Ashford International

The 3rd September 2020 was a sad day for Ashford: it was announced that Eurostar services would no longer call at the town’s station, bringing to a close twenty-four years of direct trains to France and Belgium. The last international services had in fact called in the previous March; they had ceased to run as a result of the pandemic lockdown that had come into force on the evening of 23rd of that month. Draconian travel restrictions by the end of that year had reduced Eurostar services to a single train in either direction between London and Paris per day; the same service frequency was maintained between the former and Amsterdam, stations at Lille, Brussels, and Rotterdam being served en-route. Ebbsfleet International was also dropped from Eurostar’s schedule and, along with Ashford, it was reported that continental trains would not return until 2022 at the earliest. However, at the time of writing — January 2025 — Ashford and Ebbsfleet International stations remain devoid of their continental trains, with little hope in sight for their return. On the French side of the Channel, the service calling pattern had not come through COVID unscathed either: Calais-Fréthun was dropped as a Eurostar calling point.

On 17th November 1973, a Treaty was signed between British and French Governments on the construction and operation of the Channel Tunnel (ref: House of Commons Debate, UK Parliament Hansard, 20th January 1975). This set the ball rolling on the driving of preliminary bores on each side of the Channel. The entire project was priced at £846 million, which included a £120 million high speed line between the proposed tunnel entrance at Cheriton and White City in West London. The high speed line was to be mostly formed by modifying and widening existing lines, but would incorporate 25-miles of genuinely new route (ref: Kent Evening Post, 5th February 1974). In the previous September, a Government White Paper on the Channel Tunnel had stated that the most significant effect on office and factory development in connection with the project would be the siting of an international station between London and the Kent Coast. At the time, Ashford, Folkestone, or somewhere in-between the two, were considered as possible locations for the station (ref: Kent Evening Post, 5th February 1974).

The British Government announced their abandonment of the Channel Tunnel project on 20th January 1975 (ref: House of Commons Debate, UK Parliament Hansard, 20th January 1975). By that time, the estimated cost to complete the project was £2,000 million, about £370 million of that being attributed to the high speed line (ref: Burton Daily Mail (Staffordshire), 18th January 1975). Four years later, BR proposed an alternative £650 million Chunnel scheme, with the backing of the then MPs for Ashford and Shepway. This dispensed with the high speed line and a huge freight terminal of the 1973 project, but retained the concept of an international passenger station at either Ashford, Cheriton, or — BR’s preference — Westenhanger (ref: Kent Evening Post, 13th June 1979).

Ashford International in 2003, showing connections between the Kent Coast Main Line and the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (today's "High Speed 1"). Click the above for a larger version. © David Glasspool

On 19th March 1980 in a House of Commons Debate, the then Minister of Transport, Norman Fowler, gave guarded approval for the Channel Tunnel project, and invited proposals on a scheme funded entirely by private finance (ref: House of Commons Debate, UK Parliament Hansard, 19th March 1980). A consortium had already been formed by this time and, hours after the Government’s announcement, it unveiled a £539 million scheme for a single bore tunnel of 36-KM (22⅓-miles) length. This compared with an £800 million BR scheme already under consideration, which involved building a 50-KM (31-mile) tunnel with shallower gradients at either end (ref: Daily Post (Liverpool), 21st March 1980). The consortium went by the name of the European Channel Tunnel Group (CTG) and although the front runner in the project, multiple other consortia entered the competition, notably:

(Ref: Daily Post (Liverpool), 1st November 1985)

6th April 1994

Officially, rebuilding work commenced on 20th October 1993 and, as seen here in this London-bound view, by April of the following year the buildings on platform Nos. 3 and 4 had been cordoned off and demolition was in progress. The Channel Tunnel had yet to officially open and scheduled "Eurostar" services did not commence until November 1994, indicating that Class 373 set Nos. 3102 (leading) and 3101 were on a training run. © David Glasspool Collection

In July 1985, representatives for the consortia competing for the Chunnel contract met the Ashford Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the town’s Flour Mills in East Hill. It was doubted that the land at Cheriton earmarked for both passenger and freight traffic would be sufficient, and it was suggested that anything that could not be accommodated there should go to Ashford. This included the possibility of an international station, potentially a rebuild of the existing BR site, and customs facilities for lorries in the south east of the town (ref: Kentish Express, 26th July 1985). By 1985, the CTG scheme had evolved into twin-bore tunnels, each hosting a single track and carrying purpose-built shuttle trains, priced at £2.3 billion (ref: Daily Post (Liverpool), 1st November 1985).

