Talk:Ashford International railway station

Frequency
"4tph (trains per hour) to London Charing Cross, of which five run via Tonbridge and one via Maidstone East". Six in to four? I think this needs fixing but not knowing the correct info myself I can't do it! - Feebtlas 10:06, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

Ownership of Ashford International Station
Surely the international station is owned by London and Continental Stations and Property, the property arm of LCR? If so, does this include the 2 international platforms or just the international station building —Preceding unsigned comment added by Deep Hue (talk • contribs)
 * Not sure, 1-4 are the old station (as built by SER, SECR or Southern), 3&4 are international and 5 & 6 were built to replace displaced domestic services. don't really know. the excellent page on kentrail.co.uk doesn't mention ownership IIRC. Pickle 07:27, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

Eurostar route map (Waterloo International)
I was wondering if this was still needed on this page. 81.104.1.190 (talk) 18:09, 19 February 2008 (UTC) Any views?

Well I removed it anyway. Edgepedia (talk) 12:50, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Ashford International to Bedford Peak Only service
There are two services in the morning to Bedford from Ashford International and one service that terminates from Bedford in the evening. These services are provided jointly by First Capital Connect and Southeastern. Should this be mentioned in the article or in the service diagram or should it not as there are few peak only services? --JoshTechFission (talk) 20:04, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

I will add this later as I think even though it's peak only it would count as a service. If anyone disagrees please let me know. Martin H. Heron (talk) 20:13, 9 June 2012 (UTC)
 * I have added this in the service list, but not added anything to the railine template as the service follows the Maidstone East line up until Bromley South, then continues on the Thameslink line from Elephant & Castle. Martin H. Heron (talk) 20:54, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

International services not for domestic use
Regarding the statement "It is not permitted to use Eurostar services for domestic journeys to and from London" which has been tagged - this is most likely because international passengers have to go through border checks (passport control/immigration/customs/etc.) at the station, which cannot be expected of domestic passengers. Once on a train, passengers may freely mix, so if domestic passengers (without border clearance) could mix with international passengers (having border clearance), this would defeat the purpose of border controls.

Hypothetical scenario: person A wants to skip the country because he's a suspect in a major crime. He goes to St Pancras, buys a ticket to Ashford and boards the train without going through border controls (because it's a domestic ticket). Meantime, accomplice B (who is not a suspect) buys a ticket to Paris, goes through controls and boards the same train. On the train, A and B exchange documents; and B gets off at Ashford on A's ticket, and A gets away. -- Red rose64 (talk) 13:22, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * That's an idea. But I think that, in this case, they would just control everyone. Like in the airport : if you want to have a drink at the boarding lounge bar, you must present a plane boarding pass. Even if you don't want to fly anywhere. Anyway, if there is a train making my trip, I can take it just for my trip ; forbidding “short” trips would not make sense. And if they don't want to, or cannot, control domestic passengers, then the solution is : controlling passengers at their arrival rather than at their departure. Like for airplanes.
 * Cheers !
 * --Nnemo (talk) 17:15, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * --Nnemo (talk) 17:15, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * --Nnemo (talk) 17:15, 4 January 2012 (UTC)


 * Anyway, in your hypothesis the fugitive has an accomplice. So the accomplice drives a car and takes the fugitive in the trunk, and they go to France by the Shuttle. :-)
 * --Nnemo (talk) 17:28, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The thing is, if there is a train making your trip, you can't always take it just for your trip: border control notwithstanding, the ticket barriers at St Pancras will prevent your Ashford ticket from allowing you to gain access to the Eurostar platforms - a member of staff will direct you down to the SouthEastern platforms in the new part of the station. Even when a Eurostar is making its first scheduled stop at Ashford, the boards at StP won't show Ashford, because Ashford is a pick-up only stop.
 * Last time I was at Ashford (some years ago: it was actually during this cricket match), I noticed that domestic services exclusively used platforms 1/2, 5/6 whilst international services used only platforms 3/4. Having a need to transfer from platform 5 or 6 (where my train from Canterbury had arrived) to plat 1 (for the train to Hastings), I crossed over and noticed that platforms 3/4 were only accessible via border controls.
 * I really don't think that airport-style controls for domestic rail services will happen. It was suggested, and quickly abandoned, in the wake of the 7 July 2005 London bombings. On the one hand, the British public would not stand for the extra delays and thus congestion (not to say complaints about a "police state"); and on the other, the government won't create the extra jobs that would be required. It's far easier to make special provision for the minority (dedicated trains and dedicated platforms), rather than impose the needs of the minority upon the majority (for the slight advantage of shared platforms and shared trains). -- Red rose64 (talk) 20:26, 4 January 2012 (UTC)
 * I live locally, and at St Pancras, Ebbsfleet and Ashford there are separate platforms for Eurostar and domestic services; to get access to the Eurostar platforms you need to pass security (i.e. passport, ticket and screened luggage). It's well known that you can't travel from Ashford to London on Eurostar; (for example try and find the train times on Eurostar's website). Unfortunately I haven't found a statement on the timetable. Edgepedia (talk) 16:39, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Interesting if confusing article. Last time I was on Eurostar Passport checks were done; why aren't they done between Lille and Calais, stopping the train at Calais if needed to offload someone? However, tickets are the same price when travelling from London, Ebbsfleet or Ashford to Calais, Lille, Brussels or Paris. . Edgepedia (talk) 17:13, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Interesting if confusing article. Last time I was on Eurostar Passport checks were done; why aren't they done between Lille and Calais, stopping the train at Calais if needed to offload someone? However, tickets are the same price when travelling from London, Ebbsfleet or Ashford to Calais, Lille, Brussels or Paris. . Edgepedia (talk) 17:13, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Eurostar staff may use Eurostar trains for domestic journeys. Martin H. Heron (talk) 20:08, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

Assessment comment
Substituted at 08:24, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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