Eurostar is to extend its service to Amsterdam with more trains running from next year - but passengers hoping to travel from Ebbsfleet or Ashford are likely to be disappointed.

The company says that stops at the Kent stations would not make it competitive with alternative means of transport.

The service to Amsterdam has proved popular since its introduction and Eurostar is keen to build on that success.

Since launching the service in April, it claims to have carried over 130,000 additional customers.

Trains travel at a speed of around 300kph with the journey taking around three hours.

Although the service out to Amsterdam goes directly to the city, return journeys involve a change at Brussels with passengers needing to go through customs checks.

The company said: “As soon as the border controls allowing a direct journey are in place from The Netherlands to the UK, we intend to double the current number of trains each day to four with ambitions for five services a day.”

The prospect of more services to Amsterdam emerged from comments in an interview with Dutch transport secretary Stientje van Veldhoven, saying she was enthusiastic about the plans as she wants to see “as many passengers as possible off the plane for short distances [flights] within Europe.”

From June 2019, a new third train will run from St Pancras in the middle of the day, in addition to the existing morning service and late afternoon run. However, the services will not run at the weekend.

Ashford MP Damian Green said it was disappointing but that a sound economic case could be made for having intermediate stops.

“We have shown before that a case can be made for additional services stopping at Ashford that work effectively economically - such as those to Disneyland and Paris - and it is a case of chipping away and making the same case here.”