Blog Archive

Monday 26 November 2012




                         * Saint Pancras emptied *




St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a railway station terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St PancrasLondon Borough of Camden, between the British LibraryKing's Cross station and the Regent's Canal. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the southern terminus of its main line, which connected London with the East Midlands and Yorkshire. When it opened, the arched Barlow train shed was the largest single-span roof in the world.
After escaping planned demolition in the 1960s, the complex was renovated and expanded during the 2000s at a cost of £800 million with a ceremony attended by the Queen and extensive publicity introducing it as a public space. A security-sealed terminal area was constructed for Eurostar services to Continental Europe via High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel, with platforms for domestic trains to the north and south-east of England. The restored station has 15 platforms, a shopping centre and a bus station, and is served byLondon Underground's King's Cross St Pancras tube station. St Pancras is owned by London and Continental Railways, along with the adjacent urban regeneration area known as King's Cross Central, and is one of 18 British stations managed by Network Rail.The redeveloped terminus has been described by the travel writer Simon Calder as "the world's most wonderful railway station".

The station is the terminus for East Midlands Trains services from London to Derby,LeicesterNottinghamSheffield, and smaller towns in between, and for Eurostar's high-speed trains to Paris, Brussels and Lille. First Capital Connect trains on the cross-London Thameslink route call at platforms beneath the main station, south to Gatwick Airport and Brighton and north to Luton Airport Parkway for Luton Airport and Bedford. High-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern, began in December 2009.St Pancras is often termed the 'cathedral of the railways', and includes two of the most celebrated structures built in Britain in the Victorian era. The train shed, completed in 1868 by the engineer William Henry Barlow, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The frontage of the station is formed by the former Midland Grand Hotel, designed by George Gilbert Scott, an impressive example of Victorian Gothic architecture, now occupied by the five-star Renaissance London Hotel and apartments.

1 comment: