Chatham Main Line, railway line in southeast England
The Chatham Main Line is a railway route in England that runs from London Victoria to southeastern coastal towns such as Dover and Ramsgate. Depending on the section, the line runs on two to four tracks, passing through parts of London and the county of Kent.
The line was built in the 1860s by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, a company that competed directly with other operators in the region. Electrification using a third-rail system started in the 1920s and continued to expand after World War II.
The line takes its name from Chatham, a town in Medway that it passes through on its way to the coast. Moving along the route, passengers notice how the surroundings shift from dense London neighborhoods to the more open towns of Kent.
The line is operated by Southeastern, with a mix of fast services and regular commuter trains stopping at different stations along the route. It is worth checking which service stops at your destination, as not all trains call at every station.
A section of the line near Dover was badly damaged by coastal erosion in late 2015, forcing trains to stop running there for several months. Services on that stretch only returned to normal in September 2016, after repairs were completed.
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