by political editor Paul Francis

High speed trains are to be extended to Deal and Sandwich from the Autumn, it has been announced.

The new services follow a campaign by the Trains4Deal group and backed by the East Kent Mercury. It is hoped the services will boost the prospect of businesses coming to the area in the wake of the decision by Pfizer to close its site with the loss of 2,400 jobs.

It will also be welcomed by passengers, who currently face some of the longest journey times to and from London of anywhere on the rail network.

From October, there will be three peak-hour trains to London St Pancras in the morning and two in the evening. The services will be trialled for a year and will be part subsidised by the taxpayer after Kent County Council agreed to meet £151,000 of the costs.

Journey times will be cut to about 90 minutes.

Dover and Deal MP Charlie Elphicke said: "This will be a real boost for local business."

Sandwich MP Laura Sandys said: "This new high speed service is a tremendous incentive for new investment and business to locate here and great news for local people."

• See next week's East Kent Mercury for full details and reaction.