Train options for commuters are set to improve this summer as Southeastern announces it will be adding more services to one of its lines.

The rail company has agreed to include two new fast return services heading to Maidstone town centre will be leaving London Charing Cross at 4.59pm and 5.59pm.

This means from June a train will leave every 30 minutes between 4.30pm and 6.30pm for Maidstone East, stopping at Bearsted, Hollingbourne, Harrietsham and Lenham.

The agreement was made at a meeting hosted in Week Street by Maidstone and the Weald MP Helen Grant along with trains campaigner Katie Boots, where they presented the issue to Southeastern operations director Scott Brightwell.

Ms Grant (Con) said: “Reliable and frequent trains, to and from the capital, are vital for the local economy and quality of life for our county town commuters.

“I am grateful to Southeastern for listening to our needs and concerns, and to Katie Boots for all of her hard work on this ongoing campaign.

“I will be meeting with the Minister of Transport in the near future to try and secure additional services to Canon Street.

“There is much more we need to achieve with Southeastern too; more affordable ticket prices and improvements in internet connectivity, cleanliness and general service levels – so we’ll keep our foot on the pedal.”

Katie Boots said: “The meeting was very productive and we were represented by an articulate group of local commuters.

“Southeastern was also candid about the constraints upon them in delivering their services, whilst recognising the need for improvements.”

Scott Brightwell, operations & safety director at Southeastern, said: “We operate a growing railway and work closely with our local communities to ensure we are doing all we can to build a better, reliable and sustainable railway which meets the needs of our customers today and in the future.

“As part of this, we are pleased to be introducing additional peak time services between Charing Cross and Maidstone as part of our next timetable update in June providing a half hourly service in the evening peak.

“This is alongside improvements across other parts of the network which will see better spacing between services - which means less time waiting on platforms - better punctuality and more carriages for our busiest trains and routes on both peak and off-peak services across south east London, Kent and parts of East Sussex.”