| St Pancras International | |
St Pancras Station main frontage |
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St Pancras
Location of St Pancras in Central London |
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| Location | St Pancras |
|---|---|
| Local authority | London Borough of Camden |
| Managed by | Network Rail[1] Eurostar[2] |
| Owner | London and Continental Railways[3] |
| Station code | STP |
| Number of platforms | 15 |
| Accessible | [4] |
| Fare zone | 1 |
| Interchange | King's Cross St. Pancras (London Underground) London King's Cross (National Rail) London Euston (National Rail) [5] |
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| National Rail annual entry and exit | |
| 2004–05 | 5.472 million[7] |
| 2005–06 | 4.893 million[7] |
| - interchange | 0.521 million[7] |
| 2006–07 | 5.777 million[7] |
| - interchange | 0.663 million[7] |
| 2007–08 | 6.624 million[7] |
| - interchange | 1.664 million[7] |
| 2008–09 | [6] 19.326 million[7] |
| - interchange | 2.841 million[7] |
| 2009–10 | 18.020 million[7] |
| - interchange | 2.081 million[7] |
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| 1 October 1868 | Opened as terminus for Midland |
| 15 July 2006 | New domestic (Midland Main Line) platforms opened |
| 6 November 2007 | Relaunched by HM The Queen |
| 14 November 2007 | Eurostar services transferred from Waterloo |
| 9 December 2007 | Low-level Thameslink platforms opened |
| 13 December 2009 | Southeastern high-speed domestic services commence |
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| List of stations | Underground · National Rail |
| External links | Departures • Layout |
| Facilities • Buses | |
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007[8] as St Pancras International,[9][10] is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road in St Pancras, London Borough of Camden, between the British Library, King's Cross station and the Regent's Canal. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the southern terminus of that company's 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—along with platforms for domestic connections to the north and south-east of England. The restored station has 15 platforms, a shopping centre and a bus station, and is served by London Underground services from 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. The redeveloped terminus has been described by the travel writer Simon Calder as "the world's most wonderful railway station".[11]
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The station is the terminus for East Midlands Trains services from London to Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Lincoln and smaller towns in between, and for Eurostar's high-speed services to Paris, Brussels and Lille.[12][13] First Capital Connect trains on the cross-London Thameslink route call at platforms beneath the main station and offer services south to Gatwick Airport and Brighton, and north to Luton Airport parkway station for Luton Airport and Bedford.[14] High-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern, began in December 2009.[15]
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.[16] 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.
St Pancras occupies a site orientated north/south, deeper than it is wide. The south of the site is bounded by the busy Euston Road, with the frontage provided by the former Midland Grand Hotel. Behind the hotel, the Barlow train shed is elevated 5 m (17 ft) above street level, with the area below forming the station undercroft. To the west the station is bounded by Midland Road, with the British Library on the other side of the road. To the east it is bounded by Pancras Road, with King's Cross station on the far side of the road. To the north-east is King's Cross Central, formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads and the Regent's Canal.[17][18]
St Pancras contains four groups of platforms on two levels, separated by the main concourse at ground level. The below-surface group contains through platforms A and B, and the upper level has three groups of terminal platforms: domestic platforms 1–4 and 11–13 on each side of international platforms 5–10. Platforms A, B and 1–4 connect to the Midland Main Line one kilometre north of the station, while platforms 5–10 and 11–13 lead to High Speed 1; there is no connection between the two lines, except for a maintenance siding outside the station.
