The booking office - open on Mondays to Saturdays mornings - is located in the main station building on the Ashford-bound platform. The two PERTIS passenger-operated self-service ticket machines - one on each platform - have now been removed and replaced with Ticket Vending machines on each platform,[3] which allows a ticket to be purchased from any origin, as opposed to just from Ham Street. The PERTIS passenger-operated self-service machines were installed in connection with a Penalty Fares Scheme in 2008.
History
The station was built by the South Eastern Railway to the designs of the company architect William Tress[4] as one of four original stops on the line from Ashford to Hastings (the others being Appledore, Rye and Winchelsea). It opened on 13 February 1851. A goods station was added later in the year.[5]
The original name was Ham Street. It was renamed to Ham Street & Orlestone on 1 February 1897, and then reverted to Ham Street in 1976.[6] It was Grade II listed in 2005.[1]
Along with several other stations on the line, Ham Street opened with staggered platforms, allowing a crossing across the railway from one to the other.[7] After several accidents and near misses, a temporary footbridge was provided in 2014, replacing the previous flat crossing of the railway.[8] It was replaced by a permanent bridge in 2017.[9]
Previously, westbound trains ran as an express service to Brighton although this was changed to a stopping service to Eastbourne in the May 2018 timetable change.[11]
