Super-fast train services from Canterbury to London should be available in a year.

Transport Minister Andrew Adonis has launched a one-year countdown to the introduction of high speed passenger services by Southeastern.

Purpose-built Class 395 trains - capable of 140mph when running on High Speed 1 - will dramatically slash journey times in and out of the capital.

Canterbury, currently 102 minutes away, will have access to London in just over the hour.

For the launch, Lord Adonis travelled from Ashford International to London St Pancras International aboard a Class 395 in just 37 minutes.

From December 13, next year, when the trains become fully operational, they will be capable of running on other tracks at existing line speeds.

Charles Horton, Southeastern’s managing director, said: “This is a huge step forward and gives thousands of our passengers a whole new range of choices about where they live, how they travel to work and how they link up with rail connections to other parts of the country and the Continent.”

Lord Adonis said: “When these trains enter service next year they will transform the journeys of large numbers of rail passengers travelling between Kent and London - in some cases halving journey times.”