Bat & Ball railway station

Bat & Ball railway station is located on Bat & Ball Road in Sevenoaks in Kent, England. It is  measured from  (although London-bound trains that call run to ). The station is managed by Southeastern, however, all train services that call are operated by Thameslink.

History 
The station opened in 1862 with the name "Sevenoaks". It was for a while named "Sevenoaks Bat & Ball", but was renamed in 1950 to its current name. The name derives from the Bat & Ball Inn, a pub which no longer exists.

A long lease of the Grade II listed station building was acquired by Sevenoaks Town Council in 2017 as part of a refurbishment project supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Works began March 2018 with an anticipated opening date of January 2019.

Facilities 
Bat & Ball station lies just to the north of Sevenoaks on the route from London to  via . There is a shelter containing a bench on the northbound platform, and in 2014 new benches and a public information speaker were installed on the southbound platform (towards Sevenoaks). The station has been unstaffed since the closure of the booking office on 30 November 1991, although its staffing levels had been sporadic prior to that date. Southeastern, the company that currently manages the station, has fitted an electronic screen displaying departure information.

The station has a car park. Once free, in 2010 a fee of £3 per day to park was introduced. The charges resulted in the displacement of parking by rail commuters from the station car park into surrounding residential streets, particularly Chatham Hill Road. According to local press, this created several parking problems for local residents, whilst leaving the station's car park almost deserted.

A PERTIS "permit to travel" machine was formerly located at the entrance to the southbound platform, later replaced by a card payment-only ticket machine in 2016. Prior to de-staffing in 1991, it had converted from the previous NCR21 card ticket system to APTIS on 12 April 1988. A rare misprint on some tickets issued just after conversion to APTIS rendered the station name as "BAT BALL".

As part of the refurbishment project undertaken by Sevenoaks Town Council the station building will house a public cafe, public toilets, and community meeting rooms, due to open January 2019.

Service 

The typical off-peak service frequency on weekdays and weekends is:

2 trains per hour (tph) to  via ;
2 tph to .

References

Notes

Sources 
 
 
 

Category:Buildings and structures in Sevenoaks
Category:Railway stations in Kent
Category:Former London, Chatham and Dover Railway stations
Category:Railway stations opened in 1862
Category:Railway stations closed in 1917
Category:Railway stations opened in 1919
Category:Railway stations served by Southeastern
Category:1862 establishments in England
Category:Thameslink railway stations