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 (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2006/09/eurostar_to_halt_most_services.html#moreFrom 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.
Eurostar is cutting services from Ashford primarily to save money but rail unions fear it will eventually close the international station.
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.
Ashford MP Damian 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.
"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.
Here is a further link on future services to Ashford.
http://www.ryemarket.org.uk/mlag/sra_ikf.htm
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