The longer international platforms, used by Eurostar, extend a considerable distance southwards into Barlow's train shed, whilst the other platforms terminate at the southern end of the 2005-era extension. The international platforms do not occupy the full width of the Barlow train shed, and sections of the floor area have been opened up to provide natural light to the new ground-level concourse below. Arrival and departure lounges lie below these platforms, and are reached from the international concourse. The concourse, known as The Arcade was fashioned from the original station undercroft and runs the length of the Barlow train shed, to the western side of the arrival and departure lounges. The southern end of the international concourse links to the western ticket hall of King's Cross St Pancras tube station.[18][19][20]
The domestic platforms, both above and below ground level, are reached through a street-level domestic concourse named The Market, which runs east to west at the point where the old and new parts of the station meet: the domestic and international concourses meet at a right angle, forming a 'T' shape. The main pedestrian entrance is at the eastern end of the domestic concourse, where a subway enables pedestrians to reach King's Cross station and the northern ticket hall of the tube station.[18][21]
At the south end of the upper level, a 9-metre (30 ft) high 20-tonne bronze statue named The Meeting Place stands beneath the station clock. Designed by British artist Paul Day, it is intended to evoke the romance of travel through the depiction of a couple locked in an amorous embrace.[22] The sculpture received a poor critical reception, being cited by Antony Gormley as "a very good example of the crap out there", referring to poor public art in the UK.[23] Further controversy was caused by Day's 2008 addition of a bronze relief frieze around the plinth.[24] Originally depicting a commuter falling into the path of an Underground train driven by the Grim Reaper, Day revised the freize before the final version was installed.[25]
Also on the upper level, above the Arcade concourse, stands a bronze statue of the former Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman, gazing in apparent wonder at the Barlow roof. Designed by British sculptor Martin Jennings, the statue commemorates the poet's successful campaign to save the station from demolition in the 1960s.[26][27] The 2-metre (6 ft 7 in)-high statue stands on a flat disc of Cumbrian slate inscribed with lines from Betjeman's poem Cornish Cliffs:
| “ | And in the shadowless unclouded glare / Deep blue above us fades to whiteness where / A misty sea-line meets the wash of air.[28] | ” |
Outside St Pancras Chambers, affixed inconspicuously to a wall, is an example of the installation art created by Rick Buckley - a replica of his nose. This was created in 1997 and survived the renovation of the building.[29]
The station was commissioned by the Midland Railway. Before the 1860s, the company had a network of routes in the Midlands but not its own route to the capital. From 1840, Midland trains to and from London ran from Euston using the London and North Western line via a junction at Rugby. Congestion and delays south of Rugby quickly became commonplace as services expanded.
A new London line was proposed around 1845, towards the end of the period of speculation later dubbed "Railway Mania". The Great Northern line was approved by Parliament in 1846 and a Midland Railway spur from Leicester to Hitchin was agreed in 1847. While the Great Northern line was being constructed, proposedthe Midland spur was quietly abandoned in 1850 due to financial problems. Pressure from businesses in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire (notably from William Whitbread, who owned roughly 12% of the land over which the line would run) revived the spur scheme. The line was re-presented to Parliament and approved in 1853. Building began quickly but did not proceed at any great pace: the line was opened in mid-1857. The Midland secured initial running power for seven years for a minimum of £20,000 a year (£1,370,000 as of 2012),[30]. The Midland now had two routes into London, into Euston and King's Cross, and traffic quickly expanded to take advantage, especially the coal trade, with the Midland transporting around a fifth of total coal to London by 1852.
In mid-1862, due to the enormous traffic for the second International Exhibition, the Great Northern and the Midland clashed over the restricted capacity of the line. This was the stimulus for the Midland to build its own line, and surveying for a 49.75-mile (80 km) long line from Bedford to London began in October 1862. To provide a site for a station, the Midland had been buying large portions of land in the parish of St Pancras since 1861.
St Pancras was an unprepossessing district, with notorious slums. The area's landmarks were the covered River Fleet, Regent's Canal, a gas works owned by the Imperial Gas Company (shortly to become the Gas Light and Coke Company), St Pancras Old Church (after which the district is named), and St Luke's Church with a large graveyard. For the terminus the Midland chose a site on New Road (later Euston Road) a few hundred yards to the east of Euston and immediately to the west of King's Cross station. The initial plan was to take the station's approach tracks under the canal in a tunnel, as was done for King's Cross station, although the churchyard and the gas-works were added problems. (Thomas Hardy, then a junior architect before he turned to literature, supervised the exhumations). The site was occupied by housing, the estates of Somers Town and the slums of Agar Town. The landlords sold up for £19,500 and cleared out the residents, without compensation, for a further £200. St Luke's was demolished and a replacement built for £12,000 in 1868–69 in Kentish Town. The demolished church was re-erected piece by piece in 1867 as a Congregational church in Wanstead, and still exists as a United Reformed church.
