Kent loses Eurostar *

Eurostar has not been stopping at Ashford and Ebbsfleet since the start of the pandemic.

Things will not be changing soon.

The majority French-owned company has now confirmed that it will not be serving either station in 2023, with the company adding that it “cannot make any commitment for another two to three years”.

“Our recovery is progressing well, but we have considerable financial commitments following the pandemic which we will continue to face for a number of years”, said Eurostar in a statement.

“Our border environment has also toughened post-Brexit, and further complexity is expected with the launch of the EU’s Entry Exit System (EES).

“While we continue to operate in an uncertain and fragile environment, we must focus on our most profitable inter-capital routes to enable us to meet our financial commitments, stabilise our operation and our customer experience, before considering any further developments”.

The move has not been well received by communities in Kent who will either have to backpedal to St Pancras (in fact using the same track), use the ferries, or take a car via Eurotunnel.

Eurostar announced the appointed a new CEO for the recently merged Eurostar/Thalys Group. Gwendoline Cazenave will replace current CEO, Jacques Damas, from 1 October.

In a bullish statement Cazenave announced she wanted her company to increase the passenger volume from 19m to 30m within the next ten years.

www.eurostar.com

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John Oakley, Maidstone, Kent

Kent looses Eurostar I am sure Eurostar has figures to prove the Kent stops are not worthwhile, but you can prove anything with statistics. What is the ratio of departing passengers St Pancras v Amsterdam, Brussels, Lille and Paris. Then we will know the truth.