Took slams Eurostar Axe for Ashford

12.00.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Wed 13th Sep 2006

Ashford International

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner (and former Eurostar employee) Chris Took has hit out at Eurostar plans to axe the majority of train services operating via Ashford.

Coupled with the unveiling of their new facility at Ebbsfleet on September 12th, Eurostar announced that the Ashford to Brussels service would be cut completely whilst the number of trains from Ashford to Paris will fall to three.

The company is desperate to save money as passenger numbers are only a third of those anticipated. However, local campaigner Chris Took is worried that the restriction of services is a precursor to closing the £90m station altogether.

"Running just three trains via Ashford does not appear economically viable. Eurostar has said that the station's status is being

'downgraded' from that of an International Station to the equivalent of a regional airport, the worrying thing is that regional airports do not survive on three flights a day."

Eurostar's decision also throws into question government plans to turn the town into a huge 'growth area' with tens of thousands of new homes.

"People have moved to Ashford in good faith that the area was to be developed as a major international transport destination. Local people have moved jobs, families, mortgages, the lot and now, with little warning and in one swoop, Eurostar appears to make a mockery of government plans and policy."