The Midland intended to connect the site through a tunnel (the St Pancras Branch) to the new Metropolitan Railway, opened in 1863 from Paddington to Farringdon Street below the Euston Road, providing a through route to Kent.
The Midland's directors were determined to impress London with their new station, although the sloping and irregular form of the site posed certain problems. They could see the ornateness of Euston station, with its famous arch; the functional success of Lewis Cubitt's King's Cross station; the design innovations in iron, glass and layout by Brunel at Paddington; and, significantly, the single-span roof designs of John Hawkshaw being built at Charing Cross and Cannon Street.
The initial plan of the station was laid out by William Henry Barlow, the Midland's consulting engineer. Barlow persuaded the company to modify its original plans, raising the station 6 metres (20 ft) on iron columns, thus providing a usable undercroft space and also allowing the approach tracks to cross the Regent's Canal on a bridge rather than in a tunnel.
The single-span elliptical overall roof was the largest such structure in the world at the time of its completion. The materials used were wrought-iron framework of lattice design, with glass covering the middle half and timber (inside)/slate (outside) covering the outer quarters. The two end screens were glazed in a vertical rectangular grid pattern with decorative timber cladding around the edge and wrought iron finials around the outer edge. It was 679 feet (207 m) long, 236 feet (72 m) wide, and 98 feet (30 m) high at the apex above the tracks. It was a collaboration between William Henry Barlow and Rowland Mason Ordish. It allowed the station to make maximum use of the space beneath without obstructions. A space for a fronting transverse hotel was included in the plan and the overall plan was accepted in early 1865.[31]
A competition was held for the design of the station buildings and hotel in May 1865. Eleven architects were invited to compete, submitting their designs in August. In January 1866 the brick Gothic revival designs of the prominent architect George Gilbert Scott were chosen. There was some disquiet at the choice, in part because Scott's designs, at £315,000, (£21.4 million as of 2012),[30] were by far the most expensive. The sheer grandeur of Scott's frontage impressed the Midland's directors, achieving their objective of outclassing all the other stations in the capital. A subsequent financial squeeze trimmed one floor from the frontage and certain ornateness (niches devoid of statues), but the impressive design largely remained.
Construction of the station, minus the roof which was a separate tender, was budgeted at £310,000, and after a few problems Waring Brothers' tender of £320,000 was accepted. The roof tender went to the Butterley Company for £117,000. Work began in the autumn of 1864 with a temporary bridge over the canal and the demolition of Somers Town and Agar Town. Construction of the station foundations did not start until July 1866 and delays through technical problems, especially in the roof construction, were commonplace.
The graveyard posed the initial problems - the main line was to pass over it on a girder bridge and the branch to the Metropolitan under it in a tunnel. Disturbance of the remains was expected but was, initially, carelessly handled. The tunnelling was especially delayed by the presence of decomposing human remains, the many coffins encountered, and a London-wide outbreak of cholera leading to the requirement to enclose the River Fleet entirely in iron. Despite this the connection was completed in January 1867.[32]
The Midland was hoping to complete most essential building by January 1868. The goods station in Agar Town received its first train in September 1867, but passenger trains through to the Metropolitan Railway did not begin until July 1868. Although not finished, the station opened, to little ceremony, on 1 October. The final rib for the trainshed roof had been fitted only in mid-September and the station was a mass of temporary structures for passengers. The first train, an express for Manchester, ran non-stop from Kentish Town to Leicester - the longest non-stop run in the world at the time, of 97 miles (156 km).
