Ashford International railway station

Ashford International
General information
Location	Ashford, Borough of Ashford, Kent, England
Coordinates	51°08′37″N 0°52′30″E / 51.1435°N 0.8750°E / 51.1435; 0.8750
Grid reference	TR011421
Managed by	Southeastern (HS1 Ltd for international services)
Platforms	6
Other information
Station code	AFK (ASI for Eurostar services)
Classification	DfT category B
Key dates
1 December 1842	Opened as "Ashford"
9 July 1923	Renamed "Ashford (Kent)"
8 January 1996	Commencement of Eurostar services
28 February 1996	Rebuilt and renamed "Ashford International"
13 December 2009	Commencement of High Speed 1 domestic services
September 2020	Eurostar services suspended
Passengers
2019/20	4.021 million
Interchange	0.876 million
2020/21	1.064 million
Interchange	0.197 million
2021/22	2.657 million
Interchange	0.522 million
2022/23	3.247 million
Interchange	0.837 million
2023/24	3.511 million
Interchange	0.862 million
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Ashford International railway station is a National Rail station in the town of Ashford, Kent, England. It connects several railway lines, including High Speed 1 and the South Eastern Main Line. Services are operated by Southeastern and Southern.

The station opened in 1842 as Ashford by the South Eastern Railway (SER) as a temporary terminus of the line from London to Dover via Croydon. Connections to Folkestone, Canterbury and Hastings opened within ten years. It was renamed Ashford (Kent) in 1923. There have been two significant rebuilds; in the 1960s for the South Eastern Main Line electrification, and to accommodate international services in the 1990s. The station was renamed as Ashford International in 1996. International services were reduced following the completion of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the opening of Ebbsfleet International in 2007, but were partially restored before being suspended indefinitely in 2020. Domestic services along High Speed 1 to St Pancras have been running since 2009.