St Pancras railway station
Encyclopedia
St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus celebrated for its Victorian architecture. The Grade I listed building stands on Euston Road
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...

 in St Pancras
St Pancras, London
St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...

, London Borough of Camden
London Borough of Camden
In 1801, the civil parishes that form the modern borough were already developed and had a total population of 96,795. This continued to rise swiftly throughout the 19th century, as the district became built up; reaching 270,197 in the middle of the century...

, between the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

, King's Cross station and the Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal, just north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London....

. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway....

 as the southern terminus of that company's main line
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway route in the United Kingdom, part of the British railway system.The present-day line links London St...

, which connected London with the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...

 and Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

. When it opened, the arched Barlow
William Henry Barlow
On 28 December 1879, the central section of the North British Railway's bridge across the River Tay near Dundee collapsed in the Tay Bridge disaster as an express train crossed it in a heavy storm. All 75 passengers and crew on the train were killed...

 train shed
Train shed
A train shed is an adjacent building to a railway station where the tracks and platforms are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof...

 was the largest single-span roof in the world.

After escaping planned demolition in the 1960s, the complex was renovated
Renovation
Renovation is the process of improving a structure. Two prominent types of renovations are commercial and residential.-Process:The process of a renovation, however complex, can usually be broken down into several processes...

 and expanded during the 2000s at a cost of £800 million with a ceremony attended by the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 and extensive publicity introducing it as a public space. A security-sealed terminal area was constructed for Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....

 services to Continental Europe
Continental Europe
Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands....

—via High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...

—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
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 services from King's Cross St Pancras tube station
King's Cross St. Pancras tube station
King's Cross St. Pancras is a tube station in the London Borough of Camden, on the London Underground network, serving both King's Cross and main line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is the fourth busiest station on the system and serves more lines than any other...

. St Pancras is owned by London and Continental Railways
London and Continental Railways
-History:Created at the time of the privatisation of British Rail it bid for and won the contract from the UK government in 1996 to build and operate High Speed 1 between London and the Channel Tunnel...

, along with the adjacent urban regeneration area known as King's Cross Central
King's Cross Central
King's Cross Central is a multi-billion pound mixed-use property development in central London. The site is owned and controlled by London and Continental Railways and Exel, which selected Argent St George to be the developer for King's Cross Central, after an extensive selection process...

. The redeveloped terminus has been described by the travel writer Simon Calder
Simon Calder
Simon Calder , is an English travel writer, currently the senior travel editor for The Independent newspaper.-Biography:...

 as "the world's most wonderful railway station".

Overview

The station is the terminus for East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...

 services from London to Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

, Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

, Lincoln and smaller towns in between. and for Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....

's high-speed services to Paris, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

 and Lille
Lille
Lille is a city in northern France . It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...

,. First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

 trains on the cross-London Thameslink
Thameslink
Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than...

 route stop at platforms beneath the main station and offer services south to Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport railway station
Gatwick Airport station is the railway station at London Gatwick Airport that provides a direct rail connection to London 43 km away. The station platforms are located directly below the airport’s South Terminal, and the ticket office is adjacent to that terminal’s concourse...

 and Brighton
Brighton railway station
Brighton railway station is the principal railway station in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. The station master is Mark Epsom...

, and north to Luton Airport parkway station for Luton Airport and Bedford. High-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern
Southeastern (train operating company)
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

, 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
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...

. The train shed
Train shed
A train shed is an adjacent building to a railway station where the tracks and platforms are covered by a roof. It is also known as an overall roof...

, completed in 1868 by the engineer William Henry Barlow
William Henry Barlow
On 28 December 1879, the central section of the North British Railway's bridge across the River Tay near Dundee collapsed in the Tay Bridge disaster as an express train crossed it in a heavy storm. All 75 passengers and crew on the train were killed...

, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The frontage of the station is formed by St Pancras Chambers, formerly the Midland Grand Hotel, designed by George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...

, an impressive example of Victorian Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 architecture.

Location

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
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...

, 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
Undercroft
An undercroft is traditionally a cellar or storage room, often brick-lined and vaulted, and used for storage in buildings since medieval times. In modern usage, an undercroft is generally a ground area which is relatively open to the sides, but covered by the building above.- History :While some...

. To the west the station is bounded by Midland Road, with the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

 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
King's Cross Central
King's Cross Central is a multi-billion pound mixed-use property development in central London. The site is owned and controlled by London and Continental Railways and Exel, which selected Argent St George to be the developer for King's Cross Central, after an extensive selection process...

, formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads and the Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal
Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal, just north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in east London....

.

Platform layout

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
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway route in the United Kingdom, part of the British railway system.The present-day line links London St...

 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.

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.

Public art

At the south end of the upper level, a 9 metres (29.5 ft) high 20-tonne bronze statue named The Meeting Place stands beneath the station clock. Designed by British artist Paul Day
Paul Day (sculptor)
Paul Day, born in 1967, is a British sculptor. His high-relief sculptures in terracotta, resin, and bronze have been exhibited widely in Europe and his work is known for its unusual approach to perspective.Major works include:...