The undercroft of the station was used to store beer barrels brought by train from Burton-upon-Trent, a major brewing town served by the Midland. Beer traffic was handled in the centre of the station between platforms 4 and 5. A central third track ended in a wagon hoist lowering wagons 20 feet (6 m) below rail level. Beer storage ended in 1967.[33]
Work on the Midland Grand Hotel did not begin until mid-1868. Designed by architect George Gilbert Scott and with construction in a number of stages, the hotel opened on 5 May 1873. The process of adding fixtures and fittings was contentious as the Midland cut Scott's perceived extravagances, and only in late 1876 was Scott finally paid off. The total cost of the building was £438,000, (£28.8 million as of 2012),[30]. The building initially appears to be in a polychromatic Italian Gothic style – inspired by John Ruskin's Stones of Venice – but on a closer viewing it incorporates features from a variety of periods and countries. From such an eclectic approach, Scott anticipated that a new genre would emerge.[34][35]
Following construction, services were provided by the Midland Railway. This was a period of expansion as the major routes to Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Carlisle opened.
The 20th century did not, on the whole, serve St Pancras station well. The Railways Act of 1921 forced the merger of the Midland with the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS), and the LMS adopted the LNWR's (the "Premier Line") Euston station as its principal London terminus. The Midland Grand Hotel was closed in 1935, and the building was subsequently used as offices for British Railways). During the Second World War, bombing inflicted damage on the train shed, which was only partially reglazed after the war.[36]
On the creation of British Railways in 1948, the previous LMS services continued to run. Destinations included the London area services to North Woolwich, St Albans and Bedford. Long-distance services reached Glasgow, Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield and Manchester, with famous named trains including:
From 1960 to 1966, electrification work on the West Coast Main Line between London and Manchester saw a new Midland Pullman from Manchester to St Pancras. These trains and those to Glasgow were withdrawn following the completion of the rebuilding of Euston and the consolidation of these services.
By the 1960s, St Pancras had come to be seen as redundant, and several attempts were made to close it and demolish the hotel (by then known as St Pancras Chambers). These attempts provoked strong and successful opposition, with the campaign led by the later Poet Laureate, John Betjeman.[26][37]
After the sectorisation of British Rail in 1986, main-line services were provided to the East Midlands by the InterCity sector, with suburban services to St Albans, Luton and Bedford provided by Network SouthEast.[38] In 1988 the Snow Hill tunnel re-opened resulting in the creation of the Thameslink route and the resultant diversion of the majority of suburban trains on to the new route. However, the station continued to be served by trains running on the Midland main line to Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield, together with a few suburban services to Bedford and Luton. These constituted only a few trains an hour and left the station underused.[36]
Following the privatisation of British Rail, the long-distance services from St Pancras were franchised to Midland Mainline, a train operating company owned by the National Express Group, starting on 28 April 1996. The few remaining suburban trains still operating into St Pancras were operated by the Thameslink train operating company, owned by Govia, from 2 March 1997.[39]
A handful of trains to and from Leeds were introduced, mainly because the High Speed Train sets were maintained there and were already running empty north of Sheffield. During the 2000s major rebuild of the West Coast Main Line, St Pancras again temporarily hosted trains to Manchester, this time via the Hope Valley route under the title of Project Rio.[40]
The original plan for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) involved a tunnel from south-east of London to an underground terminus in the vicinity of Kings Cross station. However, a late change of plan, principally driven by the then Secretary of State for the Environment Michael Heseltine's desire for urban regeneration in east London, led to a change of route, with the new line approaching London from the east. This opened the possibility of reusing St Pancras as the terminus, with access via the North London Line that crosses the throat of the station.[36][41]
The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, and it was rejected in 1994 by the then transport secretary, John MacGregor, as "difficult to construct and environmentally damaging". However the idea of using St Pancras station as the new terminus was retained, albeit now linked by 12.4 miles (20 km) of new tunnels to Dagenham via Stratford.[36][41]
