We spoke about the impact of Eurostar halting services on The Kent Politics Show...
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00:00So we haven't had international services now for five years, out of Absolutely International
00:04or Ashford. In Kent we have international platforms literally gathering dust. And it's
00:12vital that we get those services restarted. I don't buy Eurostar's excuses on this, that
00:18there isn't enough demand. There's absolutely demand. The tourism industry in Kent generates
00:24millions and millions of pounds each year. The demand is there. And I think what we need
00:28to see is those services up and running again. Eurostar's argument is, before the pandemic,
00:34just 4% of passengers travelled from those two Kent stations. So how significant would
00:39it actually be if just 4% of passengers are using the Kent stations?
00:42Well, it's clear we've had population growth since that time. And look, this is – not
00:48only do you have the problem of there not being services available from EBSV and Ashford, it's
00:55not unusual to see delays at St Pancras as well. And that is because there are not enough
01:00routes on the stop to actually – to help passengers actually break up their journey
01:05and use alternative stations. So actually it's causing delays and congestion at St Pancras
01:10as well.
01:11Tudor, we've heard more about monopolies this week. That's going to put pressure, isn't
01:14it, on Eurostar?
01:15Now, so the Chamber and many other stakeholders have been involved in a campaign group, so we've
01:20been working on this for a number of years. And so we know, statistically, there was about
01:24£40 million worth of profit to be made out of the Ashford station alone. We've done
01:28the statistics, we've done the measurements on that. Eurostar would of course only put
01:31forward the statistics they want you to hear that makes their case and obviously we're
01:34going to put forward the statistics from our side. We have conducted surveys, over 500
01:39businesses have already indicated how it impacts their local economy and their businesses.
01:45We have been working really hard with Eurostar, and I quote, they said that it would require
01:51too much effort to reinstate those services back in Ashford. And that doesn't mean that
01:57they're not profitable, they just really can't be bothered. So we've been trying to play nice.
02:01We've decided actually that it's not going to work anymore. And so we have been working
02:04with the government and other stakeholders to try and encourage more operators to come into
02:09the market and, as Jonathan says, break that monopoly, bring back services. And we're really
02:13encouraged that the newly named High Speed One, now to London St Pancras High Speed, has
02:20actually provided financial incentives for those operators to buy into those stops.
02:23And this is having an economic impact, isn't it, at the moment? I've heard you talking
02:27about it time and time again. Just explain very simply how international rail services are impacting
02:32businesses here in Kent. Well, it was there. So all of these big infrastructure projects,
02:36what they do, they sort of have a gravitational pull, in effect, from an economic perspective.
02:40So you sort of draw in a lot of industries and sectors that sort of tend to feed into that.
02:44So whether they're, even if you're not travelling from the international stages, you might be
02:48providing the food, you might be doing the cleaning, you might be providing local hotel
02:51services, taxis and things. That was all up and running and growing. And so that did a huge
02:55amount to impact the local economy. That's been gone. It's been gone for five years, as Jonathan
03:00said. So we're now starting to see that dissipate. And if we want to try and retain that foundation
03:05for growth, we need these services back. And finally, Jonathan, one of the arguments Eurostar's making
03:11is the impact of the European Union's new EES entry-exit system, introducing that to Kent
03:18stations. I think I've heard arguments about room, the capacity to put it in, staffing of that.
03:23Is that a fair argument Eurostar's making? Well, it's certainly true that exiting the European Union
03:28didn't help the situation with international services, but it's not a barrier. It shouldn't
03:35be a barrier. And actually, all of the fact that there, as Chida says, there are operating
03:40companies waiting to come forward to operate this route, I think tells you that that is
03:45not a barrier to be able to operate services, operate services profitably, and get services
03:50running back again from Epstein and Ashford.