Gate in the south east East Croydon in the southern area Outside London Outside Greater London the main stations were: , , , and in Sussex , Gillingham, Ramsgate, Folkestone, Ashford and in Kent Southampton, Portsmouth, and in Hampshire , and in Dorset Guildford, , and in Surrey in Wiltshire in Devon (the SR platforms relocated from Reading Southern to Reading General) and Windsor and Eton Riverside in Berkshire Southern and Western Regions had important interchanges at Reading and Exeter St Davids. Line and station closures Underused stations such as those between East Grinstead and Lewes (a few of them later reopened with the Bluebell Railway), and most of the Isle of Wight's lines were closed in the 1950s. The Beeching Axe severely cut route mileages of most regions but the Southern escaped major losses in the London area due to high passenger numbers on its frequent suburban services. The Axe did, however, close some country routes including the Cuckoo Line, the Cranleigh Line, the Steyning Line, the New Romney branch line and the Bexhill West Branch Line, plus goods yards including Deptford Wharf and Falcon Lane. The lines in Devon and Cornwall were reclassified to the Western Region and the Southern's luxury trains, including the Atlantic Coast Express and the Brighton Belle, ceased in the 1960s and 70s. The Snow Hill tunnel between Blackfriars and Farringdon closed in the 1960s, then later reopened as part of the earliest proposals of the Thameslink Programme. At the same time, Holborn Viaduct in central London closed in 1990, replaced with City Thameslink occupying the same site at an underground level. In the late 1990s, the Addiscombe Line and the West Croydon to Wimbledon Line in south London were closed as these routes were replaced by the Croydon Tramlink. As a contrast, London Waterloo had been extensively refurbished and expanded to allow development of the Eurostar's Waterloo International railway station terminal. These platforms were closed after international services moved to St Pancras International in 2007. They were reopened respectively in 2017 and 2018 to increase capacity for suburban services. Channel Tunnel planning The 1973 plan to build a tunnel under the English Channel also included plans to upgrade the infrastructure of the Southern Region between London and the Kent coast. The plan assumed that the main railhead for "The Chunnel" would be at Ashford Kent station. To that end, rolling stock on the