London and Continental Railways (LCR), which was created at the time of British Rail privatisation, was selected by the government in 1996 to reconstruct St Pancras, build the CTRL, and take over the British share of the Eurostar operation, Eurostar (UK). LCR has had ownership of St Pancras station since privatisation in order to allow the station to be redeveloped. Financial difficulties in 1998, and the collapse of Railtrack in 2001, caused some revision of this plan, but LCR retain ownership of the station.[3]
The design and project management of reconstruction was undertaken, on behalf of LCR, by Rail Link Engineering (RLE), a consortium of Bechtel, Arup, Systra and Halcrow. The original reference design for the station was by Nick Derbyshire, former head of British Rail's in-house architecture team. The master plan of the complex was by Foster and Partners, and the lead architect of the reconstruction was Alistair Lansley, a former colleague of Nick Derbyshire recruited by RLE.[18][42][43]
In order to accommodate the unusually long Eurostar trains, and to provide capacity for the existing domestic trains to the Midlands and the proposed domestic services on the high-speed rail link, the existing station train shed was extended a considerable distance northwards, by a new flat-roofed shed. The station was initially planned to have 13 platforms under this extended train shed. East Midlands services would use the western platforms, Eurostar services the middle platforms, and Kent domestic services the eastern platforms. The Eurostar platforms and one of the Midland platforms would extend back into the Barlow train shed. Access to Eurostar for departing passengers would be via a departure suite on the west of the station, and then to the platforms by a bridge above the tracks within the historic train shed. Arriving Eurostar passengers would leave the station by a new concourse at its north end.[41]
This original design was later modified, with access to the Eurostar platforms from below, using the station undercroft and allowing the deletion of the visually-intrusive bridge. By dropping the extension of any of the Midland platforms into the train shed, space was freed up to allow wells to be constructed in the station floor, which provided daylight and access to the undercroft.[41]
Shortly before the station rebuild commenced, the overhead wiring used by the electric suburban trains was removed. As a consequence, all suburban trains from Bedford and Luton were diverted to King's Cross Thameslink and beyond, and the Thameslink train operating company ceased to serve St Pancras for a period. (These trains generally used St Pancras only if there was engineering work further south on the Thameslink line.)
By early 2004, the eastern side of the extended train shed was complete, and the Barlow train shed was closed to trains.[44] From 12 April 2004, Midland Mainline trains terminated at an interim station occupying the eastern part of the extension immediately adjacent to the entrance.[45]
As part of the construction of the western side of the new train shed, which now began, an underground 'box' was constructed on the Thameslink route, which at this point ran partially under the extended station. This box was to house new platforms for the Thameslink service. In order for this to happen, the existing Thameslink tunnels between Kentish Town and King's Cross Thameslink had to be closed between 11 September 2004 and 15 May 2005 while the works were carried out. As a result, Thameslink services from the north terminated in the same platforms as the Midland Mainline trains, while services from the south terminated at King's Cross Thameslink.[46]
After the blockade of the route was over, the new station box was still only a bare concrete shell, and could not take passengers. Thameslink trains reverted to their previous route but ran through the station box without stopping. The budget for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link works did not include work on the fitting out of the station, as these works had originally been part of the separate Thameslink 2000 works programme. Despite lobbying by rail operators who wished to see the station open at the same time as St Pancras International, the Government failed to provide additional funding to allow the fit out works to be completed immediately following the line blockade. Eventually, on 8 February 2006, Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Transport, announced £50 million worth of funding for the fit-out of the station, plus another £10-15 million for the installation of associated signalling and other lineside works.[46][47][48]
The fitout works were designed by Chapman Taylor (Retail) and Arup (Eurostar) and completed by ISG Interior Plc Contractors collaborating with Bechtel as Project Managers.
