Eurostar, which runs passenger trains between London St Pancras International and Continental Europe, has revealed it will not reopen Ashford International or its other Kent station, Ebbsfleet International, in 2023 as expected. The train operator added: “We cannot commit for another two to three years.” Therefore, 2025 is the earliest a station can expect on the international route network. Both stations are on High Speed 1, the main line from London to the Channel Tunnel. Ebbsfleet, close to the M25 in north Kent, was purpose-built as a ‘park and ride’ location for travelers heading to the Continent. Ashford station was refurbished at a cost of hundreds of millions of pounds to accommodate international services. They closed very shortly after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Eurostar blames “an uncertain and fragile environment” following the coronavirus pandemic for their continued closures. In a statement, the company told The Independent: “Our recovery is progressing well, but we have significant financial commitments post-pandemic that we will continue to face for several years. “We need to focus on our most profitable cross-capital routes to enable us to meet our financial commitments, stabilize our operation and our customer experience, before considering any further developments.” But Eurostar also points to added wider complexity as a result of Brexit, saying: “Our border environment has also hardened post-Brexit and further complexity is expected with the launch of the EU entry system.” The Brexit deal negotiated by the UK government requires British travelers to be treated as third-country nationals, facing additional barriers when entering the European Union. Rather than simply checking the validity of travel documents, border guards must stamp all passports – and, in theory at least, interview the traveler about his intentions, financial resources and future travel plans. The entry-exit system, which is due to be operational from November 2023, is designed to facilitate such checks. It is an automated IT system for the registration of travelers from countries outside the EU and the Schengen area. Each time the traveler crosses the EU’s external borders, the system will record the date and place of entry and exit, as well as fingerprints and facial biometrics. The system, the European Union says, “will replace the current system of manual stamping of passports, which is time-consuming, does not provide reliable data on border crossings and does not allow systematic detection of overstayers.” British travelers are now limited to a 90-day stay in any 180 days, but checks currently depend on examining passport stamps and are random. Eurostar would not comment further, but the company has already warned a parliamentary committee about the potential impact of the new entry fee system on its operations. Gareth Williams, director of strategy for Eurostar, told his peers on the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee: “We don’t currently see a practical solution. If we take the August peak, up to 80 percent of people will have to go through the system. “We have a very extreme space challenge. At the very least we would need over 30 kiosks and an area roughly the size of our entire check-in area at St Pancras.” The requirement for biometrics will not apply to EU citizens. Mark Smith, the international rail expert known as The Man In Seat 61, tweeted: “Eurostar have just confirmed they will not be calling at Ebbsfleet/Ashford in 2023, with Brexit (once again) part of the problem ». Eurostar’s statement on Ashford and Ebbsfleet ended: “We understand this will be disappointing for local communities and we will continue to work closely and openly with local councils on the future of the stations.” In the 2016 EU referendum, Ashford voted 59-41 to leave the European Union.
