Ashford International being sidelined?

[Drifter47]

Looking to go to Cologne (or further afield) via Brussels but no Eurostar availability from Ashford International although you can book that route if travelling from London.

Doesn't make sense as that service is the 07:28 stopping at Ashford International. Is this another cut in Ashford Services that will lead to it finally closing when the increase in new e320 fleet numbers?

 

[yorksrob]

I think that Ashford was sidelined as soon as Stratford International came on stream. Shame really, because strategically its well sited to take connections from East Kent and Sussex.

One wonders whether it was worth building it and consequently my spending my later youth there without a cinema (sacrificed for a car park) and losing one of my favourite pubs (sacrificed for a hotel that wasn't built) and the station losing its 1908 SECR platform canopies.

 

[Drifter47]

Did you mean Ebbsfleet?

Ebbsfleet was never a good idea for Kent or East Sussex customers who were using Ashford International before as it was convenient to get to.

Up to the time before SE HS services were introduced, customers in this part of Kent had a difficult journey up to Ebbsfleet to then continue back south and onwards to the continent. Who wants to travel in the opposite direction to connect with a rail service that goes back from where you started?

 

[yorksrob]

Did you mean Ebbsfleet?

Ebbsfleet was never a good idea for Kent or East Sussex customers who were using Ashford International before as it was convenient to get to.

Up to the time before SE HS services were introduced, customers in this part of Kent had a difficult journey up to Ebbsfleet to then continue back south and onwards to the continent. Who wants to travel in the opposite direction to connect with a rail service that goes back from where you started?

Might have been Ebbsfleet come to think of it. Either way, platforms 3 & 4 never look very busy these days.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Maybe it'll pick up again once the required works have been done to allow 374s to access the station (think it was something to do with signalling) - how far off being completed are them works?

 

[Groningen]

At 10.58 i see a Eurostar to Paris with stop in Lille. Change there and arrival is at 14.05 in Brussel.

 

[Blinder]

There is a service from Ashford to Brussels and it runs daily

 

[Groningen]

There is a service from Ashford to Brussels and it runs daily

Yes; only one at 7.28. I hardly call that a service. And back at 16.56. Some other schedules are by changing in Paris, Ebbsfleet or even London.

 

[Deepgreen]

Might have been Ebbsfleet come to think of it. Either way, platforms 3 & 4 never look very busy these days.

Trifling detail!

 

[leshuttle]

I'm looking to go to Düsseldorf by Eurostar/ICE and have noticed similar..

Neither Ashford or Ebbsfleet seem to have the through tickets to Germany available on trains that stop there whilst from London you can get them starting at £45 one-way.

Seems like the only options from Kent are to pay extra for separate Eurostar/DB tickets or travel 50 plus miles on Se back up to St Pancras.

 

[30907]

I'm looking to go to Düsseldorf by Eurostar/ICE and have noticed similar..

Neither Ashford or Ebbsfleet seem to have the through tickets to Germany available on trains that stop there whilst from London you can get them starting at £45 one-way.

Seems like the only options from Kent are to pay extra for separate Eurostar/DB tickets or travel 50 plus miles on Se back up to St Pancras.

IIRC Eurostar will allow you to join at Ebbsfleet with a London ticket and vv - the info is somewhere on their website - in the FAQs?. Provided the train stops there!

 

[EAD]

I'm looking to go to Düsseldorf by Eurostar/ICE and have noticed similar..

Neither Ashford or Ebbsfleet seem to have the through tickets to Germany available on trains that stop there whilst from London you can get them starting at £45 one-way.

Seems like the only options from Kent are to pay extra for separate Eurostar/DB tickets or travel 50 plus miles on Se back up to St Pancras.

While I have never tried it, Eurostar gives the advice that you can use a London ticket to board at Ebbsfleet or Ashford: (as 30907 says)

http://www.eurostar.com/be-en/contact-us/frequently-asked-questions/your-trip/can-i-board-the-eurostar-a-different-station

 

[Groningen]

And they do not mention Stratford International as a startingpoint?! Or did i miss something.

 

[AlexNL]

Eurostar does not call at Stratford International, they never have.

 

[EAD]

And they do not mention Stratford International as a startingpoint?! Or did i miss something.

Despite the grand name, no Eurostar trains stop there. The only services that do are the domestic High Speed trains between London and Kent.

 

[tony6499]

It was always a poor connection with the Marshlink services to Brighton and often quicker to go to Waterloo

 

[yorksrob]

Trifling detail!

I prefer the classic routes TBH
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

It was always a poor connection with the Marshlink services to Brighton and often quicker to go to Waterloo

But our DEMU's did get an additional CEP trailer out of it !

That said, Canterbury, Maidstone and Folkestone etc, you'd be saved a trip into London.

 

[Drifter47]

I'm looking to go to Düsseldorf by Eurostar/ICE and have noticed similar..

Neither Ashford or Ebbsfleet seem to have the through tickets to Germany available on trains that stop there whilst from London you can get them starting at £45 one-way.

Seems like the only options from Kent are to pay extra for separate Eurostar/DB tickets or travel 50 plus miles on Se back up to St Pancras.

£45 one way - I do not know about prices yet as I am planning to go to Cologne and beyond in May 2107 but if I booked the first part of that journey with Eurostar I would be travelling on a INTL(CIV) ticket.

As for travelling 50 plus miles on SE that is like someone living in central London traveling to Stevenage to board a service going in the direction from where they started.

 

[Groningen]

On December 14, 2016 i see a Sparpreis from London to Duesseldorf for 69,90 (one way) and it is that train that also stops in Ashford. Ariival in Duesseldorf is at 13.01.

 

[Drifter47]

IIRC Eurostar will allow you to join at Ebbsfleet with a London ticket and vv - the info is somewhere on their website - in the FAQs?. Provided the train stops there!

A good idea but nothing mentioned on the website so I got in touch with them and asked if possible to purchase the ticket London St.Pancras and join at Ashford International.

They said yes providing I arrive at the station before check-in closes at London St.Pancras.