Hundreds of Kent firms hope for Eurostar services to return amid claims its withdrawal has hit them in the pocket.

Businesses throughout the county recently made the revelation as a campaign petition amassed more than 48,000 signatures.

In October Ashford Borough Council (ABC), Dartford Borough Council (DBC) and the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce launched a survey of Kent businesses’ views on international rail services.

Kent hosts two international train stations - Ashford and Ebbsfleet - but no services to the continent have run from either station since the first Covid lockdown in March 2020.

At a meeting of ABC and the county council’s joint transportation board on March 5, Mark Welch - transport planning chief for the county council - relayed the survey results to local politicians.

The survey received 686 responses in total, representing 528 different businesses, he explained.

“The responses represent businesses which state that they employ in total at least 30,000 people in Kent and the wider country,” Mr Welch said.

“The reason we don’t have international rail in the county is partly, perhaps predominantly, because of the impact that occurred in 2020 with the Covid pandemic and the travel restrictions which took place.”

“Obviously we’re well out of the pandemic now,” he said.

99% of the businesses which responded wanted a reinstatement of all Eurostar services from the Kent stations, and 89% said the lack of international rail routes is damaging their business.

“Just under two-thirds of businesses said they are planning to grow and travel to Europe may be required as part of that,” Mr Welch added.

“We remain in a period of uncertainty in respect of whether we will see international rail services again.

“If we do see international rail services again whether they will serve both stations in Kent, what the level of service might be, what the destinations might be.

“Uncertainty at its most fundamental level is bad for business.”

He also praised the “very powerful statement” made by the almost 50,000 signature strong online petition calling for Eurostar to bring services back to the county.

The transport boffin stressed that after decades of international services from the county, and the 30-year anniversary of the Channel Tunnel coming up in May “Fundamentally, Kent is ready to go.

“Services should be able to return to Kent swiftly if the case can be made and if an operator has appetite.”

Cllr Peter Feacey (Con) asked: “is there any chance of having another operator using that line?”, citing reports of other firms being interested in running cross channel services.

Mr Welch said “there absolutely is,” but said there has been a history of other firms proposing to run services then dropping out.

He added: “For any new operator to introduce a realistic worthwhile level of service to compete with the current incumbent Eurostar, it probably has to go and put in place a rolling stock order with a manufacturer and therefore it's not a quick thing to do.”

Chair of the committee Cllr Bernard Heyes (Con) said: “The channel tunnel rail link is a national asset and Ashford was dug up for about 3 years procuring the railway.

“And Ashford isn’t getting the benefit of any of these national assets.”

In a statement, the county council’s cabinet member for economic development Cllr Derek Murphy (Con) said: “Lost revenue from international visitors has not helped Kent’s businesses.

“The county is also losing out on opportunities for inward investment.

“Without the international trains stopping in the county Kent has lost its unique selling point of two excellent international stations.”

Eurostar cited challenges with the recovery of passenger demand and border control constraints as reasons why it has yet to return to Ashford and Ebbsfleet.

Before the Covid pandemic, both stations had direct services to Continental Europe but closed swiftly as the virus spread.

Eurostar has never committed to a firm reopening date, though the company has successively said it would be no earlier than 2022, 2023 and, most recently, 2025.

In October last year, Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave said the Kent stations will reopen “once we can afford it”.

The pandemic hit Eurostar harder than most transport firms.

It kept a skeleton service running between London and Paris but strict travel restrictions meant very few - if any - passengers were onboard each train.

Numbers were recorded as falling below one percent of normal levels.

Eurostar, which is majority-owned by SNCF (French Railways) lost hundreds of millions of pounds during the pandemic.

Demand has picked up hugely since then.

But post-Brexit passport control issues limit capacity meaning London St Pancras now houses a hard EU border where British passports must be inspected and stamped.

Travelling through St Pancras and numerous continental European stations has since become much more time-consuming.

In October new rail operator Evolyn unveiled plans to purchase a fleet of trains to serve the London to Paris line.

A month later, Sir Richard Branson, the billionaire founder of the Virgin Group, revealed he could also challenge Eurostar’s monopoly.

Ashford Borough Council leader Noel Ovenden believes a resolution in hard border controls alongside competing firms on the line will see services return.

“Ashford is an international rail station without an international service - but trains will stop again here in the future, I’m sure of it,” he says.

“The capabilities are still there, you could even hear French being spoken on the loudspeakers there until recently.

“The only thing at the moment preventing it from being an international station is the operator.

“We are hoping there will be competition on the line shortly which we hope will bring services back to Ashford International.”

A Eurostar spokesman said: “Our Kent stations will remain closed throughout 2024. We will provide an update should anything change regarding this.

“We understand this is disappointing for the local communities, and we will continue to work closely and openly with the local councils on the future of the stations.”