Folkestone Harbour railway station

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Folkestone Harbour station is a railway station built to serve the port of Folkestone in Kent, and is one of three stations in the town. The station provided a terminus for the boat trains from London which connected with the ferry services to Calais and Boulogne. However, the opening of the Channel Tunnel and the Eurotunnel Shuttle terminal led to the majority of ferry operators moving to other ports in the South-East, with the result that only two services per day were arriving at Folkestone Harbour, to connect with the Hoverspeed SeaCat services. When these were moved to Ramsgate, Folkestone Harbour became redundant, and so the station closed to ordinary rail traffic in 2001. However, it remains in use between March and November when the Venice Simplon Orient Express's British Pullman service terminates there; from Folkestone Harbour, passengers are transferred by coach to the Eurotunnel terminal, where they join a Eurotunnel Shuttle to Calais to pick up the Orient Express in France.

1 Closure
2 See also
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Closure

Folkestone Harbour station is located at the end of a viaduct which seperates the port's inner and outer harbours, which in turn is the end of the spur railway that seperates from the main line. The proposals for the regeneration of the Harbour area will see additional accomodation built; however, it has been determined that this will not be sufficient to justify reopening the rail link to the Harbour. Due to its infrequent use, and given that there is no likelihood of the restoration of ordinary services to the station, it has been proposed that Folkestone Harbour be closed permanently, the viaduct demolished, and the track on the rail spur lifted^[1]. However, these are tentative plans, and, at present, VSOE does not intend to stop using Folkestone Harbour as its terminus.^[2]