Kent's two international stations will be plugged into new services to European destinations...if enough passengers want them.

That was the message from Transport Secretary Philip Hammond and Eurostar chief executive Nicolas Petrovic after the transport operator unveiled a £700 million investment in 10 new German-built trains and a facelift for the existing fleet.

The new trains will come into service in 2014, although services to new destinations will almost certainly happen before then as Eurostar gears up to fight likely competition from Deutsche Bahn and other operators in a new "open-access" era.

Speaking at a news conference in the Royal Albert Hall, Mr Petrovic said that although no decisions had yet been taken, the company was considering direct services to destinations such as Amsterdam (four hours) and Geneva (five hours).

Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International would be considered for stops. "We shall be looking at how we could do that," he said.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said: "Mr Petrovic has taken on board the appeal from Kent but he's made clear that Eurostar will operate as a commercial service. This is not any more a world where the Government tells companies where they stop their trains. They make these decisions on the basis of passenger demand. If passenger demand is there, clearly the company will want to operate the services."

Mr Hammond added that it was important for High-Speed1 to be linked to the proposed HS2 project to extend high-speed rail from London to the Midlands and beyond. The new high-speed rail strategy would help close the fiscal deficit, contribute to economic growth and meet climate change targets.

Eurostar is ordering the new 320 trains from Siemens. They will run at 200 mph, faster than the existing trains, and cut journey times to Paris to just over two hours. They will also carry 900 passengers, 150 more than the present capacity. A mock-up was displayed alongside the Albert Memorial after the news conference.

"The new structure puts us in a very strong position to compete in an open access world of rail competition," said Mr Petrovic.

"It also, we believe, makes Eurostar the first truly pan-European hi-speed train operator. These are exciting times for high-speed rail and Eurostar is ambitious for its future."