TWO-thirds of staff at a Kent rail maintenance depot are to be made redundant by Christmas.

In a shock announcement, the French/Canadian-owned Bombardier firm based at the Chart Leacon depot told staff that 200 of them were to go.

A total of 300 people currently work at the Ashford depot.

The decision was taken as their fleet support team of 260 is nearing the end of a contract for South West trains and they have been unable to find further replacement work.

Communications director Neil Harvey said: "We have been pulling out all the stops attempting to find additional work but sadly that has been unsuccessful.

"We have been in Ashford for more than a decade but the staff numbers fluctuate according to the contracts we have.

"There is no question of the company pulling out of Ashford and it should be remembered that two years ago before the present contract the workforce was around 60 people."

Earlier this year, workers at the depot completed maintenance on a 75-year-old Orient Express train carriage.

A 10-strong team at Ashford had the job of overhauling the undercarriage of the car.