On 20th January 1986 the then Prime Minister of the UK, Margaret Thatcher, and the President of France, François Mitterrand, announced in Lille their respective Governments’ decisions to move forward with the proposal of the CTG (ref: House of Commons Debate, UK Parliament Hansard, 20th January 1986). This was followed by the signing of the Fixed Link Treaty in Canterbury Cathedral on 12th February 1986 (ref: Fixed Link Treaty 1986, legislation.gov.uk).

The CTG selected Ashford as the location for an international passenger station and inland clearance depot for freight (ref: Kentish Express, 20th February 1986). Enshrined in the Channel Tunnel Bill of 17th April 1986 was the provision of a passenger station at Ashford, adjacent to the existing one, including footbridges linking the two. The new station would feature a terminal building equipped with border controls and have car parks on surrounding land. A South Orbital Road in Ashford also formed part of the Bill, as did a holding area for freight vehicles bound for or originating from the Chunnel shuttle service. The then new passenger station was priced at £16 million (ref: Kentish Express, 24th April 1986). The Channel Tunnel Act was passed on 23rd July 1987 (ref: Channel Tunnel Act 1987, legislation.gov.uk).

Early 1995

A south eastward (coast-bound) view from platform 4 shows the construction of platform Nos. 5 and 6 at an advanced stage, albeit the track bed had yet to be formed. The framework on stilts is part of what eventually became a roofed staff footbridge linking platform Nos. 5 and 6 with a car park on the northern side of the railway. The grey block with black windows in the background is Ashford IECC. The Network SouthEast platform No. 4 number signs affixed to the new canopy were short-lived, for this island became dedicated to Eurostar services. © David Glasspool Collection

Although provision for an international station at Ashford had been made in the Channel Tunnel Act, it did not guarantee one would actually be built. By January 1989, BR had put up for sale large areas of land that it owned in Ashford Town Centre, the idea being to use the proceeds to fund the international station. However, even at this time there was no firm commitment towards building it (ref: Kentish Express, 12th January 1989).

During the 1989 to 1990 Parliamentary Session (21st November 1989 to 1st November 1990 inclusive), the British Railways Board submitted a Bill for the following purposes:

The Bill had its first reading in the House of Lords on 16th January 1990; the second reading was on 26th March. However, the Bill was suspended on 17th October of that year until the next Parliamentary session (ref: House of Commons Sessional Information Digest 1989-1990, January 1991). The delays prevented a start being made on the construction of the international station at Ashford, for which Eurotunnel (the name of the CTG since 1986) and BR had a memorandum of agreement for the site to be open by June 1993 (ref: The Railway Magazine, January 1992). Eurotunnel’s concern about the time it was taking the Government to come to a decision was to the extent that they commissioned a study to appraise the opening of a temporary station: this was to comprise a platform on the "up" side of the line, west of the existing Ashford station, which would only be long enough to accommodate half an international train formation, and was estimated to cost £4 million. However, BR countered the idea on the grounds that the platform would seriously impede existing train movements and that there was no economic case for a temporary station at Ashford (ref: The Railway Magazine, January 1992).

Early 1995

The mounds of earth on the right of this London-bound view from platform 4 would eventually make way for the tracks serving platform Nos. 5 and 6. The windowless footbridge span was temporary for the duration of the station's rebuilding, whilst beyond is the then new widened span carrying the road (A2042) over the railway. © David Glasspool Collection

Eventually, the Bill passed and became enshrined in the British Railways Act 1992. On Wednesday, 14th August of that year, BR made public for the first time detailed plans of its proposed Ashford International station (ref: Kent Today, 13th August 1992). The station was priced at £80 million and involved redeveloping the existing site. A new two-storey-high international station building was planned for the south side of the railway, adjacent to the existing island forming platforms 1 and 2, these of which would continue to serve domestic trains. The second island, which formed platforms 3 and 4, would be lengthened and used exclusively for international trains; a new island — platform 5 and 6 — would be built north of the international platforms and be used by domestic services. The international station building’s ground floor was planned to incorporate a ticket office, immigration, and arrival halls; the upper level was to house passport control, shops, and a departure lounge capable of accommodating 800 people. On the northern side of the station, a new single-storey main building was to be commissioned for domestic services, and parking would be available for 4,000 cars (ref: Kent Today, 13th August 1992). The design of the station was the product of BR’s Architecture & Design Group, and at the time it was expected that ten to fifteen daytime services would call at Ashford International, in addition to overnight trains (ref: The Railway Magazine, November 1992). Both sides of the station would be linked by a subway, and a second subway would also directly connect the international island platform with the exit on the south side of the railway.