, it is intended to evoke the romance of travel through the depiction of a couple locked in an amorous embrace. The sculpture received a poor critical reception, being cited by Antony Gormley
Antony Gormley
Antony Mark David Gormley OBE RA is a British sculptor. His best known works include the Angel of the North, a public sculpture in the North of England, commissioned in 1995 and erected in February 1998, Another Place on Crosby Beach near Liverpool, and Event Horizon, a multi-part site...

 as "a very good example of the crap out there", referring to poor public art in the UK. Further controversy was caused by Day's 2008 addition of a bronze relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...

 frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...

 around the plinth. Originally depicting a commuter falling into the path of an Underground train
London Underground rolling stock
The history of the London Underground's rolling stock is as complex as the history of the network itself. A wide variety of types have been operated, from the early days of steam locomotives and carriages through to today's electric multiple units...

 driven by the Grim Reaper, Day revised the freize before the final version was installed.
Also on the upper level, above the Arcade concourse, stands a bronze statue of the former Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom
The Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the Poet Laureate, is the Poet Laureate appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom on the advice of the Prime Minister...

 Sir John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...

, 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. The 2 metres (6.6 ft)-high statue stands on a flat disc of Cumbria
Cumbria
Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

n slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 inscribed with lines from Betjeman's poem Cornish Cliffs:
Outside St Pancras Chambers, affixed inconspicuously to a wall, is an example of the installation art created by Rick Buckley
London Nose
The London Nose or Seven Noses of Soho are an artistic installation found on buildings in London. They are plaster of paris reproductions of the artist's nose which protrude from walls in an incongruous and unexpected way. They were created by artist Rick Buckley in 1997...

 - a replica of his nose. This was created in 1997 and survived the renovation of the building.

Requirement for a new station

The station was commissioned by the Midland Railway
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844 to 1922, when it became part of the London, Midland and Scottish 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
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...

 using the London and North Western
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 line via a junction at Rugby
Rugby, Warwickshire
Rugby is a market town in Warwickshire, England, located on the River Avon. The town has a population of 61,988 making it the second largest town in the county...

. 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
Railway Mania
The Railway Mania was an instance of speculative frenzy in Britain in the 1840s. It followed a common pattern: as the price of railway shares increased, more and more money was poured in by speculators, until the inevitable collapse...

". The Great Northern
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....

 line was approved by Parliament in 1846 and a Midland Railway spur from Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

 to Hitchin
Hitchin
Hitchin is a town in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 30,360.-History:Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce people mentioned in a 7th century document, the Tribal Hidage. The tribal name is Brittonic rather than Old English and derives from *siccā, meaning...

 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
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...

, Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

 and Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....

 (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 (£ as of ),. 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 miles (80.1 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
St Pancras, London
St Pancras is an area of London. For many centuries the name has been used for various officially-designated areas, but now is used informally and rarely having been largely superseded by several other names for overlapping districts.-Ancient parish:...

 since 1861.

St Pancras was an unprepossessing district, with notorious slums. The area's landmarks were the covered River Fleet
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...

, Regent's Canal, a gas works owned by the Imperial Gas Company (shortly to become the Gas Light and Coke Company
Gas Light and Coke Company
The Gas Light and Coke Company , was a company that made and supplied coal gas and coke. The Company was located on Horseferry Road in Westminster, London...

), St Pancras Old Church
St Pancras Old Church
St Pancras Old Church is a Church of England parish church in central London. It is believed to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England, and is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Pancras, although the building itself is largely Victorian...

 (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
Euston Road
Euston Road is an important thoroughfare in central London, England, and forms part of the A501. It is part of the New Road from Paddington to Islington, and was opened as part of the New Road in 1756...

) a few hundred yards to the east of Euston
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...

 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
Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...

, then a junior architect before he turned to literature, supervised the exhumations). The site was occupied by housing, the estates of Somers Town
Somers Town, London
Somers Town, was named for Charles Cocks, 1st Baron Somers. The area in St Pancras, London, was originally granted by William III to John Somers, Lord Chancellor and Baron Somers of Evesham. It was to be strongly influenced by the three mainline north London railway termini: Euston , St...

 and the slums of Agar Town
Agar Town
Agar Town was a short-lived area of St Pancras in central London. It was named after William Agar, a wealthy lawyer who lived at Elm Lodge, a villa in large grounds near to the Regent's Canal roughly where Barker Drive is now...

. 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
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...

. The demolished church was re-erected piece by piece in 1867 as a Congregational church
Congregational church
Congregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....

 in Wanstead
Wanstead
Wanstead is a suburban area in the London Borough of Redbridge, North-East London. The main road going through Wanstead is the A12. The name is from the Anglo-Saxon words wænn and stede, meaning "settlement on a small hill"....

, and still exists as a United Reformed
United Reformed Church
The United Reformed Church is a Christian church in the United Kingdom. It has approximately 68,000 members in 1,500 congregations with some 700 ministers.-Origins and history:...

 church.

The Midland intended to connect the site through a tunnel (the St Pancras Branch) to the new Metropolitan Railway
Metropolitan Line
The Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863...

, opened in 1863 from Paddington
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...

 to Farringdon Street
Farringdon station
Farringdon station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Clerkenwell, just north of the City of London in the London Borough of Islington...

 below the Euston Road, providing a through route to Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

.

Design and construction

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
Euston Arch
The Euston Arch, built in 1837, was the original entrance to Euston station, facing onto Drummond Street, London. The Arch was demolished when the station was rebuilt in the 1960s, but much of the original stone was later located—principally used as fill in the Prescott Channel—and proposals have...