In 2005 planning consent was granted for a refurbishment of the former Midland Grand Hotel building, with plans to refurbish and extend it as a hotel and apartment block.[49][50] The newly-refurbished hotel will open to guests on 21 March 2011 with a grand opening ceremony to follow on 5 May, exactly 138 years after its original opening.[51]
By the middle of 2006, the western side of the train shed extension was completed, and on 14 July 2006 Midland Mainline trains moved from their interim home on the east side to the west side of the station.
According to a BBC Two series broadcast in November 2007, the rebuilding cost was in the region of £800 million,[52] up from an initial estimate of £310 million.[53]
In early November 2007 Eurostar conducted a testing programme in which some 6000 members of the public were involved in passenger check-in, immigration control and departure trials, during which the 'passengers' each made three return journeys out of St Pancras to the entrance to the London tunnel. On 4 September 2007, the first test train ran from Paris Gare du Nord to St Pancras.[54] Children's illustrator Quentin Blake was commissioned to provide a huge mural of an "imaginary welcoming committee" as a disguise for one of the remaining ramshackle Stanley buildings immediately opposite the station exit.[55]
St Pancras was officially re-opened as St Pancras International and the High Speed 1 service was launched on 6 November 2007 by The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh.
During an elaborate opening ceremony, actor Timothy West, as Henry Barlow, addressed the audience, which was also entertained by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the singers Lemar and Katherine Jenkins. In a carefully staged set piece, the first Class 395 train and two Eurostar trains arrived through a cloud of dry ice in adjacent platforms within seconds of each other.[56][57] During the ceremony, Paul Day's large bronze statue The Meeting Place was also unveiled.
At a much smaller ceremony on 12 November 2007, the bronze statue of John Betjeman by sculptor Martin Jennings was unveiled by Betjeman's daughter, the author Candida Lycett Green.[58]
Public service by Eurostar train via High Speed 1 started on 14 November 2007. In a small ceremony, station staff cut a ribbon leading to the Eurostar platforms.[59] In the same month, services to the East Midlands were transferred to a new franchisee, East Midlands Trains.[60]
The low-level platforms for Thameslink opened on 9 December 2007, replacing King's Cross Thameslink. Since Thameslink trains had last used St Pancras station the franchise had changed hands (on 1 April 2006) and services are now operated by First Capital Connect.[61]
A pedestrian subway was built during the station extension. The subway runs under Pancras Road from the eastern entrance of the domestic concourse to the new northern ticket hall of King's Cross St. Pancras tube station (opened November 2009) and the future new concourse for King's Cross railway station (to open in 2012).
The St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel occupies parts of the original Midland Grand Hotel, including the main public rooms, together with a new bedroom wing on the western side of the Barlow train-shed. The upper levels of the original building have been redeveloped as apartments by the Manhattan Loft Corporation.[49][50][62][63] It held its grand opening on 5 May 2011, exactly 138 years after its original opening in 1873.
Since 11 November 2007 platforms 1–4 have been the southern terminus for Midland Main Line trains operated by East Midlands Trains to the East Midlands and Yorkshire, including Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Corby, Loughborough, Nottingham, Derby, Chesterfield and Sheffield. Occasional trains also run to Oakham, Melton Mowbray, Newark, Lincoln, Dronfield, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York and Scarborough.[12]
As of February 2011[update], the timetable has five off-peak services per hour; three fast and two semi-fast.[12]
| Service pattern | Destination | Calling at | Main stock | Journey time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| XX:00 | Corby | Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering | 222 | 1hr 10mins |
| XX:15 | Nottingham | Market Harborough, Leicester, East Midlands Parkway | HST | 1hr 44mins |
| XX:25 | Sheffield | Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Long Eaton, Derby, Chesterfield | 222 | 2hr 27mins |
| XX:30 | Nottingham | Luton Airport Parkway, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, Beeston | 222 | 1hr 56mins |
| XX:55 | Sheffield | Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield | 222 | 2hr 6mins |
On 9 December 2007, as part of the Thameslink Programme, St Pancras International gained platforms on the Thameslink network operated by First Capital Connect (FCC), replacing King's Cross Thameslink to the south-east. In line with the former station, the Thameslink platforms are designated A and B.[64][65] The new platforms have met with some criticism for the length of the walking route to the underground as compared with King's Cross Thameslink.[66] The Thameslink Programme involves the introduction of 12-car trains across the enlarged Thameslink network. As extending the platforms at King's Cross Thameslink was thought to be impractical (requiring alterations to Clerkenwell No 3 tunnel and the Circle/Hammersmith & City/Metropolitan Underground lines, which would be extremely disruptive and prohibitively expensive),[67] it was decided to build new Thameslink platforms under St Pancras.
