Kent's political leaders come together to demand international rail return in Ashford

Local Democracy Reporter Ollie Leader was at the event.

Transcript

00:00It was a rare moment of political unity in Ebbsfleet and Ashford as campaigners, council

00:15leaders and even the power of performative dance came together for one reason to ensure

00:21international rail services returned to the county. Families no longer can easily jump

00:27on a train and get to Ashford, to get to Paris, to get to Lille, to get to Europe, go further

00:34on to their holidays, the ski train, the Disney train, let alone all the businessmen that were

00:40commuting on a regular basis. It's an absolute devastation. The Kent countryside barreling

00:46past me between Ashford and Ebbsfleet, the familiar site to tourists using the Eurostar

00:52services, as these services have not stopped here in Kent since 2020. And that's why everyone's

01:00gathered here today to try and bring those services back and put pressure on Eurostar to

01:06stop taking the Mickey. We need to end the monopoly of Eurostar. We need a competition. We need

01:12new operators. That's the only way we can generate growth, bring more passengers and the train

01:19to stop in Kent station. For another operator to step in, that's something the Office of Rail and

01:26Rows, which regulates the sector, will be making a decision on in the next month. But even if operators

01:32have the opportunity to run the services, there's no guarantee about their frequency or when they'll

01:39start. We need to hold them accountable. We need to ask them what we can do to help them make the

01:45right decision to open this up because we can't wait three years, four years until the other operators

01:51can do it. So Eurostar needs to be held to account. We need to really, really start talking to them

01:56about how can we help them do this? Eurostar says it will review whether to reopen its Kent stations

02:03next year and that they are closely monitoring the situation. But as a petition signed by more than 70,000

02:11local people was handed over calling for services to return and political leaders signed a joint

02:18agreement outlining their shared commitment on the issue, the message was clear despite uncertainty

02:27about when international rail will return. Well I can tell you what I'm not going to do and that is give

02:32up. I mean you've seen the size of the event today in Ashford and here at Ebbsfleet. I think it shows that

02:38we have got a lot of very influential, very clever people behind us. We're going to keep lobbying,

02:44we will keep going until we return those stopping services to Kent. The memorandum signed by key

02:49political figures from all parties here in Kent shows the political willpower to bring services back

02:55to Ebbsfleet and Ashford and with a decision expected from the rail regulator regarding that depot

03:01space any day now. Those services could be returning sooner rather than later. Oli Lieder in Ebbsfleet.