PLANS to cut Eurostar services from Ashford are under fire from a powerful passengers’ lobby group, which has described them as unacceptable.

Passenger Focus, the newly-created independent rail consumer watchdog, has delivered a stinging assessment of the proposals, warning rail travellers will lose out and be left with a “skeletal service” from Ashford.

Anthony Smith, Passenger Focus chief executive, said: “To transfer so many services to a new station in one go is unacceptable. It is vital that there is a rebalancing of services to ensure that passengers using Ashford International have a reasonable number of international services to choose from, including at least one direct service to Brussels a day.”

He added: “The drastic reduction in services will cause unnecessary inconvenience by forcing the many passengers who currently use Eurostar services from Ashford to use Ebbsfleet, which has poor rail connections from these areas. Ashford offers ideal connection opportunities for passengers from many parts of Kent and Sussex and with the start of the high speed domestic service in 2009 there will be even better connections for passengers.”

The rebuke from the key passenger watchdog group will be a blow to Eurostar. Passenger Focus was set up earlier this year to champion rail users’ interests under the government Railways Act 2005. Although sponsored by the government, it is an independent group that answers to Parliament.

Eurostar wants to reduce services from Ashford and transfer them to Ebbsfleet International in north Kent when it opens next year.