On Friday, 13th November 1992, the Government announced that they had given BR permission to borrow £30 million of the required £80 million for the Ashford International project, which was required to make track and signalling alterations and to complete design work on the station buildings (ref: Kentish Express (Ashford and District), 19th November 1992). In spite of this, however, formal Government approval for the station had still not been given. On 19th March 1993, the Government finally gave the "green light" for an international station to be sited in Ashford, allowing the project to go ahead, with tenders for construction being sought in July and work envisioned to start in September (ref: Kentish Express, 25th March 1993).

31st July 1995

Class 33 No. 33021 was on hand with loaded ballast wagons as part of engineering works to relay the "down" through line. "Mainline", as displayed on the body side, was one of three freight brands — the other two being "LoadHaul" and "Transrail" — that the former BR TrainLoad freight sectors were divided up into as part of the privatisation process. No. 33021 had previously been part of the "TranLoad Construction" (stone) pool of locomotives based at Stewarts Lane and had received the "Mainline" logo by October. The framework of the buildings upon international platform Nos. 3 and 4 was well advanced, but glazing had yet to be installed. © David Glasspool Collection

On 20th October 1993, the start of work on Ashford International station was formally marked when the then MP for the town, Sir Keith Speed, dug the first hole using a mechanical digger supplied by contractor Osborne of Chichester (ref: The Railway Magazine, December 1993). This was for the first phase of the scheme, which involved the aforementioned £30 million of track and signalling works. The second phase, which included the construction of the terminal buildings, would only start when a private sector development partner had been chosen (ref: The Railway Magazine, December 1993).

By April 1994, the structures on platforms 3 and 4 had been cordoned off and demolition work started. These buildings dated from the station’s last major reconstruction that was completed in early 1966 (ref: Southern Electric 1909-1979, G.T. Moody), undertaken in connection with the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme. On 7th August 1995 the then new domestic island, forming platform Nos. 5 and 6, was brought into use, although the structures upon it were far from complete (ref: Branch Line News No. 761, Branch Line News, 9th September 1995). This island replaced the original platform Nos. 3 and 4, these of which became dedicated to international trains. However, initially, the new domestic island platform faces were numbered 3 and 4, and the tracks serving them signalled for reversible running (ref: Branch Line News No. 761, Branch Line News, 9th September 1995). On Monday, 4th September 1995, the then new domestic "terminal" station building on the north side of the railway opened, complete with adjacent cycle parking (ref: Branch Line News No. 764, Branch Line Society, 21st October 1995).

21st February 1996

Waterloo-bound Class 373 set Nos. 3216 and 3215 are seen approaching platform No. 3 five days before the international station was officially opened by the Duke of Kent. Scheduled Eurostar services had commenced on 8th January 1996. The lengthy footbridge in the background today links the south eastern ends of platform Nos. 3/4 and 5/6 with a Network Rail Maintenance Depot on part of the former Ashford Works site, whilst also providing access to the "up" carriage sidings adjacent to the line to Appledore and Hastings. © David Glasspool Collection

The entirety of Ashford station was scheduled to be closed from Saturday, 9th until Monday, 11th December 1995 to allow the existing signal box to be decommissioned and its functions transferred to the then new Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC) on the northern side of the railway (ref: Branch Line News No. 764, Branch Line Society, 21st October 1995). Ashford signal box was abolished on Tuesday, 12th December 1995, when the IECC took control of the line between there and Pluckley and Hothfield to the west, and Wye, Herringe (Sellinge, Ashford), and Ham Street to the east (ref: Branch Line News No. 773, Branch Line Society, 9th March 1996). The international platforms were commissioned at the same time (ref: Branch Line News No. 773, Branch Line Society, 9th March 1996), but timetabled passenger traffic did not serve them until 8th January 1996 (ref: Branch Line News No. 776, Branch Line Society, 27th April 1996). Ashford International was officially opened by the Duke of Kent on 26th February 1996, who travelled from London on a formation comprising Networker Class 466 Nos. 466009 and 466010 (ref: The Railway Magazine, May 1996). The international platforms were numbered 3 and 4; the then new domestic island platform faces were renumbered 5 and 6.

