The Dartford Loop Line is one of three lines linking

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames Estuary, is Thurrock in ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. It lies to the south of the other two: the

North Kent Line The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...

(or Woolwich Line) and the Bexleyheath Line. Informally, the line is known as the Sidcup Line in the context of Southeastern Metro services.

History

In June 1862 the South Eastern Railway obtained powers for a second line between London and Dartford from a junction with the main line at

Hither Green Hither Green is a district in south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham. It forms the southern part of Lewisham, 6.6 miles (10.6 km) south-east of Charing Cross, and on the Prime Meridian. Growing extensively with ...

to its existing

North Kent line The North Kent Line is a railway line which branches off the South East Main Line at St Johns junction west of Lewisham station in Greater London and runs to Rochester Bridge Junction near Strood, Medway where it links to the Chatham Main ...

to reduce congestion on the existing line and to give a more direct route between London and Dartford. This was to be routed via the town of

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

. The Dartford Loop Line opened on 1 September 1866. A loop line in railway terminology is a line which leaves the main line at one location, and then rejoins in another place. The line initially had only five new stations: Lee,

Eltham Eltham ( ) is a district of South London, southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three ...

(now Mottingham),

, Bexley and

Crayford Crayford is a town and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in South London, South East London, England, within the London Borough of Bexley. It lies east of Bexleyheath and north west of Dartford. Crayford was in the Historic countie ...

. The station at

, near

Lewisham Lewisham ( ) is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified in ...

, where the line deviates from the main line, was built after the opening of the third North Kent route, the Bexleyheath Line in 1895. Pope Street, now

New Eltham New Eltham is a suburban area of South East Greater London, London, England, primarily in the Royal Borough of Greenwich with some parts in the London Borough of Bexley. It is located south east of Eltham and north west of Sidcup. History New E ...

station, opened in 1878 between Eltham and Sidcup stations. Hither Green finally opened in 1895 serving both the Dartford Loop Line and the main line via

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) (historic spelling ''Tunbridge'') is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Mall ...

. The final station to open was Albany Park in 1935. The Loop Line originally passed through mainly open country and farm land but it stimulated development around the new stations. In 1899 the Lee Spur, a double track link between the up line of the Dartford Loop Line and the Hither Green marshalling yard, was built. The spur is occasionally used by freight and engineering work trains. The Loop Line was electrified by the Southern Railway in 1926 along with the two other lines to Dartford. In 1942 a double-track loop (the ‘Crayford Spur’) came into operation between the North Kent and Dartford Loop Lines, creating a triangular junction. This allowed direct running between the two routes, avoiding the need for a reversing manoeuvre at Dartford. In 1955 the platforms on all Loop Line stations were extended to accommodate ten-coach trains, whilst continuing standard operation of eight-car trains. Most stations had goods yards which closed during the 1960s and were converted into car parks. In the late 1960s the Dartford Loop Line along with the two other North Kent routes were re-signalled which saw the replacement of semaphores with colour light signals. In November 1970 most of the mechanical signal boxes on the line closed. In the mid-late 2000s the Dartford Area Resignalling Scheme saw the line resignalled.

Infrastructure

The line is

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

throughout and electrified at 750 V DC third rail.

Stations

The line is a little over in length. The following are the stations served: *

- the station lies on the main line from London to Kent: there are separate platforms for the Loop Line ** here there is a triangular junction - the Lee Spur - for freight traffic going to the extensive Hither Green freight sidings * Lee - opened in 1866 *

Mottingham Mottingham is a district of south-east London, England, which straddles the border of the London Borough of Bromley, the London Borough of Lewisham and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is located southwest of Eltham, . It was historically wi ...

- opened in 1866 as ''Eltham'', renamed Eltham & Mottingham in 1892 and then Mottingham in 1927 *

- opened in 1878 as ''Pope Street'' renamed New Eltham in 1886 *

- opened in 1866 * Albany Park - opened 7 July 1935 to serve a new housing development * Bexley (the scene of the Bexley derailment) *

** here there is a triangular junction with the

providing access to the Slade Green carriage sidings and to Dartford.

Future plans

The line was due to be served by Thameslink trains following the completion of the first phase of the

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the so ...

. The 2008 Network Rail Route Utilisation Strategy, however, made clear that consideration of running Thameslink trains to Dartford by any route had been abandoned due to timetabling and pathing difficulties. Subsequently, however, Thameslink services between Luton and Rainham (Kent) were introduced running on the North Kent line between London Bridge and Dartford replacing the Charing Cross to Gillingham (Kent) services operated by Southeastern.

Service patterns

Train services on the Dartford Loop Line are operated by Southeastern using , , and EMUs. As of December 2022, the off-peak, Saturday and Sunday service is: * 2 trains per hour between

London Charing Cross Charing Cross railway station (also known as London Charing Cross) is a London station group, central London railway terminus between the Strand, London, Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South ...

and via calling at all stations except , and * 2 trains per hour between London Charing Cross and running non-stop from to , then calling at all stations During the peak hours, the line is served by an additional 2 trains per hour circular service to and from London Cannon Street which runs both clockwise and anticlockwise using the Dartford Loop Line as far as , before using the

to travel back to London Cannon Street via and . In addition, there is a single peak hour return service between Dartford and

London Blackfriars Blackfriars (), also known as London Blackfriars, is a London station group, central London railway station and connected London Underground station in the City of London. It provides Thameslink services: local (from North to South London), ...

and a number of services are extended beyond Gravesend to and from and During the peak hours. The Sidcup Line is a freight route for trains to Kent. Most services use the Lewisham flyover via .

Rolling stock

Rolling stock used on the line is Class 465 and Class 466 'Networkers', Class 376 Suburban Electrostars and Class 707 Desiro Cities.

Accidents

On 11 October 1977, the derailed wagons of an eastbound coal train were struck by a Northfleet to Dunstable cement train between Lee and Mottingham. The locomotive ended up at the bottom of a garden of a house in Mottingham. There were no serious human injuries but several caged budgerigars in the garden were killed. On 4 February 1997, an EWS freight train derailed near Bexley station (the Bexley derailment).

References

External links

Kent & South Eastern Division Infrastructure
''Kent Rail'' {{Railway lines in South East England Transport in the London Borough of Bexley Transport in the Borough of Dartford Transport in the Royal Borough of Greenwich Rail transport in Kent Transport in the London Borough of Lewisham Railway lines in London Railway lines opened in 1866 Railway branch lines Standard gauge railways in Kent Standard gauge railways in London 1866 establishments in England