THE axing of Eurostar services from Ashford to mainland Europe from late next year overshadowed the official unveiling of Ebbsfleet International Station.

Rail chiefs countered widespread criticism of the decision to eliminate direct services to Brussels and reduce those to Paris by saying that Kent would gain overall because of new services from Ebbsfleet.

But that was not enough to stop local politicians voicing their concerns. Cllr Alex King, deputy leader of Kent County Council, welcomed the opening of the new station but called for a "balanced set of Eurostar services from both Ashford and the new Ebbsfleet station."

He expressed "surprise" that Eurostar had decided to announce the cut in services from Ashford on the same day as the prestigious station opened.

Richard Ashworty, Kent Conservative Euro-MP, was disappointed with the decision.

"Of course, Eurostar must be free to make commercial decisions regarding its operations but it is very disappointing to hear Ashford will be losing many services to the continent," he said.

"The decision does seem to contradict government policy of making Ashford a gateway to the rest of Europe. There is a real danger that the vast levels of building occurring around Ashford will not be backed up with the necessary infrastructure.

"Being a railway town, Ashford is well-connected to other stations across Kent and Sussex. The government has encouraged business to invest in the area so they can benefit from being near the gateway to Europe. To suddenly cut off services is going to cause them considerable inconvenience."

Under the plans, a new timetable will be launched next autumn when high-speed services between St Pancras and Paris/Brussels are introduced. It will show journey times between Ebbsfleet and Paris of 2h 5m, 1h 41m to Brussels and 1h 10m to Lille. But it will also show no direct services to Brussels.

Paris services will be retained, but only three a day. Passengers wishing to travel to Brussels will have to change at Lille. Overall outbound services stopping at Ashford will fall from10 a day to just four.

Richard Brown, Eurostar chief executive, said he understood why people in Ashford would be disappointed. "Nobody likes having train services taken away compared with what they’ve got now. But I really would stress that the service that we’re providing from Ashford is a very good service. It’s as good as or better than competing air services."

He denied the station was being downgraded and ruled out closure of the station, a rumour put about by trade union sources,

He said that not enough passengers at Ashford currently used Brussels services - around 50 a day - and half of those were expected to switch to Ebbsfleet. It no longer economic to keep the service.

"Ebbsfleet will be used by at least two and half times as many passengers as currently use Ashford and there will be switching from Ashford to Ebbsfleet," he said.

"The service we are offering to Paris will be a good service that caters for both business and leisure passengers. We’ve talked to Kent County Council and Ashford borough council to try and make sure we’re pitching those trains at the best possible times for customers.

"But the Brussels market from the UK, not just from Ashford, is much much smaller than the Paris market and commecially we’ve not been able to make a case for through Brussels trains in Ashford."

He dismissed claims that it was a political mistake because several MEPs take the train from Ashford to Brussels. "I’m not a politician, I don’t run a political business. My remit is to run a commercial business. I cannot justify stopping trains if it’s going to lose me money."

While fewer services will lead to job cuts at Ashford - 52 people are employed there now - staff no longer required at Ashford will switch to Ebbsfleet.

But it was not all gloomy news for Ashford. Mr Brown confirmed that Eurostar was keeping its call centre operation there employing 300 staff.

Observers called the launch a public relations embarrassment because the news about Ashford, which sees international as well as high-speed rail services as a key part of its regeneration plans, drew attention away from Kent’s second international station.

The impressive new station, costing more than £100 million, will play a major role in the economic revival of the Thames Gateway. It will have 9,000 parking spaces.

Ebbsfleet will also take domestic high speed services on Hitachi trains from December 2009.