HIGH-SPEED trains due to begin taking passengers from north Kent to London from December could run trial services this summer.

Southeastern Train’s 140mph Hitachi-built Class 395 will take passengers from Ebbsfleet to London in just 17 minutes and Gravesend to London in just 25 minutes.

The 29 trains will be officially launched on December 13, but a Southeastern spokeswoman said: “It is likely we will be running some kind of preview service during the summer.

“This will help us test the service and allow passengers to test it too.”

The spokeswoman could not say when the trial services would begin, how long they would last or how many trains would be tested.

When the service is launched trains will travel between St Pancras International and Dover Priory, stopping at Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend.

It will be the fastest commuter service in the UK, reducing travel times between Gravesend and St Pancras from 57 minutes to 25 minutes.

The trains will run on the High Speed 1 line, which was finished in November 2007 and is the first major new railway to be built in the UK in over a century.

However, passengers may face a hike in prices of 35 per cent for the privilege of high-speed travel.

In 2005 the Strategic Railway Authority, the Government body that advised the railway industry from 2001 to 2006, suggested making High Speed 1 tickets 35 per cent more expensive than standard fares.

A weekly season ticket for trains between Gravesend and London currently costs £61, with a monthly ticket priced £234.30p.

A 35 per cent increase would mean using High Speed 1 from Gravesend to London would cost £82.35 for a weekly ticket and £316.30 for a monthly ticket.

However, a Southeastern Trains spokesman said: “There will be a premium because it is a faster service, but at this stage the rate of the premium is still to be decided.”

The premium will apply on the part of the journey where the train is travelling on High Speed 1, which means between Gravesend and St Pancras or Ebbsfleet and St Pancras.

Passengers will still have the option to use the standard train service.