; the functional success of Lewis Cubitt
Lewis Cubitt
Lewis Cubitt was born on 29 September 1799 and died on 9 June 1883. He married Sophia Kendall on 23 January 1830.He was the younger brother of Thomas Cubitt, the leading master builder in London in the second quarter of the 19th century, and he designed many of the housing developments constructed...

's King's Cross station; the design innovations in iron, glass and layout by Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, FRS , was a British civil engineer who built bridges and dockyards including the construction of the first major British railway, the Great Western Railway; a series of steamships, including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship; and numerous important bridges...

 at Paddington
Paddington station
Paddington railway station, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex.The site is a historic one, having served as the London terminus of the Great Western Railway and its successors since 1838. Much of the current mainline station dates...

; and, significantly, the single-span roof designs of John Hawkshaw
John Hawkshaw
Sir John Hawkshaw , was an English civil engineer.-Early life:He was born in Leeds, Yorkshire and was educated at Leeds Grammar School...

 being built at Charing Cross
Charing Cross railway station
Charing Cross railway station, also known as London Charing Cross, is a central London railway terminus in the City of Westminster, England. It is one of 18 stations managed by Network Rail, and trains serving it are operated by Southeastern...

 and Cannon Street
Cannon Street station
Cannon Street station, also known as London Cannon Street, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London, England. It is built on the site of the medieval Steelyard, the trading base in England of the Hanseatic League...

.

The initial plan of the station was laid out by William Henry Barlow
William Henry Barlow
On 28 December 1879, the central section of the North British Railway's bridge across the River Tay near Dundee collapsed in the Tay Bridge disaster as an express train crossed it in a heavy storm. All 75 passengers and crew on the train were killed...

, the Midland's consulting engineer. Barlow persuaded the company to modify its original plans, raising the station 6 metres (19.7 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
Latticework
Latticework is a framework consisting of a criss-crossed pattern of strips of building material, typically wood or metal. The design is created by crossing the strips to form a network...

 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
Wrought iron
thumb|The [[Eiffel tower]] is constructed from [[puddle iron]], a form of wrought ironWrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon...

 finials around the outer edge. It was 679 feet (207 m) long, 236 feet (71.9 m) wide, and 98 feet (29.9 m) high at the apex above the tracks. It was a collaboration between William Henry Barlow
William Henry Barlow
On 28 December 1879, the central section of the North British Railway's bridge across the River Tay near Dundee collapsed in the Tay Bridge disaster as an express train crossed it in a heavy storm. All 75 passengers and crew on the train were killed...

 and Rowland Mason Ordish
Rowland Mason Ordish
Rowland Mason Ordish was an English engineer. He is most noted for his design of the Winter Garden, Dublin 1865 Albert Bridge, a crossing of the River Thames in London, completed in 1873, and for his detailed work on the single-span roof of London's St Pancras railway station.William Henry Le...

. 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.
A competition was held for the design
Architectural design competition
An architectural design competition is a special type of competition in which an organization or government body that plans to build a new building asks for architects to submit a proposed design for a building. The winning design is usually chosen by an independent panel of design professionals...

 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
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

 designs of the prominent architect George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...

 were chosen. There was some disquiet at the choice, in part because Scott's designs, at £315,000, (£ as of ), 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
Waring Brothers
Waring Brothers was a British company specialising in railway structures.-History:The Company was founded by Charles Waring, William Waring and Henry Waring in 1841 in York as a civil engineering business....

' tender of £320,000 was accepted. The roof tender went to the Butterley Company
Butterley Company
Butterley Engineering was an engineering company based in Ripley, Derbyshire. The company was formed from the Butterley Company which began as Benjamin Outram and Company in 1790 and existed until 2009.-Origins:...

 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
River Fleet
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers. Its two headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath; each is now dammed into a series of ponds made in the 18th century, the Hampstead Ponds and the Highgate Ponds. At the south edge of Hampstead Heath these two streams flow...

 entirely in iron. Despite this the connection was completed in January 1867.

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
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, ran non-stop from Kentish Town
Kentish Town station
Kentish Town station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Kentish Town in the London Borough of Camden. It is at the junction of Kentish Town Road and Leighton Road...

 to Leicester - the longest non-stop run in the world at the time, of 97 miles (156.1 km).

The undercroft of the station was used to store beer
Beer
Beer is the world's most widely consumed andprobably oldest alcoholic beverage; it is the third most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is produced by the brewing and fermentation of sugars, mainly derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat...

 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.

Work on the Midland Grand Hotel did not begin until mid-1868. Designed by architect George Gilbert Scott
George Gilbert Scott
Sir George Gilbert Scott was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches, cathedrals and workhouses...

 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, (£ as of ),. The building initially appears to be in a polychromatic Italian Gothic style – inspired by John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...

'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.

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.

Grouping, nationalisation and privatisation

The 20th century did not, on the whole, serve St Pancras station well. The Railways Act of 1921
Railways Act 1921
The Railways Act 1921, also known as the Grouping Act, was an enactment by the British government of David Lloyd George intended to stem the losses being made by many of the country's 120 railway companies, move the railways away from internal competition, and to retain some of the benefits which...

 forced the merger of the Midland with the London and North Western Railway
London and North Western Railway
The London and North Western Railway was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. It was created by the merger of three companies – the Grand Junction Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway...

 (LNWR) into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway
London, Midland and Scottish Railway
The London Midland and Scottish Railway was a British railway company. It was formed on 1 January 1923 under the Railways Act of 1921, which required the grouping of over 120 separate railway companies into just four...

