TRANSPORT Secretary Geoff Hoon visited Ebbsfleet today (MARCH 17) to look into the possibility of extending Crossrail to the area.

Mr Hoon visited Ebbsfleet International Station this afternoon to investigate the viability of Crossrail trains running through north Kent stations, after a request from Dartford MP Dr Howard Stoate.

Mr Hoon said: "Howard Stoate has pressed me hard in parliament to agree to an immediate addition to Ebbsfleet and I can certainly see the practical advantages to that, but there are some technical difficulties in relation to the existing flow of trains.

"Although we have preserved the line to make that possibility available to the future."

Current £15.9bn plans, agreed by parliament in June, would see the 74-mile railway line running from Maidenhead to Abbey Wood and Shenfield, crossing through the capital, with stops at Heathrow airport.

Dr Stoate said: "Establishing a direct rail link between Ebbsfleet, Docklands, the City of London and Heathrow is enormously important to the area, and many businesses say it will complete the jigsaw if there was a direct line from here to Heathrow.

"It will persuade businesses to locate to Kent Thames-side and create new jobs in the area."

Crossrail is a joint venture between Transport for London and the Department for Transport and could create up to 30,000 jobs.

It is the UK's biggest transport project since the Channel Tunnel, and work on the line is expected to begin next year, with first trains due to begin running by 2017.