A peculiarity of European Passenger Services’ First Class departure lounge at Ashford International was that it was licensed by Kent County Council as a wedding venue for civil ceremonies. This had been made possible by legislation that had come into force in England and Wales in April of the previous year (ref: Branch Line News No. 779, Branch Line Society, 8th June 1996).

14th June 1996

On the "down" through line between platform Nos. 2 and 3 is Class 47 No. 47475 "Restive", which was wearing the colours of British Rail sector "Rail Express Systems" (RES). RES handled parcels traffic and Queen Elizabeth II's Royal Train, and US-based "Wisconsin Central Railway" bought a one-third stake in the sector in December 1995. All parcels vehicles in the above photograph are of the BR Mk 1 profile, the liveries on display being Royal Mail Red, InterCity "Executive", British Rail Blue/Grey and, finally, RES Black and Red. The footbridge in the background dated from the station’s rebuilding as part of the Kent Coast Electrification Scheme, completed in 1966; this span was still standing in April 1998, but had gone by 2002. A short section of this footbridge still exists, linking platform Nos. 1 and 2 with the "up" side of the station, for staff use only. © David Glasspool Collection

On 18th December 1996, the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) Bill received Royal Assent (ref: Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996, 18th December 1996). This provided the framework for the construction, maintenance, and operation of a high speed railway between London St Pancras and the Channel Tunnel portal at Castle Hill, Folkestone. In addition to St Pancras, new international stations were to be built at Stratford in East London and Ebbsfleet in the Borough of Dartford, Kent. At Ashford, a cut-and-cover tunnel and 1,400-metre viaduct would carry the CTRL through western and eastern parts of the town respectively, allowing trains to pass by non-stop at 270 KM/H (168 MPH). Grade-separated junctions between the CTRL and Kent Coast Main Line were to be provided at both ends of Ashford International to allow selected Eurostar services to call at the station.

Previously, on 29th February 1996, the consortium London & Continental Railways (LCR) had been announced as the winner of the Government’s competition to finance, build, and operate the CTRL (ref: House of Commons Debate (Channel Tunnel Rail Link), UK Parliament Hansard, 29th February 1996). In that year, Ashford International was transferred from Government to LCR ownership, with a value at the time of £41 million (ref: House of Commons Debate (Channel Tunnel Rail Link), UK Parliament Hansard, 4th February 1998).

Summer 1996

"Regional" Eurostar half set Nos. 3301 and 3302 are seen on a test run beside international platform No. 4. Fourteen of these half sets were manufactured to operate on "North of London" international services, calling at British provincial cities, going as far north as Glasgow and Edinburgh. These services never ran and, eventually, No. 3301 found itself deployed on the East Coast Main Line between Kings Cross and Leeds from summer 2000. © David Glasspool Collection

By March 1998, franchise operator Connex South Eastern had launched a cross-Channel bus service linking Ashford International with SNCF’s Calais Ville station. These buses used Eurotunnel’s Shuttle services and departed Ashford International hourly from 08:00 to 17:00, and Calais Ville from 11:30 to 20:30 local time, the return fare being £14.50 (ref: Branch Line News No. 823, Branch Line Society, 4th April 1998). Tickets for the cross-Channel bus were available from any Connex South Eastern station, but the service was short-lived. Reportedly, loadings were reasonable, but the service was not well advertised; additionally, buses did not have a guaranteed space on Shuttle trains, meaning that they would often arrive to find out that their allocated space had been resold. The last services ran on Thursday, 29th October 1998 (ref: Branch Line News No. 839, Branch Line Society, 5th December 1998).

Building work on Section 1 of the CTRL was officially inaugurated on 15th October 1998 on the banks of the Medway at Cuxton (ref: Branch Line News No. 840, Branch Line Society, 19th December 1998). The 15.2-KM section of route through Ashford — from Lenham Heath to Sevington — formed Contract 430 of the CTRL, which was priced at £140 million and awarded to Kvaerner Construction (ref: Railway Gazette International, 1st October 1998), the firm of which later became part of Skanska.

In March 2001, the largest single-span footbridge ever constructed in the UK at that time was lifted into place in Ashford (ref: Belfast Newsletter, 26th March 2001). It was manufactured by the McGrath Group, an engineering firm based in Lisburn, Northern Ireland (ref: Belfast Newsletter, 26th March 2001), and crosses eleven railway tracks 330-metres west of the station. This was one of four pedestrian bridges that the company manufactured for installation in Ashford as part of the CTRL project (ref: Ulster Star (Northern Ireland), 18th August 2000).

