Trains At Ebbsfleet International, HS1, 11/07/23

Ebbsfleet International railway station (IATA: XQE) is in Ebbsfleet Valley, Kent, 10 miles (16 kilometres) east of London, England, near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west and Gravesend to the east. The station, part of the Thames Gateway urban regeneration project, is on the High Speed 1 rail line, 400 metres (1,300 feet) south-west of Northfleet railway station, off the A2 trunk road, 5 mi (8.0 km) from its junction with the M25 motorway. It served as a primary park-and-rail service for the London 2012 Olympics.
The £180m station opened to Eurostar passengers on 19 November 2007, five days after the rest of HS1. This was because the security and ticketing equipment had to be transferred from Waterloo International and reinstalled at the station. The first daily service was the 05:38 service to Paris, arriving at its destination 132 minutes later. Serving the Thames Gateway, the station had an initial service of seven weekday trains to Paris and five to Brussels. A 2,500-space car park was provided.
A formal opening ceremony in the presence of Dame Kelly Holmes took place on 29 January 2008.
Residents of Ashford complained that the service at Ashford International was downgraded to compensate for the stop at Ebbsfleet and that it made more sense for them now to use Eurotunnel Shuttle services.
“Ebbsfleet International Station" was the name originally proposed for the station, but "Dartford International Station" was later proposed at the urging of Eurostar, who felt that Dartford was a name with greater national recognition. Opposition to Eurostar's ‘Dartford International’ proposal came from Gravesham Borough Council, whose administrative centre at Gravesend is just two miles (3.2 km) away (even though Ebbsfleet International is in the borough of Dartford and therefore outside Gravesham council's authority); Southfleet Parish Council; and Swanscombe and Greenhithe Town Council, both in the Borough of Dartford. The similarity of its name to that of Dartford railway station, 6 mi (9.7 km) away, was also of concern.
In September 2020, Eurostar announced that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent collapse in ticket revenue (down by 90%), both Ebbsfleet and Ashford International stations would not be served by Eurostar services until at least 2022. In September 2021, Eurostar confirmed that services would not resume until 2023, despite complaints by local politicians that this was "bad for Kent". Eurostar stated that they will resume services when commercially sensible to do so, as they will initially "focus on destinations where demand is highest". A further update in August 2022 confirmed that Eurostar may not resume serving the station (along with Ashford) until at least 2025.
On High Speed 1 there are avoiding lines in each direction and four platforms, two serving international Eurostar services and two the Southeastern High-speed services. Southeastern services travelling between London and the North Kent Line use a junction to the north of the station and are served by another pair of platforms that curve away to the east.
Ticket barriers control access to all platforms.
A disused bridge can be seen to the south of the station. This is believed to have been put in place in preparation for the Ebbsfleet Garden City housing development, however, was never needed.
Duration of video: 11:35 - 13:15
We’ll be seeing services by Southeastern, Thameslink, Southeastern High Speed and Eurostar in the duration of the video.
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I really enjoyed my time that was spent at Ebbsfleet international especially with the amount of Eurostar bypassing going to/from St Pancras International to either Paris Nord or Bruxelles midi and the amount of variety I managed to have in the hours I spent there.
My next station will be Ashford International which is only one stop up the line from Ebbsfleet international I haven’t been to the station for awhile but hopefully it’ll be a good station to revisit so until then thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.

[@julieblackman8636]

Good video mate

[@jamiehooper5328]

Excellent video mate

[@explorewithlorenzo9940]

Cool