THE £100 million Eurostar station in Ashford, Kent, is to lose most of its services to the Continent, forcing passengers across the South Coast to drive to London to catch the train.

From October next year, Ashford International will lose all its services to Brussels and more than half its services to Paris. Trains will stop instead at Ebbsfleet, a new Eurostar station near the M25 at Gravesend.

Ebbsfleet is 34 miles further north than Ashford and its poor public transport links mean that most passengers will travel by car, adding to congestion on the roads.

Ebbsfleet is due to open in October next year, when section two of the 186mph Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens in St Pancras, London.

Eurostar is cutting services from Ashford primarily to save money but rail unions fear it will eventually close the international station.

Eurostar has already broken its promise to passengers in southern England to maintain some services into its existing terminal at Waterloo once St Pancras opens next year.

The company said that it planned to save money by closing Waterloo International when St Pancras opens.

Eurostar is desperate to cut costs because passenger numbers have fallen far short of the original predictions. Last year it carried seven million passengers, a third of the number predicted when the cross-Channel service opened.

Eurostar has, however, benefited from the extra security restrictions imposed at airports last month. Passenger numbers rose by about 30 per cent after the security alert.

Ebbsfleet has been designed as a giant park-and-ride site, with an initial 5,000 car parking spaces and plans for a further 4,000.

Eurostar is expected to confirm that there will be no continental services from Stratford International, in East London, until 2010 at the earliest. The station, which cost £120 million, will remain empty for the next four years.

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