) down the line from London Victoria (measured via Herne Hill) and is situated between Selling and Bekesbourne. All serving trains are operated by Southeastern.

The station is approximately 1⁄2 mile (0.8 km) to the south of Canterbury’s other station, Canterbury West. Both stations are located due west of Canterbury’s city centre; in fact, despite their names, the two stations lie on the same line of longitude.

History

The station and its line were built by the London, Chatham & Dover Railway and opened on 9 July 1860 as Canterbury. To avoid confusion with the older station also called Canterbury, built by the South Eastern Railway, it was renamed to Canterbury East on 1 July 1889 while the SER station was renamed Canterbury West.

The framework of the platform canopies were originally installed at the never-opened station at Lullingstone.

The semaphore signals at the station were replaced with coloured lights in December 2011. The elevated signal box remains but is no longer in use, with signalling on the line operated from a control room at Gillingham. The signal box was given Grade II listed building status in 2013.

Canterbury East's ticket barriers were removed in early 2011, as they were the only ones of the kind in the country and spare parts were no longer easy to obtain. Work began to install a new gate-line in October 2016. Coventry and Earlsfield are the only other stations to lose their ticket barriers.

The station has a ticket office, an electronic ticket machine, a cafe and toilets. A footbridge and lifts were opened in 2021. There is also a connection to local buses including buses to Faversham, London Road Estate, Ashford and to Whitstable, Herne Bay and The University of Kent. A footbridge from the station crosses the city's ring road allowing easy, step-free, access into the city centre via the path along the top of the restored city wall.

Services

All services at Canterbury East are operated by Southeastern using Class 375 EMUs.

The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is:

• 1 tph to London Victoria via Chatham
• 1 tph to Dover Priory

Additional services including trains to and from London Bridge and London Cannon Street call at the station in the peak hours.

References

1. Yonge, John (November 2008) . Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 5: Southern & TfL (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. maps 8B, 9B. ISBN 978-0-9549866-4-3.
2. "Canterbury East". Southeastern. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
3. Butt 1995, p. 53.
4. McCarthy & McCarthy 2007, p. 122.
5. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1413579)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
6. Harper, Brad (26 August 2021). "New footbridge and lifts open at Canterbury East railway station after £4.8 million upgrade". Kent Online. Retrieved 27 April 2022.
7. Table 212 National Rail timetable, December 2022

Bibliography

• Butt, R. V. J. (October 1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199. OL 11956311M.
• McCarthy, Colin; McCarthy, David (2007). Railway of Britain : Kent and Sussex. Ian Allan Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7110-3222-4.

External links

• Train times and station information for Canterbury East railway station from National Rail

51°16′27.28″N 1°4′33.34″E / 51.2742444°N 1.0759278°E / 51.2742444; 1.0759278

• Canterbury
• Railway stations in Kent
• DfT Category C1 stations
• Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations
• Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1860
• Railway stations served by Southeastern