22nd June 2007

Ten years later, a sea of masts and electrified wires present itself to disembarking passengers, the catenary having been installed during construction of the CTRL. The international platforms' main run-in nameboards comprised capitalised plain white lettering on a black background and lacked any operator logo; however, those signs beneath the canopy had black writing on a white background, in addition to a lower yellow srtipe. © David Glasspool

On the western approaches to Ashford, a 1,562-metre-long cut-and-cover tunnel was built, which carried the CTRL beneath the Maidstone East line. It was at this stage that chords were sprouted from the CTRL at what became known as Ashford West Junction, to connect with the Kent Coast Main Line. After the tunnel, the CTRL was carried upon a 1,430-metre-long viaduct that ran along the northern side of Ashford International station, to be used by non-stop trains. A second set of chords at the south eastern end of the station provided another direct connection between the "classic" lines and CTRL, and all of these details can be seen on the accompanying diagram.

By 19th February 2002, there was track on the new CTRL formation in-between the Bearsted area and west of Ashford, and catenary masts — minus wires — were in place in-between the former and Charing Heath (ref: Branch Line News No. 917, Branch Line Society, 9th March 2002). In the last week of May 2002, track laying began over Ashford Viaduct and beyond, and by July of that year catenary masts (minus wires) had been installed along international platform Nos. 3 and 4 and also domestic platform Nos. 5 and 6 (ref: Branch Line News No. 926, Branch Line Society, 13th July 2002).

On 9th February 2003, overhead wires were energised from Fawkham to Ashford (ref: Branch Line News No. 940, Branch Line Society, 22nd February 2003). Section 1 of the CTRL, from Fawkham Junction to Cheriton, was officially opened on 16th September 2003; however, scheduled Eurostar passenger services used the then new line from 28th of that month (ref: The Railway Magazine, November 2003).

22nd June 2007

The Class 373 formation seen in the previous view is depicted leaving the Kent Coast Main Line at Ashford "C" Junction, on course to rejoin the CTRL to continue the journey to Waterloo International via Fawkham Junction. In the background is the public footbridge manufactured by Northern Ireland-based "McGrath Group" in 2001, which at the time was the largest single-span structure of its kind in the UK. On the right can be seen the retaining walls of the cut-and-cover tunnel carrying that part of the CTRL bypassing the station. © David Glasspool

On 13th December 2009, in combination with the start of the National Winter Timetable, the then new domestic high speed train timetable between St Pancras International and the Kent Coast, which utilised HS1 between the former and Ashford, commenced. The first service to run was the 07:58 Faversham to St Pancras (via the Medway Towns and North Kent Line), formed of "Javelin" unit Nos. 395017 and 395025 (ref: The Railway Magazine, March 2010). London could now be reached from Ashford in little over 36 minutes.

In July 2015, funding was approved to equip Ashford International station’s platform Nos. 3 and 4, and the chords that link them to High Speed 1 (HS1, the name applied to the CTRL from November 2006 onwards), with European Train Control System (ETCS) signalling (ref: Rail Technology Magazine, 14th July 2015). This was in response to the introduction of the Siemens e320 (Class 374) fleet, the first units of which had arrived in Britain in January of the previous year. The e320 series units were not equipped with the Automatic Warning System (AWS) used on the domestic lines, precluding them from coming off HS1 to serve the station. Additionally, the international platforms’ edging needed modification to accommodate the e320 units, the latter of which were larger than their Class 373 predecessors, having been built to the European UIC-B loading gauge. Work to adapt the platforms to the larger loading gauge began in January 2018, by which time resignalling was already in progress (ref: Network Rail Media Centre, 15th January 2018). The work was part of a £10 million project backed by both Ashford Borough and Kent County Councils, with funding emanating from the South East Local Enterprise Partnership, and was intended to "future-proof" the station to accept any passenger class of train passed to run through the Channel Tunnel (ref: Network Rail Media Centre, 3rd April 2018). On Tuesday, 3rd April 2018 the first e320 formation — on the 14:55 departure to Paris — called at Ashford International with ceremony (ref: Network Rail Media Centre, 3rd April 2018). However, less than a week later, the then new signalling system at Ashford failed; as a result, Network Rail and Eurostar jointly announced that e320 units would not call at the station whilst the cause of the problem was investigated (ref: The Railway Magazine, May 2018). Class 373 formations continued to serve Ashford International until the first COVID lockdown of March 2020.

Next >>

Return to the Kent Rail Homepage or alternatively, check for Updates.

Website & Copyright information - Links - Contact the Webmaster