Dear Editor,

Re: Kent to Calais commuter rail link receives support at Ashford meeting (Comment)

Economics is not zero-sum Marcus.

A commuter rail service between Pas-de-Calais and Kent may mean some jobs in Kent going to French people commuting across the Channel, but there is not a finite ungrowable supply of jobs.

What about the jobs that will be created by businesses that start up or move into SE Kent because of the more convenient transport links with mainland Europe? And whether French workers spend money in France or the UK, it is the UK economy that benefits from the work they do in the UK.

Other benefits of this proposal include competition with Eurostar in the passenger train market.

It's narrow to assume that this will only be used by French commuters; it will be of use to anyone who wants to travel between the UK and mainland Europe without a car.

It is essentially a normal 'walk up, buy a ticket and hop on' train service across the Channel, unlike Eurostar, which needs to be booked in advance unless you want to pay an exorbitant fare.

Many people would probably prefer to use a slightly slower service to travel to France, if it had considerably cheaper walk-up fares.

I would likely use it in preference to Eurostar, and I live in Kingston upon Thames.

And of course, if you live in Kent, having a regular train service to France from Ashford would make travel to Europe much more convenient than it is at the moment, when normally you have to double-back via Ebbsfleet or even St Pancras, not to mention the similar detour you may have to make in France if you want to travel to Pas-de-Calais. And anyway I thought the people of south-east Kent were always complaining that not enough international trains stop at Ashford.

Well here's the solution. Yet you seem to think that Kent should not have a convenient rail link to mainland Europe just because as a result, some jobs might go to non-locals.

Yours

Alex Macfie

Kingston upon Thames
 

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