 (LMS), and the LMS adopted the LNWR's (the "Premier Line") Euston station
Euston railway station
Euston railway station, also known as London Euston, is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden. It is the sixth busiest rail terminal in London . It is one of 18 railway stations managed by Network Rail, and is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line...

 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
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, bombing inflicted damage on the train shed, which was only partially reglazed after the war.

On the creation of British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

ways 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:
  • The Palatine
    The Palatine
    The Palatine was the name given to an express passenger train, introduced by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway in 1938: the 10.00 from Manchester Central to London St Pancras and the return working, the 16.30 from St Pancras to Manchester Central....

    to Manchester
  • The Thames-Clyde Express
    Thames-Clyde Express
    The Thames–Clyde Express was a named express passenger train operating on the Midland Main Line, Settle-Carlisle Railway and the Glasgow South Western Line between London St Pancras and Glasgow St Enoch....

    to Glasgow
  • The Master Cutler
    Master Cutler (train)
    The Master Cutler is a British named express passenger train that operates on the National Rail network from Sheffield to London and return...

    to Sheffield (transferred from in 1958)


From 1960 to 1966, electrification work on the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

 between London and Manchester saw a new Midland Pullman
Midland Pullman
The Midland Pullman was the name given to a former express passenger train service operating on British Railways' old Midland Main Line between and via and Millers Dale...

 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
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...

, John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...

.

After the sectorisation of British Rail in 1986, main-line services were provided to the East Midlands by the InterCity
InterCity (British Rail)
InterCity was introduced by British Rail in 1966 as a brand-name for its long-haul express passenger services ....

 sector, with suburban services to St Albans, Luton and Bedford provided by Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast
Network SouthEast was one of three passenger sectors of British Rail created in 1982. NSE principally operated commuter trains in the London area and inter-urban services in densely populated South East England, although the network reached as far west as Exeter...

. In 1988 the Snow Hill tunnel
Snow Hill tunnel
Snow Hill Tunnel is a railway tunnel on the northern edge of the City of London between City Thameslink and Farringdon stations. The tunnel runs beneath the Smithfield meat market and was constructed using the cut and cover method immediately prior to the building of the market...

 re-opened resulting in the creation of the Thameslink
Thameslink
Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than...

 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.

Following the privatisation of British Rail
Privatisation of British Rail
The privatisation of British Rail was set in motion when the Conservative government enacted, on 19 January 1993, the British Coal and British Rail Act 1993 . This enabled the relevant Secretary of State to issue directions to the relevant Board...

, the long-distance services from St Pancras were franchised to Midland Mainline
Midland Mainline
Midland Mainline was a British train operating company owned by the National Express Group and based in Derby. It was created after the privatisation of British Rail. Midland Mainline services operated from April 1996 to November 2007....

, a train operating company
Train operating company
The term train operating company is used in the United Kingdom to describe the various businesses operating passenger trains on the railway system of Great Britain under the collective National Rail brand...

 owned by the National Express Group
National Express Group
National Express Group plc is a British transport group headquartered in Birmingham that operates bus, coach, rail and tram services in the UK, the US and Canada, Spain, Portugal and Morocco and long-distance coach routes across Europe...

, starting on 28 April 1996. The few remaining suburban trains still operating into St Pancras were operated by the Thameslink
Thameslink (train operating company)
Thameslink was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, run by Govia . It operated the London commuter railway line known by the same name...

 train operating company, owned by Govia
Govia
Govia is a transport company based in the United Kingdom. A joint venture between Go-Ahead and Keolis SA it is a key operator of commuter services in London, the South East and on the West Coast Main Line...

, from 2 March 1997.

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
Hope Valley Line
The Hope Valley Line is a railway line in England linking Sheffield with Manchester. It was completed in 1894.From Sheffield, trains head down the Midland Main Line to Dore, where the Hope Valley Line branches off to run through the Totley Tunnel .It emerges in the stunning scenery of the Hope...

 under the title of Project Rio.

A new role is planned

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
Secretary of State for the Environment
The Secretary of State for the Environment was a UK cabinet position, responsible for the Department of the Environment . This was created by Edward Heath as a combination of the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Public Building and Works on 15...

 Michael Heseltine
Michael Heseltine
Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, CH, PC is a British businessman, Conservative politician and patron of the Tory Reform Group. He was a Member of Parliament from 1966 to 2001 and was a prominent figure in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major...

'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
North London Line
The North London Line is a railway line which passes through the inner suburbs of north London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle from the south west to the north east, avoiding central London. The line is owned and maintained by Network Rail...

 that crosses the throat of the station.

The idea of using the North London line proved illusory, and it was rejected in 1994 by the then transport secretary
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...

, John MacGregor
John MacGregor
John Roddick Russell MacGregor, Baron MacGregor of Pulham Market, OBE PC FKC , is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was educated at Merchiston Castle School, then at the University of St Andrews and at King's College London...

, 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
Dagenham
Dagenham is a large suburb in East London, forming the eastern part of the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham and located east of Charing Cross. It was historically an agrarian village in the county of Essex and remained mostly undeveloped until 1921 when the London County Council began...

 via Stratford
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...

.

London and Continental Railways
London and Continental Railways
-History:Created at the time of the privatisation of British Rail it bid for and won the contract from the UK government in 1996 to build and operate High Speed 1 between London and the Channel Tunnel...

