Plans for a faster rail connection between the County Town and the capital have been delayed.

Govia Thameslink launched a consultation in June last year about a new cross-London service connecting Maidstone East and Cambridge, which it hoped to launch in 2018.

Trains would also stop at West Malling, Borough Green, Wrotham and Otford and would travel to popular City stations London Bridge, Blackfriars and St Pancras.

There are currently three Southeastern services, via Otford, from Ashford into Blackfriars in the morning peak, and two in the evening peak.

This will be increased to two Thameslink trains every hour throughout the day with the new service, which will reinstate a direct train between Maidstone East and London Bridge, and from there on to Blackfriars and across central London.

But in a letter to stakeholders yesterday, the operator announced these plans had been pushed back.

Nick Brown, the chief operating officer of Govia, wrote in the letter that the service would not be in place until December 2019.

The installation of the service is part of a major regeneration of the rail network in the South East, and will affect timetables of services by Great Northern, Gatwick Express, Thameslink, and Southern Rail.

In the letter, Mr Brown details that the Department for Transport has asked Govia to consider "how best to de-risk the introduction of such a major upgrade".

This means that the upgrades will now be introduced incrementally, with the first phase giving passengers 70% of the overall capacity benefits.

This will include additional capacity into London for between 35,000 and 40,000 more passengers in each three-hour peak across the whole Govia network.

The rail group will also implement a new Southern timetable, which looks to address existing problems and give passengers greater levels of reliability.

There will also be new north to south cross-London connections for Cambridge and Peterborough via Gatwick, Dartford, the Medway towns, East Grinstead and Horsham.

The plans to link to Maidstone East however have been delayed from the first phase, and will not be implemented next year, as originally announced.

A Thameslink spokesman confirmed that the Maidstone East route was selected to be delayed because it is a new Thameslink service, meaning the delay won't create a break in an existing Thameslink route.

They added that the connection to Rainham and Dartford will be a new half-hourly Thameslink route into Blackfriars has not been delayed because the introduction of new Thameslink trains will give Southeastern the flexibility to use these carriages to lengthen its other services.

Replacing the existing trains between Blackfriars and Maidstone East would not free up as many carriages.

The letter states: "Further improvements will then be delivered broadly every six months as part of three additional consecutive timetable changes, adding still more services to the cross-London Thameslink network and, finally, new routes between Cambridge and Maidstone East.

"By December 2019 there will be 24 trains per hours across the centre of London at the busiest times."

Maidstone borough councillor James Willis, who is a member of the joint transportation board and transport spokesman for the Maidstone Lib-Dem group, said: "This is a huge disappointment and not at all acceptable for the £5 billion of our tax spent on Thameslink to benefit Sussex. Maidstone has been left out in the cold with over a years delay, or possibly no link at all.

"This rail-link is a really important part of the regeneration of the town, and we hope it can be delivered as soon as possible. By hook or by crook Maidstone needs a better service, and I will not stop until it gets it."

Mr Brown added: "Phasing the introduction of the new timetable in this way allows us to bring benefits incrementally, allowing the chance to embed them before the next timetable change.

"By de-risking the build-up of new services, we will be able to bed down changes both to the service and to the infrastructure that Network Rail is providing, giving a more resilient service to passengers."

Plans to run a through-train from Welwyn Garden City to Sevenoaks have also been pushed back to May 2019 at the earliest.

A spokesman for the Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association, said: "The implementation of the capacity reduction shows a bias against Kent – four new direct Sussex routes are being implemented from May 2018 between Cambridge and Brighton, Horsham and Peterborough, Littlehampton and Bedford and East Grinstead and Bedford.

"For Kent the only new service being implemented is the Rainham via Dartford to Luton service.

"It’s only the new Maidstone East service that is being delayed and it is only the Sevenoaks via Bat & Ball service that is being reduced.

"Once again it seems that west Kent is at the back of the queue when it comes to improvement in rail services."

Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling, said: "I am extremely disappointed to hear that the introduction of frequent Thameslink services serving West Malling and Borough Green stations with the city of London will be significantly delayed.

"This is a major blow for all commuters on the Maidstone East line. The introduction of this service will open up our economy and provide substantial benefits to our communities, making this an even more attractive place to live.

"I’ve asked Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) for an urgent explanation. They are already planning on removing the connection to London from the Tonbridge-Redhill line and have been in part responsible for woe for passengers on the Uckfield Line.

"Now, on another line in Kent, they have made an announcement which will have a hugely detrimental impact locally.

"Many people have planned their working lives around having this service available from May next year. This will provide disruption to all those families.

"I will be raising this at the highest level of government and am seeking an urgent meeting with the GTR Managing Director, Charles Horton, to ask for answers after this incredibly disappointing news.”