It takes just 14 minutes to get from St Pancras station in Central London to Ebbsfleet in North Kent using Southeastern trains new high speed rail link. It's not a particularly pretty journey as most of it passes through tunnels but it is certainly fast. The journey time will go up by three minutes when the trains start stopping at Stratford but I was curious to know if the economic benefits to Kent would extend beyond attracting London commuters to attracting new businesses.
During the journey this morning, I spoke to deputy leader of Kent County Council, Alex King, Mandy Bearne, director of marketing and research for Locate in Kent and industrial and logistics partner at Knight Frank Paul Mussi and asked them if investment would be speeding into the county.
I always use the high speed service to get to work in the morning; I find it so much easier and it saves so much time so you don't have to rush! Plus the car parks at Ebbsfleet are never full so you never have to hunt for a space!
Ellen