The Thameslink platforms serve trains to Bedford, Luton and St Albans in the north, and Wimbledon, East Croydon and Brighton in the south. There are also direct trains to London Gatwick and London Luton airports. When completed, the Thameslink Programme will enlarge the Thameslink network more than threefold, from 50 to 172 stations.[68]
After the bay platforms at London Blackfriars closed in March 2009 for the station's reconstruction, Southeastern services that previously terminated there were extended to Kentish Town (off-peak), St Albans, Luton or Bedford (peak hours), calling at St Pancras.[69] Trains services south of Blackfriars are operated by Southeastern, north of Blackfriars by First Capital Connect.
Southeastern runs high-speed trains (Class 395) at 140 mph (230 km/h) on High Speed 1 tracks and up to 100 mph (160 km/h) on standard tracks in Kent, allowing passengers from Ashford International to travel to London in 36 minutes.[70] High-speed services go to Strood, Chatham, Gravesend, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury West, Dover Priory, Folkestone Central, Ashford, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International, and other destinations in Kent.
The first domestic service carrying passengers over High Speed 1 ran on 12 December 2008, to mark one year before regular services were due to begin. This special service, carrying various dignitaries, ran from Ashford International to St Pancras.[71] Starting in June 2009, Southeastern provided a preview service between London St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, extending to Ashford International during peak hours.[72] On 7 September 2009 Southeastern extended the peak-time services to Dover and Ramsgate.[73] On 21 November 2009, the preview service was introduced to Faversham. The full service began on 13 December 2009.
| Service pattern | Destination | Calling at | Journey time |
|---|---|---|---|
| XX:12 | Dover Priory | Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Folkestone West, Folkestone Central | 1hr 08mins |
| XX:25 | Faversham | Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Gravesend, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham (Kent), Rainham (Kent), Sittingbourne | 1hr 08mins |
| XX:42 | Margate | Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Canterbury West, Ramsgate, Broadstairs | 1hr 28mins |
| XX:55 | Faversham | Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Gravesend, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham (Kent), Rainham (Kent), Sittingbourne | 1hr 08mins |
| Service pattern | Departure | Calling at | Journey time |
|---|---|---|---|
| XX:28 | Faversham | Sittingbourne, Rainham (Kent), Gillingham (Kent), Chatham, Rochester, Strood, Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International | 1hr 11mins |
| XX:44 | Dover Priory | Folkestone Central, Folkestone West, Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International | 1hr 07mins |
| XX:53 | Margate | Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Canterbury West, Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International | 1hr 28mins |
| XX:58 | Faversham | Sittingbourne, Rainham (Kent), Gillingham (Kent), Chatham, Rochester, Strood, Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International | 1hr 11mins |
The full Eurostar timetable from St Pancras came into operation on 9 December 2007, with 17 pairs of trains to and from Paris Gare du Nord every day, 10 pairs of trains to and from Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid, and one train to and from Marne-la-Vallée for Disneyland Paris. Extra services run to Paris on Fridays and Sundays, with a reduced service to Brussels at weekends. Additional weekend leisure-oriented trains run to the French Alps during the skiing season, and to Avignon in the summer.[74][75]
Trains observe a mixture of calls at four intermediate stations (Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe), with some running non-stop. Non-stop trains take 2 hours 15 minutes to Paris, and just under 1 hour 50 minutes to Brussels, other trains taking 5 or 10 minutes longer depending on whether they make one or two stops.[74][75]
| Preceding station | National Rail | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Terminus | East Midlands Trains London-Nottingham |
Luton Airport Parkway |
||
| Market Harborough | ||||
| Terminus | East Midlands Trains London-Sheffield |
Leicester | ||
| Terminus | East Midlands Trains London-Corby |
Luton | ||
