Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane has expressed interest in running trains between London and Paris with a stop in the southeastern county of Kent, meaning an extra direct train route to Europe
A new train service would provide a second direct route from the UK to Europe.
At the moment, if you want to get from the UK to Europe by train (and you aren’t in your own vehicle), the only option is to go on the Eurostar from St Pancras International in London.
Eurostar trains used to make stops in Kent, but service was halted in 2020. Services stopped operating at Ashford International and Ebbsfleet International because of the coronavirus pandemic, but they never returned when international travel did.
Earlier this year, Eurostar said just 4% of passengers travelled from Ashford, or Ebbsfleet, which is also in Kent. At peak times, it says there were 50 passengers from Ashford on each 900-seat train.
READ MORE: EasyJet launches new routes for autumn breaks with flights from £14.99
That hasn’t stopped the Kentish people from expressing their dismay at the scrapped service. Around 80,000 of them have signed a petition to get their European link back. Jean-Claude Cothias, a Frenchman who moved to Ashford due to its connections with the Continent, has even considered leaving the town now that Eurostar doesn’t stop there.
“That connection, if it’s not there, it is hugely detrimental to the economic environment in the town and to its attractiveness,” he told the BBC.
It seems that their protests have worked. Italian operator Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane has expressed interest in running trains between London and Paris with a stop in the southeastern county.
The competitor is the first of several train companies competing to run a cross-Channel route to pledge to stop at Ashford International Station if it secures a contract. Its plans include a £1 billion investment into the British economy, and the construction of an ‘innovation hub’ at Ashford station, according to the Times.
Virgin, German-owned organisation Deutsche Bahn, and startup Evolyn have been gearing up to make bids for access to the Channel Tunnel.
In January Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was “keen” to see international services reinstated to Ashford “as soon as possible”, when responding to Ashford MP Sojan Joseph’s question in the House of Commons. Like Ashford and Ebbsfleet, Eurostar no longer stops at Calais’s international station – Calais Frethun.
Ashford Borough Council invested £25m for the infrastructure of the town’s international station, which opened in 1996. It also spent £8.5m more to upgrade signalling in 2020, so newer Eurostar trains could access the station.
Council leader Noel Ovenden has been a vocal critic of both Ashford International and Ebbsfleet stations lying unused by direct European services. “We want it open now, not in another five years. We need to keep banging the drum, louder and louder, and push hard to get this station reopened,” he told the BBC.