AN EXCITING new era of travel from Kent started on Monday morning with the departure of the first Eurostar train from the county's new £100m station, Ebbsfleet International, to Paris.

About 100 passengers boarded the 05.38 service including a group of 40 civic and business chiefs from Thames Gateway (Kent) Chamber of Commerce.

In a low key opening ceremony, station manager Stephen Fielder cut a yellow ribbon to mark the historic occasion. A trad jazz band played in the main concourse as coffee and croissants were handed out to the visiting media.

Eurostar chief executive Richard Brown greeted the first passengers, saying it was an exciting day for Eurostar and for Kent.

Passengers crowded into the rather cramped departure lounge and then went onto the platform to board the first train. There were no balloons or any other fanfare activities on the train and there was a 20 minute delay in the first service due, according to a spokesman, to technical difficulties at the Channel Tunnel.

But after an otherwise uneventful journey the passengers reached the Gare to Nor station in Paris just after 9am. The business and civic group spent the morning seeing the sights of the French capital.

The new station has 2,500 parking spaces within five minutes walk of the check in desk, with a charge of £11.50 a day. The station has one cafe, but otherwise the retail outlets are sparse.

The Business and Civic representatives said that Ebbsfleet International would help regenerate North West Kent and attract more businesses and jobs into the area.

Mr Brown said: "Ebbsfleet International is as close to the M25 as any London airport, and is the fastest way to Europe. It enables business travellers to get up later, arrive earlier and do a full days work.

"Leisure travellers can avoid congested airports, long check-in queues and baggage reclaim delays, and nip across to main land Europe in relaxing style. It is a lot better for the environment than flying too."