Regno Unito del governo del Regno Unito INTERNAZIONALE INTERNAZIONALE IL KENT STATIONI
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/26/uk-government-backs-return-of-international-rail-travel-to-kent-stations
di F0urLeafCl0ver
Regno Unito del governo del Regno Unito INTERNAZIONALE INTERNAZIONALE IL KENT STATIONI
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/sep/26/uk-government-backs-return-of-international-rail-travel-to-kent-stations
di F0urLeafCl0ver
5 commenti
I used to use Ashford International a fair bit and it was always really convenient for me, but towards the end you could see why it was viewed as “unviable” as per the article. Still, the possibility of open it up to other operating companies might do the trick.
Most people in Kent voted to make travel to the EU more difficult, so I think they should realise they won and get over it.
>Only 4% of passengers used Ashford or Ebbsfleet in 2019, with about 50 passengers from Ashford on peak services
Doesn’t exactly sound like the most viable business plan to base a service operating from these stations.
Kent traffic isn’t enough for this, you have to convince people from outside Kent to use this instead of St. pancreas. There’s literally only one way to do that, a massive car park that is reasonably cheap & is secure so people can drive to the station and leave their cars, then hop in the car when they return. So short of levelling a block to create a massive multistorey car park, this is doomed to fail.
If there was enough actual demand no one would need to “lean on” the company running the services. So we can be confident there isn’t.
If it was an amazing deal for Ashford or Kent, Ashford or Kent could pay the company the cost and everyone would be happy. But they haven’t and won’t so we can assume it isn’t.
So the plan here is to waste a big pile of money so that Ashford can have a small pile of money. Which is the sort of program that explains how we have record high taxes, underfunded services, a massive deficit and a looming reform government…