Farningham Road railway station

Farningham Road
Viewed from the west
Location
Place	Sutton-at-Hone
Local authority	Borough of Dartford
Coordinates	51°24′06″N 0°14′10″E / 51.401575°N 0.236222°ECoordinates: 51°24′06″N 0°14′10″E / 51.401575°N 0.236222°E
Grid reference	TQ556693
Operations
Station code	FNR
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	0.179 million
2005/06	0.178 million
2006/07	0.198 million
2007/08	0.223 million
2008/09	0.212 million
2009/10	0.203 million
2010/11	0.207 million
2011/12	0.200 million
2012/13	0.190 million
History
3 December 1860	Opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Farningham Road from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

Farningham Road railway station is on the Chatham Main Line, and serves the villages of Farningham, Sutton-at-Hone, South Darenth and to a lesser extent, Horton Kirby all in north Kent, in south east England. Train services are provided by Southeastern. It was 150 years old in December 2010

The ticket office, on the 'up' side, is situated in the substantial station building. This is manned only during part of the day; at other times a PERTIS passenger-operated ticket machine issues 'Permits to Travel' - which are exchanged on-train or at manned stations for travel tickets - and is located on the Swanley-bound platform

Farningham Road Station is 20 miles and 14 chains (33.03 km, 20.525 mi) from London Victoria, according to the mileage sign on the footbridge. The railway line was electrified as part of Southern Railway's "Maidstone & Gillingham Electrification" scheme of July 1939 ^[1][2] The station was previously named Farningham Road & Sutton-at-Hone.

Services

The typical Monday to Saturday off-peak service from the station is:

• 1 tph to London Victoria via Bromley South and Denmark Hill
• 1 tph to Dover Priory.

The typical Sunday service from the station is:

• 1 tph to London Victoria via Bromley South
• 1 tph to Canterbury East.

Crime

The station is the second most vandalised station (2005/06) according to British Transport Police.^[3][4]

The station is non-smoking, as are all of Southeastern's trains and stations. On 6 August 2008 two youths threw a woman onto the rail tracks after she had asked them to stop smoking.^[5] Despite CCTV coverage of the station, police initially struggled to identify the assailants;^[6] however after further analysis two suspects were arrested almost a week later.^[7] One was released without charge, while another, was charged with grievous bodily harm.^[8] Ionel Rapisca pleaded not guilty,^[9] but was found guilty and sentenced to four years;^[10][11][12] an appeal was unsuccessful.^[13]

References

1. "Electric Railways". 'Stendec Systems'. 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2007.
2. "Farningham Road". Kent Rail. 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
3. "Vandal fear over unmanned station". BBC News Online. 14 May 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2007.
4. "London station is most vandalised". BBC News Online. 5 January 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2007.
5. "Youths throw woman on rail tracks". BBC News Online. 6 August 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
6. "CCTV setback in rail attack hunt". BBC News Online. 8 August 2008. Retrieved 8 August 2008.
7. "Two arrests over railway attack". BBC News Online. 13 August 2008. Retrieved 13 August 2008.
8. "Man charged over railway incident". BBC News Online. 23 August 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2008.
9. "Man denies rail smoke row attack". BBC News Online. 5 January 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
10. "Kent commuter 'pushed on to railway track'". BBC News Online. 22 February 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
11. "Man 'laughed after pushing woman on to Kent rail track'". BBC News Online. 24 February 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
12. "Smoker jailed after Farningham Road railway push". BBC News Online. 3 March 2010. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
13. "Man who pushed woman on to railway in Kent loses appeal". BBC News Online. 29 August 2010. Retrieved 29 September 2010.

External links

• Kent Rail's page on Farningham Road