 (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
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....

 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
Railtrack
Railtrack was a group of companies that owned the track, signalling, tunnels, bridges, level crossings and all but a handful of the stations of the British railway system from its formation in April 1994 until 2002...

 in 2001, caused some revision of this plan, but LCR retain ownership of the station.

The design and project management of reconstruction was undertaken, on behalf of LCR, by Rail Link Engineering (RLE), a consortium of Bechtel
Bechtel
Bechtel Corporation is the largest engineering company in the United States, ranking as the 5th-largest privately owned company in the U.S...

, Arup
Arup
Arup is a global professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom which provides engineering, design, planning, project management and consulting services for all aspects of the built environment. The firm is present in Africa, the Americas, Australasia, East Asia, Europe and the...

, Systra
Systra
SYSTRA is an international engineering and consulting group specializing in rail and public transport. SYSTRA is known worldwide for its work in transport modes that offer a sustainable alternative to cars and trucks...

 and Halcrow
Halcrow Group Limited
Halcrow Group Limited is an engineering consultancy company, based in the United Kingdom.Halcrow is one of the UK's leading consultancies, with a pedigree stretching back to 1868. The UK-based consultancy specialises in the provision of planning, design and management services for infrastructure...

. The original reference design for the station was by Nick Derbyshire
Nick Derbyshire
Nicholas Alexander Derbyshire is a former England cricketer who had a brief first class cricket career for Essex and Lancashire between 1994 and 1996. He appeared in only five County Championship matches, scoring 52 runs with a best of 17 and taking five wickets at a bowling average of over 60.00,...

, former head of British Rail
British Rail
British Railways , which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was the operator of most of the rail transport in Great Britain between 1948 and 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the "Big Four" British railway companies and lasted until the gradual privatisation of British Rail, in stages...

's in-house architecture team. The master plan of the complex was by Foster and Partners
Foster and Partners
Foster + Partners is an architectural firm based in London. The practice is led by its founder and Chairman, Norman Foster, and has constructed many high-profile glass-and-steel buildings....

, and the lead architect of the reconstruction was Alistair Lansley
Alastair Lansley
Alastair Lansley CBE is a British architect.Alastair Lansley was the lead architect for the reconstruction and rebuilding of London's St Pancras Station as terminus of the High Speed 1 line from the Channel Tunnel to London...

, a former colleague of Nick Derbyshire recruited by RLE.

In order to accommodate the unusually long Eurostar trains
British Rail Class 373
The British Rail Class 373 or TGV-TMST train is an electric multiple unit that operates Eurostar's high-speed rail service between Britain, France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel...

, 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
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...

 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.

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.

The station is rebuilt

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
King's Cross Thameslink railway station
King's Cross Thameslink station is a closed railway station in central London, which served the Thameslink route. It was replaced by new Thameslink platforms at St Pancras in December 2007. The last operator of the station was First Capital Connect...

 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. From 12 April 2004, Midland Mainline trains terminated at an interim station occupying the eastern part of the extension immediately adjacent to the entrance.

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
Kentish Town station
Kentish Town station is a London Underground and National Rail station in Kentish Town in the London Borough of Camden. It is at the junction of Kentish Town Road and Leighton Road...

 and King's Cross Thameslink
King's Cross Thameslink railway station
King's Cross Thameslink station is a closed railway station in central London, which served the Thameslink route. It was replaced by new Thameslink platforms at St Pancras in December 2007. The last operator of the station was First Capital Connect...

 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.

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
Thameslink Programme
The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, is a £6 billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the south of London without requiring passengers to change...

 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
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...

, 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
Railway signalling
Railway signalling is a system used to control railway traffic safely, essentially to prevent trains from colliding. Being guided by fixed rails, trains are uniquely susceptible to collision; furthermore, trains cannot stop quickly, and frequently operate at speeds that do not enable them to stop...

 and other lineside works.

The fitout works were designed by Chapman Taylor
Chapman Taylor
Chapman Taylor is an international firm of architects, designers and masterplanners operating from 16 offices in 12 countries. Headquartered in London and established in 1959, it has won a number of awards; including those that recognise its contribution to sustainable practices and its commitment...

 (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. 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.

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
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 series broadcast in November 2007, the rebuilding cost was in the region of £800 million, up from an initial estimate of £310 million.

The international station opens

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
Gare du Nord
Paris Nord is one of the six large terminus railway stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, including Paris Métro and RER...

 to St Pancras. Children's illustrator Quentin Blake
Quentin Blake
Quentin Saxby Blake, CBE, FCSD, RDI, is an English cartoonist, illustrator and children's author, well-known for his collaborations with writer Roald Dahl.-Education:...

 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.

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
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 and The Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is the husband of Elizabeth II. He is the United Kingdom's longest-serving consort and the oldest serving spouse of a reigning British monarch....

.

During an elaborate opening ceremony, actor Timothy West
Timothy West
Timothy Lancaster West, CBE is an English film, stage and television actor.-Career:West's craggy looks ensured a career as a character actor rather than a leading man. He began his career as an Assistant Stage Manager at the Wimbledon Theatre in 1956, and followed this with several seasons of...

