Two of Kent's three remaining manned level crossings will become fully automated this month when their gatekeepers sign off for the last time.

The launch of the new systems just outside Chartham station, near Canterbury, and Wye, near Ashford, on December 19 will bring to an end 175 years of railway history.

Conversion works on the historic line, which opened in 1846, got under way this week.

The decision to upgrade the barriers - at a cost of £2.5 million for each scheme - follows safety concerns for the welfare of the gatekeepers.

"We simply don’t want to be sending our colleagues into roads to swing gates shut in front of cars and other road vehicles any more," said Network Rail spokesman Chris Denham.

In 2018, Network Rail was fined £200,000 over safety failures which led to an employee suffering serious injuries at a then-manual level crossing in East Farleigh, near Maidstone.

Signaller Doug Caddell was knocked unconscious and suffered a broken neck when a car struck the gate he was in the process of closing.

There had been a campaign in Chartham to keep its signal box after fears it would be demolished, and to retain the gatekeepers, who are considered part of the heritage and character of the village.

Network Rail decided that safety remained the priority, but agreed to keep and maintain the Victorian signal box.

On Tuesday, the old gates were taken away and concrete bases installed along with other equipment so the new lifting gates can be brought in.

During the day, the crossings remain open to both trains and motorists, with barriers manually pulled across the roads when needed.

But throughout the works, they will be closed at night, with local diversions signposted.

The crossings will also be closed on December 17 and 18 while the new gates are tested.

Then, from December 19, the crossings will be triggered remotely by signallers in the Canterbury and Wye Area Control Centre, with flashing lights and lifting barriers coming down to protect trains and road users from each other.

The last remaining manual gates in Kent, on the Isle of Grain, are also due to be made automatic in the new year.

Chartham signal box has been in situ since 1888. Before that time, the crossing keeper lived in a house next to the road and operated the gates from there.

A similar situation existed at Wye, which gained a signal box in 1893. The distance of the box from the road – it was down the end of the platform – meant that the crossing keeper operated the gates from a base in the station building and alerted the signaller that the gates were closed using a buzzer.

Until a change in the law in 1933, railway gates were usually kept locked against the road, and people had to ask the keepers to open them when needed.

But as the roads got busier, the gates were changed to be locked against the railway instead.