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 {{why|date=January 2012}} - 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. --Redrose64 (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)

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). --Redrose64 (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. [1]. 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

The comment(s) below were originally left at Talk:Ashford International railway station/Comments, and are posted here for posterity. Following several discussions in past years, these subpages are now deprecated. The comments may be irrelevant or outdated; if so, please feel free to remove this section.

http://www.kentrail.co.uk/Ashford.htm offer a limited scope of how this article could be improved, also it could mention all the various yards around the location, including the closed ones, and the old Ashford works, etc. Various extra photos would help. Pickle 16:16, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Last edited at 16:16, 19 March 2007 (UTC). Substituted at 08:24, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

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GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Ashford International railway station/GA1. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Reviewer: Pkbwcgs (talk · contribs) 20:01, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

I already have experience in reviewing City Thameslink railway station and now, I am going to pick up the review of Ashford International. At first glance, the article is well-written. At the quick glance, I noticed that at Ashford International railway station#International, there are two bullet points to the left of where it says "3 tpd to Paris – Gare du Nord" and this will need to be removed. Also, there is a full stop at the last bullet point of the same section and this will need to be removed. I will give a detailed review over the coming days. Pkbwcgs (talk) 20:01, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

I've reformatted that - without looking back, I guess I managed to screw it up by adding citations. I can also only find one accident that actually occurred at Ashford International (as opposed to trains leading to it, such as the 1865 Staplehurst rail crash where Charles Dickens would have passed through Ashford without incident). Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:24, 27 October 2019 (UTC)

@Ritchie333: I may be wrong in saying this but doesn't the Eurostar service to Amsterdam stop at Ashford International or does it skip Ashford International? If Eurostar services to Amsterdam skip Ashford International, it might be a good idea to add in a brief sentence regarding this in the international services section. Pkbwcgs (talk) 19:30, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

I believe it does not currently stop there, which is covered by the article (and related source) saying "No other e320s have stopped at Ashford International because of a technical fault which is not planned to be resolved until 2020". As I understand it, you have to change at Brussels South. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 19:41, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

@Ritchie333: Thanks for the information. This isn't a significant problem but there is a little bit of overlinking in the article. Most of the overlinking is at the location and services section of the article. Links like "English" and "French" can be deleted. High Speed 1 has also been linked quite a few times. Pkbwcgs (talk) 19:46, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Forgot to run the overlink script :-/ Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:12, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

It would also be better to say something about the Amsterdam services not stopping at Ashford International. I know that Amsterdam services are operated by e320s but it doesn't mean that another reader knows this information. You could also add that passengers have to change at Brussels-South to go to Amsterdam. Pkbwcgs (talk) 19:50, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

I'm just going to double-check sources first. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:29, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Okay, I've put in a note directly from Eurostar's website that says you have to change at Brussels. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 16:38, 29 October 2019 (UTC)

Regarding the Southern services, it currently says "1 tph to Hastings and Eastbourne via the Marshlink line". That is wrong as some of the trains terminate at Hastings and don't go up to Eastbourne. This is an example of one of those off-peak services. Instead, it should say "1 tph to Eastbourne via the Marshlink line; some trains terminate at Hastings". Pkbwcgs (talk) 19:55, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Hmmm ... the most reliable source would be the official timetable from Southern here (No. 23) and as far as I can make out only the first and the last trains on Saturday and the last on Sunday begin or terminate at Hastings (presumably because that's when the shift patterns change and the window for overnight maintenance closes or opens), which isn't really "typical off-peak". Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:12, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

@Ritchie333: In that case, if the typical off-peak timetable shows that all trains go to Eastbourne, "Hastings and" should be deleted. It already says "via the Marshlink line" so you don't need to specify that it goes via Hastings. Pkbwcgs (talk) 20:18, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

Okay, done. It's already citing the Southern timetable, as I'd expect. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 20:28, 28 October 2019 (UTC)

@Ritchie333: I am going to approve this as a good article. I thank you for all your improvements and efforts to make this a good article. Pkbwcgs (talk) 16:16, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks. As you probably noticed, I added a bit about the Hitachi depot, as if you drive towards the station car park today, you can't miss it as the signs are right in front of you. There's probably a few other improvements and additions, but nothing that will stop it meeting the GA criteria. Thanks for the review! Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 16:22, 2 November 2019 (UTC)