Kent stations: Ashford or Ebbsfleet?
In this campaign, we have tirelessly advocated for the re-opening of both Ashford and Ebbsfleet as international stations. Both will benefit different parts of the south east region, both are networked as railway hubs in different ways. And while there is an argument that a train travelling at high speed may want to stop only once in Kent, we see no reason why both stations cannot be served by different trains.
But what if we could only have one? This is the question that rail commentator Jon Worth grapples with in a recent post.
Worth is well placed to comment about international stations. Last year, he spent several weeks studying and writing about different aspects of current and potential future cross-Channel rail. Part of his self-imposed remit was to work out which stations could be served directly from London, including those that have been used previously. He presented the report of this study at an event in Brussels on 17th November and it is available here. He has also produced a zoomable stations map here showing the 63 stations he has assessed for suitability.
The key to the map is on p.28 of the report. There are green ticks for stations where all the infrastructure for Channel Tunnel services is present already. Essentially these have facilities where passengers can have their passports checked and bags scanned, and at least one secure platform where a train can be held. A big red cross shows stations that can never be altered to accommodate cross-Channel trains. There are several degrees of preparedness between these two extremes.
Re-opening previous Eurostar station stops
Among the 63 stations studied by Worth were those previously served by Eurostar, and now consigned to oblivion by the decisions made by the company since the pandemic. They are Ashford, Ebbsfleet, Calais-Fréthun and Marne-la-Vallée. Worth considers their re-opening “sensible”, though with questions marks over who should bear the cost.
The cost factor matters, especially on the UK side of the Channel. Virgin Trains Europe, who have a Government-backed green light to develop a rival service to Eurostar, has cautiously agreed to serve the Kent stations “if they are re-opened”. This means that Virgin expects the UK Government to bear the cost of the station re-openings. And it is not inconceivable that financial constraints may dictate that only one of the two Kent stations gets Government support.
If that happens, which should it be?
The best station
Worth gave a clue to his favourite station last year in an interview on the Green Signals podcast. Of all those that might accommodate cross-Channel trains, he said Ashford was the best “by a country mile”. And in his post of 14th January he answers the question in the title: “Ebbsfleet or Ashford? It has to be one or the other, not both, and it needs to be Ashford.”
His argument for one station only is that “serving one station well is better than serving two stations badly”. The one station was indeed Ashford until Ebbsfleet opened in 2007, after which both stations received just a handful of trains each. Worth argues that if a future service decides to serve Kent properly, it should be at Ashford, not Ebbsfleet.
Ashford is “larger, airier, a pleasure to use” and has capacity for 800 passengers compared with just 250 at Ebbsfleet. Ashford’s links with national train services are currently better than at Ebbsfleet, says Worth. And to echo an argument already made by Getlink, Ashford’s larger size and better track layout could make it a key component in the resilience of the cross-Channel line, in case of disruption at the London end.
Worth also points out that Ashford is a large town that benefited economically from the service – and has lost out since its closure. There is no proper urban centre at Ebbsfleet.
Ebbsfleet has better road networks and a much larger car park than Ashford, with 6000 spaces versus 1800. But a re-opened service at Ashford can benefit Ebbsfleet because of the domestic high-speed link. Creative ticketing solutions could foster easy transfer from Ebbsfleet via HS1, especially as Ashford’s station layout is much better integrated than Ebbsfleet’s. And for Ashford residents and business leaders, reaching the continent via Ebbsfleet inevitably involves a backward journey first.
Deliberate down-grading
We especially like Worth’s use of the German word “kaputtrechnen’, literally meaning “broken calculation”, to designate Eurostar’s treatment of both Kent stations. Kaputtrechnen refers to a deliberate policy of making a service so poor that few people use it, which then justifies closing it altogether.
Eurostar has claimed repeatedly that the service at Kent stations deserved to be cut because passenger numbers were poor, representing under 4% of the total in 2019. But we at BBET have argued that this reflected a service which had been down-graded from its height in 2006. Our calculations put the figure at 8% that year.
The case for having at least one station stop in Kent is strengthened by of Worth’s arguments. Let’s see what the Government decides.
Category: BBET Campaign
← Previous post: Looking ahead to 2026