, as Henry Barlow, addressed the audience, which was also entertained by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...

 and the singers Lemar
Lemar
Lemar Obika , professionally known simply as Lemar, is an English recording artist. Obika has had a run of chart success in the UK, Europe and Australia...

 and Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins
Katherine Jenkins is a Welsh mezzo-soprano. She is a classical-popular crossover singer who performs across a spectrum of operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre and hymns.-Early life and education:...

. In a carefully staged set piece, the first Class 395
British Rail Class 395
British Rail Class 395 is a dual-voltage electric multiple unit used by train operating company Southeastern for its services along High Speed 1 and onwards to the Kent coast. The trains were built in Japan by Hitachi and shipped to the United Kingdom to operate new high speed domestic services...

 train and two Eurostar
British Rail Class 373
The British Rail Class 373 or TGV-TMST train is an electric multiple unit that operates Eurostar's high-speed rail service between Britain, France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel...

 trains arrived through a cloud of dry ice
Dry ice
Dry ice, sometimes referred to as "Cardice" or as "card ice" , is the solid form of carbon dioxide. It is used primarily as a cooling agent. Its advantages include lower temperature than that of water ice and not leaving any residue...

 in adjacent platforms within seconds of each other. 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
Martin Jennings
Martin Jennings is a British Sculptor born in 1957 working in the figurative tradition. His statue of John Betjeman at St. Pancras Station was unveiled in 2007 and the statue of Philip Larkin at Hull Paragon Interchange station was launched in 2010....

 was unveiled by Betjeman's daughter, the author Candida Lycett Green
Candida Lycett Green
Candida Lycett Green is the author of sixteen books including English Cottages, Goodbye London, The Perfect English House, Over the Hills and Far Away and The Dangerous Edge of Things. Her television documentaries include “The Englishwoman and the Horse” and “The Front Garden”...

.

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. In the same month, services to the East Midlands were transferred to a new franchisee, East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...

.

The low-level platforms for Thameslink opened on 9 December 2007, replacing King's Cross Thameslink
King's Cross Thameslink railway station
King's Cross Thameslink station is a closed railway station in central London, which served the Thameslink route. It was replaced by new Thameslink platforms at St Pancras in December 2007. The last operator of the station was First Capital Connect...

. 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
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

.

Connection to King's Cross

A pedestrian subway
Subway (underpass)
In England and Wales, the Republic of Ireland, Hong Kong and some Commonwealth countries , the term subway normally refers to a specially constructed underpass for pedestrians and/or cyclists beneath a road or railway, allowing them to reach the other side in safety.The term is also used in the...

 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
King's Cross St. Pancras tube station
King's Cross St. Pancras is a tube station in the London Borough of Camden, on the London Underground network, serving both King's Cross and main line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1. It is the fourth busiest station on the system and serves more lines than any other...

 (opened November 2009) and the future new concourse for King's Cross railway station (to open in 2012).

Hotel

The St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel
St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel
St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel is a hotel in London, England, adjacent to St Pancras railway station. It opened in March 2011 occupying parts of the former Midland Grand Hotel , including the main public rooms, together with a new bedroom wing on the western side of the Barlow train-shed...

 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. It held its grand opening on 5 May 2011, exactly 138 years after its original opening in 1873.

East Midlands Trains (Midland Main Line)

Since 11 November 2007 platforms 1–4 have been the southern terminus for Midland Main Line
Midland Main Line
The Midland Main Line is a major railway route in the United Kingdom, part of the British railway system.The present-day line links London St...

 trains operated by East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...

 to the East Midlands
East Midlands
The East Midlands is one of the regions of England, consisting of most of the eastern half of the traditional region of the Midlands. It encompasses the combined area of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and most of Lincolnshire...

 and Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, including Luton
Luton
Luton is a large town and unitary authority of Bedfordshire, England, 30 miles north of London. Luton and its near neighbours, Dunstable and Houghton Regis, form the Luton/Dunstable Urban Area with a population of about 250,000....

, Bedford, Wellingborough
Wellingborough
Wellingborough is a market town and borough in Northamptonshire, England, situated some from the county town of Northampton. The town is situated on the north side of the River Nene, most of the older town is sited on the flanks of the hills above the river's current flood plain...

, Kettering
Kettering
Kettering is a market town in the Borough of Kettering, Northamptonshire, England. It is situated about from London. Kettering is mainly situated on the west side of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene which meets at Wellingborough...

, Market Harborough
Market Harborough
Market Harborough is a market town within the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England.It has a population of 20,785 and is the administrative headquarters of Harborough District Council. It sits on the Northamptonshire-Leicestershire border...

, Leicester
Leicester
Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

, Corby
Corby
Corby Town is a town and borough located in the county of Northamptonshire. Corby Town is 23 miles north-east of the county town, Northampton. The borough had a population of 53,174 at the 2001 Census; the town on its own accounted for 49,222 of this figure...

, Loughborough
Loughborough
Loughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...

, Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...

, Derby
Derby
Derby , is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands region of England. It lies upon the banks of the River Derwent and is located in the south of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire. In the 2001 census, the population of the city was 233,700, whilst that of the Derby Urban Area was 229,407...

, Chesterfield
Chesterfield
Chesterfield is a market town and a borough of Derbyshire, England. It lies north of Derby, on a confluence of the rivers Rother and Hipper. Its population is 70,260 , making it Derbyshire's largest town...

 and Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

. Occasional trains also run to Oakham
Oakham
-Oakham's horseshoes:Traditionally, members of royalty and peers of the realm who visited or passed through the town had to pay a forfeit in the form of a horseshoe...

, Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray
Melton Mowbray is a town in the Melton borough of Leicestershire, England. It is to the northeast of Leicester, and southeast of Nottingham...

, Newark
Newark-on-Trent
Newark-on-Trent is a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands region of England. It stands on the River Trent, the A1 , and the East Coast Main Line railway. The origins of the town are possibly Roman as it lies on an important Roman road, the Fosse Way...

, Lincoln
Lincoln, Lincolnshire
Lincoln is a cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England.The non-metropolitan district of Lincoln has a population of 85,595; the 2001 census gave the entire area of Lincoln a population of 120,779....

, Dronfield
Dronfield
Dronfield is a town in North East Derbyshire in the North Midlands region of England. It comprises the three communities of Dronfield, Dronfield Woodhouse and Coal Aston. It is sited in the valley of the small River Drone, and lies between the town of Chesterfield and the city of Sheffield. The...

, Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

, Wakefield
Wakefield
Wakefield is the main settlement and administrative centre of the City of Wakefield, a metropolitan district of West Yorkshire, England. Located by the River Calder on the eastern edge of the Pennines, the urban area is and had a population of 76,886 in 2001....

, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...

 and Scarborough.

, the timetable has five off-peak services per hour; three fast and two semi-fast.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Service pattern !! Destination !! Calling at !! Main stock !! Journey time
|-
|style="background:#FF7F00" width="20px" | XX:00 || Corby
Corby railway station
Corby railway station, owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains , serves the town of Corby in Northamptonshire, England. The current station, opened on 23 February 2009, replaces an earlier one dating from 1879 and first closed in 1966 .Plans for the current station, built on a...

 || Luton
Luton railway station
Luton railway station is located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The station is near to the town centre, about three minutes' walk from the Arndale Shopping Centre. It is situated on the Midland Main Line and is operated by First Capital Connect.-History:...

, Bedford, , ||align=center| 222 || 1hr 10mins
|-
|style="background:#FF7F00" width="20px" | XX:15 || Nottingham || Market Harborough
Market Harborough railway station
Market Harborough railway station serves the town of Market Harborough in Leicestershire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, 16 miles south-east of Leicester and is served by the fast and semi-fast East Midlands Trains Class 222 "Meridian"/HST services...

, , ||align=center| HST || 1hr 44mins
|-
|style="background:#FF7F00" width="20px" | XX:25 || Sheffield
Sheffield Midland station
Sheffield station, formerly Pond Street and later Sheffield Midland, is a railway station in Sheffield, England and is the busiest station in South Yorkshire...

 ||Leicester
Leicester railway station
Leicester railway station serves the City of Leicester in Leicestershire, England.As of late 2009 Leicester is a Penalty fare station, a valid ticket or Permit to travel must be shown when requested.-Background:...

, Loughborough
Loughborough railway station
Loughborough railway station serves the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire, England. Situated on the Midland Main Line, 20 km north of Leicester, the station lies to the north-east of the town centre....

, East Midlands Parkway
East Midlands Parkway railway station
East Midlands Parkway is a railway station located north of Ratcliffe-on-Soar on the Midland Main Line in the East Midlands of England. It provides park and ride facilities for rail passengers on the routes from Leicester to Derby and Nottingham...

, Long Eaton
Long Eaton railway station
Long Eaton railway station serves the town of Long Eaton in Derbyshire, in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Midland Main Line and the Derby - Nottingham line south east of Derby...

, Derby
Derby Midland railway station
Derby railway station , also known as Derby Midland Station, is a main line railway station serving the city of Derby in England. Owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains, the station is also used by CrossCountry services and one Northern Rail service...

, Chesterfield
Chesterfield railway station
Entrance to the station is on Crow Lane and includes a car park, taxi rank and bus stop. There is also a small car park on the other side of Crow Lane which does not have a parking charge. The main entrance leads to the station concourse, which is very spacious and was built in the late 1990s. It...

  ||align=center| 222 || 2hr 27mins
|-
|style="background:#FF7F00" width="20px" | XX:30 || Nottingham|| Luton Airport Parkway
Luton Airport Parkway railway station
| Luton Airport Parkway railway station is the railway station for London Luton Airport in Bedfordshire, England. The station opened in 1999 and is located south-east of Luton and west of the airport....

, Bedford, Wellingborough
Wellingborough railway station
Wellingborough railway station is located the market town of Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, it is from London St. Pancras...

, Kettering
Kettering railway station
Kettering railway station is to the south-west of the Kettering town centre in Northamptonshire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, north of London St...

, Market Harborough
Market Harborough railway station
Market Harborough railway station serves the town of Market Harborough in Leicestershire, England. It lies on the Midland Main Line, 16 miles south-east of Leicester and is served by the fast and semi-fast East Midlands Trains Class 222 "Meridian"/HST services...

, Leicester
Leicester railway station
Leicester railway station serves the City of Leicester in Leicestershire, England.As of late 2009 Leicester is a Penalty fare station, a valid ticket or Permit to travel must be shown when requested.-Background:...

, Loughborough
Loughborough railway station
Loughborough railway station serves the town of Loughborough in Leicestershire, England. Situated on the Midland Main Line, 20 km north of Leicester, the station lies to the north-east of the town centre....

