The Bexley Heath Railway led by railway engineer Alfred Bean (owner of Danson House) secured the necessary Act of Parliament to build the line in 1883 but was not until 1 May 1895 that the Bexleyheath Line was finally opened. The company soon went into bankruptcy South Eastern Railway who had refused to build a line to serve the area between the two lines was then forced to take it over. The line was electrified with the other South Eastern and Chatham Railway local routes to Dartford on 6 June 1926 by Southern Railway.