Swale railway station

Swale
Swale Station with the Sheppey Crossing in the background
Location
Place	Kingsferry Bridge, Iwade
Local authority	Swale
Operations
Station code	SWL
Managed by	Southeastern
Number of platforms	1
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	3,831
2005/06 *	5,446
2006/07 *	3,947
2007/08 *	2,756
History
1913	Opened as a staff halt called Ridham Dock.
December 1922	Opened to public as Swale Halt.
1 November 1923	Name changed to Kings Ferry Bridge Halt.
1929	Name changed to Swale Halt.
20 April 1960	New station opened.
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Swale from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Please note: methodology may vary year on year.

Map of the Swale Railway Station in relation to other local stations and the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway. The Chatham Main Line runs along the bottom, east to west, while the Sheerness Line branches off northwards, west of Sittingbourne.

Swale railway station is in north Kent, England, on the Sheerness Line 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Sittingbourne at the southern end of the Kingsferry Bridge which connects the Isle of Sheppey to mainland Kent. The nearest settlement is Iwade. Train services are provided by Southeastern.

History

The station was opened in 1913 as a staff halt, possibly then called Ridham Dock. In December 1922 a ship collided with the Kingsferry Bridge, rendering it unfit for rail traffic, and the station was renamed Kings Ferry Bridge South Halt, and opened to the public, who were able to walk across the bridge to a temporary station at Kings Ferry Bridge North Halt to continue their journeys. This arrangement continued until 1 November 1923, when the bridge reopened to traffic and the North halt closed. The station was renamed Kings Ferry Bridge Halt on this date. The name was changed to Swale Halt in 1929. With the building of the new Kingsferry Bridge in 1960, a new station was constructed, opening on 20 April 1960.

In 2005 the idea of closing Swale station, or at least replacing its train service with a token service (e.g. one train a week in either direction), was proposed by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) but rejected.

Services

The typical off-peak service from the station is two trains per hour to Sheerness-on-Sea and two trains per hour to Sittingbourne, for connections to London.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Kemsley		Southeastern Sheerness Line		Queenborough

References

• Kidner, R. W. (1985). Southern Railway Halts. Survey and Gazetteer. Headington, Oxford: The Oakwood Press. ISBN 085361 321 4.