Ebbsfleet International

Ebbsfleet International is a new station a few miles outside the M25 in Kent, on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, which will have a 15 min journey time to St Pancras.

Ebbsfleet will be located very close to Northfleet station in Kent (view a map).

Eurostar did propose naming the station Dartford International, but some local opposition (including by the residents of nearby Gravesend, which is closer than Dartford to the new station) seems to have led them to abandon that name.

This is in the centre of the massive new urban development (3000 homes, 790,000m² commercial space) planned for this area, known as Kent Thameside.

There will be a 9,000 car park spaces across six car parks, with 3,000 spaces available for domestic passengers. Demand from this area of Kent for commuter domestic trains into London is expected to be high, given the 15-20 minute journey time to St Pancras.

Improved road access to Ebbsfleet is therefore necessary; this is happening through construction of a link road to the A2260 (Thames Way / Springfield Road) on the edge of Gravesend, and another link direct to the A2 where it meets the B259 Southfleet Road. A third link to the north will provide access to the A226 Stonebridge Road in Northfleet.

Public transport access will be via the new Fastrack segregated busway network being constructed in the area. Fastrack Route B, which is already operating between Dartford and Gravesend, will be diverted via Ebbsfleet station upon its opening in 2007, thus providing connections to Gravesend, Greenhithe, Bluewater and Dartford (see 2007 route map). In 2011, Route B will be diverted through a new development avoiding Greenhithe, and a new route (C) will begin operating, connecting Ebbsfleet to Greenhithe (see map).

It was proposed for a while that Crossrail would run as far as Ebbsfleet on its south eastern branch - but those plans have been shelved for the time being.

Journey times would have been significantly longer to central London than the CTRL (or even to Canary Wharf - travelling via CTRL and Stratford would probably only take about 30 minutes), but tickets would probably be cheaper and Crossrail would have served many convenient locations directly.

No current news for this project.