| Farringdon | First Capital Connect Thameslink |
Kentish Town | ||
| West Hampstead Thameslink |
||||
| St Albans | ||||
| Terminus | Eurostar High Speed 1 |
Ebbsfleet International |
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| Ashford International |
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| Terminus | Southeastern High Speed 1 |
Stratford International |
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| Platforms | Designation | Operator | Destinations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | MML Domestic | East Midlands Trains | Corby, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Sheffield, Leeds etc. |
| 5–10 | HS1 International | Eurostar | Lille, Paris and Brussels |
| 11–13 | HS1 Domestic | Southeastern | Chatham, Faversham, Ashford, Folkestone, Dover, Ramsgate and Margate |
| A, B | Thameslink | First Capital Connect | North to St Albans, Luton and Bedford South to Sutton, Sevenoaks and Brighton |
During the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, St Pancras will be the terminus of the Olympic Javelin service, a seven-minute shuttle to ferry spectators between London Olympic Park in Stratford and Central London.[76]
In January 2010, the European railway network was opened to liberalisation to allow greater competition.[77] Both Air France-KLM and Deutsche Bahn have expressed interest in taking advantage of the new laws to run new services via High Speed 1 to St Pancras.[78][79][80]
In December 2009 Deutsche Bahn received permission to run trains through the Channel Tunnel after safety requirements were relaxed. Deutsche Bahn had previously expressed a desire to run through trains between London and Germany.[81][82][83] Direct trains between St Pancras and Cologne Central station could start before the 2012 Olympics,[84] with plans to run a regular service of three daily trains each direction to Frankfurt, Rotterdam and Amsterdam via Brussels in 2013. Deutsche Bahn trains would be made up of two coupled sets between London and Brussels, dividing at Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid. DB showcased an ICE 3 trainset in St Pancras on 19 October 2010.[85]
In February 2010, the idea of a Transmanche Metro service gained support as local councillors in Kent and Pas-de-Calais announced that they were in talks to establish a high-frequency stopping service between London and Lille. Trains would start at Lille Europe and call at Calais, Ashford International and Stratford International before reaching St Pancras. Since High Speed 1 opened, Ashford and Calais have an infrequent service and Eurostar trains do not call at Stratford International. It is hoped the service would be running by 2012 in time for the London Olympics.[86]
From December 2018, as part of the Thameslink Programme, services from the East Coast Main Line/Great Northern Route, also part of the First Capital Connect franchise, will be linked to the Thameslink route, diverting trains previously terminating at Kings Cross into the Thameslink platforms at St Pancras and then through central London to a range of destinations in Sussex and Kent.[87] This link was made possible by the construction of two tunnels named the canal tunnels. These are about 100 metres north of the Thameslink platforms, and they will join the ECML where the North London Line and HS1 go over the top.
King's Cross St Pancras tube station serves both King's Cross and St Pancras main-line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.[88]
Major work at King's Cross St Pancras tube station to link the various station entrances to two new ticket halls for London Underground and reduce overcrowding was completed during 2010 and is now in use.[89][90]
| Preceding station | London Underground | Following station | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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towards Hammersmith
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Circle line |
towards Edgware Road
|
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towards Hammersmith
|
Hammersmith & City line |
towards Barking
|
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| Metropolitan line |
towards Aldgate
|
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| Northern line |
towards Morden
|
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| Piccadilly line |
towards Cockfosters
|
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|
towards Brixton
|
Victoria line |
towards Walthamstow Central
|
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