ASHFORD International, the £100 million Eurostar station in Kent, is to lose most of its services to the continent, forcing passengers across the South Coast to drive to London to catch the train.

From October next year, Ashford will lose all its services to Brussels and more than half its services to Paris. Trains will stop instead at Ebbsfleet, a new Eurostar station near the M25 at Gravesend.

Ebbsfleet is 34 miles farther north than Ashford and its poor public transport links mean that most passengers will travel by car, adding to congestion on the roads.

Ebbsfleet is due to open in October next year, when section two of the 186 mph Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens in St Pancras, London.

Eurostar is cutting services from Ashford primarily to save money but rail unions fear it will eventually close the international station.

Eurostar has already broken its promise to passengers in southern England to maintain some services into its existing terminal at Waterloo once St Pancras opens next year. The company said that it planned to save money by closing Waterloo International when St Pancras opens.

Eurostar is desperate to cut costs because passenger numbers have fallen far short of the original predictions. Last year it carried 7 million passengers, a third of the number predicted when the cross-channel service opened.

Eurostar has, however, benefited from the extra security restrictions imposed at airports last month. Passenger numbers rose by about 30 per cent after the security alert.

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Ebbsfleet 'to get Ashford trains'

BBC News: 12 September 2006

Ebbsfleet International Station will take up many of Ashford's services

An MP says an international railway station in east Kent is to lose most of its services to Europe when a new £100m station opens in a year's time.

Damian Green said all Brussels trains, as well as off-peak Paris ones, would be cut from Ashford International.

The Ashford MP said the services would be lost to Ebbsfleet International Station in north Kent, which was being officially unveiled on Tuesday.

Eurostar is due to make an announcement about its services later this morning.

The new station at Ebbsfleet, built by London and Continental Railways, will be served by high-speed international trains on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) from October 2007.

Domestic trains

Mr Green said Eurostar was set to terminate its Brussels services via Ashford after a survey showed many passengers would prefer to use Ebbsfleet, located closer to the M25 between Dartford and Gravesend.

"It's obviously very worrying and disappointing," he said.

"Given the expansion of Ashford and the emphasis the government has put on Ashford as a centre of development in east Kent, to say there are going to be no direct services to Brussels seems to me to fly in the face of that policy.

"I wonder whether Eurostar have got their projections right," he added.

Mr Green said a few peak trains to and from Paris would be retained, while Ashford would also get domestic high-speed CTRL services into London from 2009.

The MP said he was seeking assurances from Eurostar over the long-term future of Ashford International Station.