Huge boost for Brits as UK railway station set to get first direct trains to Europe in nearly a decade
A MAJOR UK train station could get new routes to Europe again - five years after they were scrapped.
Ebbsfleet International in
Kent
used to be a stopping station for Eurostar.
3
A railway station in Kent could get international trains again - the first in nearly a decade
Credit: Alamy
3
Ebbsfleet International used to be a stopping station for Eurostar
Credit: Alamy
This included six trains a day to
Paris
and Brussels as well as four trains a week to Disneyland Paris.
However, these were suspended back in 2020 due to the
pandemic
, with them yet to be restored.
The station is now only currently used by HS1 between London and Kent.
But Eurostar rival
Gemini
- who recently
Read more on UK trains
Gemini CEO
Adrian
Quine told the
England
, outside the M25, for whom having a direct service to the continent is extremely important.
"Ebbsfleet is a perfect station. It's designed for international traffic, it's got a massive car park, it's very well connected via the road network and it's connected to the rest of Kent via the HS1 service.
"We're proposing every train stops there."
The new European route is likely to start from 2029, nearly a decade after the station stopped having international train services.
Most read in News Travel
And Gemini also revealed plans to operate from
If this goes ahead, it would be the first time the station ever has trains to
Europe
, despite being an "international" station.
Top 5 Picturesque Train Journeys in Europe
This also means it would have to undergo huge infrastructure improvements to be able to handle passport and security control.
Until then, Brits can only hop on a train to Europe from St Pancras, with Eurostar also suspending routes via Ashford International during the pandemic.
International routes from the K
And it's not just Gemini wanting to take on Eurostar.
Earlier this year,
And Virgin also wants to launch UK-Europe routes, with plans to buy 12 trains, costing £500million.
Here are
And we've rounded up the
3
The station is currently only used by HS1 between London and Kent
Credit: Alamy
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