, Beeston
Beeston railway station
Beeston railway station is a railway station on the Midland Main Line which serves the town of Beeston in Nottinghamshire, England. It lies south west of Nottingham railway station...

 ||align=center| 222 || 1hr 56mins
|-
|style="background:#FF7F00" width="20px" | XX:55 || Sheffield
Sheffield Midland station
Sheffield station, formerly Pond Street and later Sheffield Midland, is a railway station in Sheffield, England and is the busiest station in South Yorkshire...

 || Leicester
Leicester railway station
Leicester railway station serves the City of Leicester in Leicestershire, England.As of late 2009 Leicester is a Penalty fare station, a valid ticket or Permit to travel must be shown when requested.-Background:...

, Derby
Derby Midland railway station
Derby railway station , also known as Derby Midland Station, is a main line railway station serving the city of Derby in England. Owned by Network Rail and managed by East Midlands Trains, the station is also used by CrossCountry services and one Northern Rail service...

, Chesterfield
Chesterfield railway station
Entrance to the station is on Crow Lane and includes a car park, taxi rank and bus stop. There is also a small car park on the other side of Crow Lane which does not have a parking charge. The main entrance leads to the station concourse, which is very spacious and was built in the late 1990s. It...

 ||align=center| 222 || 2hr 6mins
|}

First Capital Connect (Thameslink route)

On 9 December 2007, as part of the Thameslink Programme
Thameslink Programme
The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, is a £6 billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the south of London without requiring passengers to change...

, St Pancras International gained platforms on the Thameslink network
Thameslink
Thameslink is a fifty-station main-line route in the British railway system running north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than...

 operated by First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

 (FCC), replacing King's Cross Thameslink
King's Cross Thameslink railway station
King's Cross Thameslink station is a closed railway station in central London, which served the Thameslink route. It was replaced by new Thameslink platforms at St Pancras in December 2007. The last operator of the station was First Capital Connect...

 to the south-east. In line with the former station, the Thameslink platforms are designated A and B. 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.
The Thameslink Programme involves the introduction of 12-car trains across the enlarged Thameslink network. A 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
Hammersmith & City Line
The Hammersmith & City line is a subsurface London Underground line. It connects Hammersmith in the west with Barking in the east, running through the northern part of central London. It is coloured salmon pink on the Tube map...

/Metropolitan
Metropolitan Line
The Metropolitan line is part of the London Underground. It is coloured in Transport for London's Corporate Magenta on the Tube map and in other branding. It was the first underground railway in the world, opening as the Metropolitan Railway on 10 January 1863...

 Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 lines, which would be extremely disruptive and prohibitively expensive), it was decided to build new Thameslink platforms under St Pancras.

The Thameslink platforms serve trains to Bedford, Luton
Luton railway station
Luton railway station is located in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The station is near to the town centre, about three minutes' walk from the Arndale Shopping Centre. It is situated on the Midland Main Line and is operated by First Capital Connect.-History:...

 and St Albans in the north, and {[Wimbledon station|Wimbledon]], East Croydon
East Croydon station
East Croydon station is a railway station and tram stop in Croydon, 10.35 miles south of London Bridge in Travelcard Zone 5. It is the largest and busiest station in Croydon and the busiest in London outside Travelcard Zone 1 in terms of the number of passengers entering and exiting...

 and Brighton
Brighton railway station
Brighton railway station is the principal railway station in the city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England. The station master is Mark Epsom...

 in the south. There are also direct trains to London Gatwick
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...

 and London Luton
London Luton Airport
London Luton Airport is an international airport located east of the town centre in the Borough of Luton in Bedfordshire, England and is north of Central London. The airport is from Junction 10a of the M1 motorway...

 airports. When completed, the Thameslink Programme will enlarge the Thameslink network more than threefold, from 50 to 172 stations.

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. Trains services south of Blackfriars are operated by Southeastern, north of Blackfriars by First Capital Connect.

Southeastern (High Speed 1 and Kent Coast)

Southeastern
Southeastern (train operating company)
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

 runs high-speed trains (Class 395
British Rail Class 395
British Rail Class 395 is a dual-voltage electric multiple unit used by train operating company Southeastern for its services along High Speed 1 and onwards to the Kent coast. The trains were built in Japan by Hitachi and shipped to the United Kingdom to operate new high speed domestic services...

) at 140 mph (62.6 m/s) on High Speed 1 tracks and up to 100 mph (44.7 m/s) on standard tracks in Kent, allowing passengers from to travel to London in 36 minutes. High-speed services go to , , , Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne railway station
Sittingbourne railway station is on the Chatham Main Line and the Sheerness Line in north Kent. The station is 44 miles 1260 yards from London Victoria according to the mileage sign on the footbridge. Train services are provided by Southeastern...

, Faversham
Faversham
Faversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...

, , , , , , , Ebbsfleet International
Ebbsfleet International railway station
Ebbsfleet International railway station is a railway station in Ebbsfleet Valley, in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, 10 miles outside the eastern boundary of Greater London, England. It is near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west and Gravesend to the east. Ebbsfleet International...

, Stratford International
Stratford International station
Stratford International station is a main line railway and Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham in northeast London, United Kingdom...

, 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. Starting in June 2009, Southeastern provided a preview service between London St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, extending to Ashford International during peak hours. On 7 September 2009 Southeastern extended the peak-time services to Dover and Ramsgate. On 21 November 2009, the preview service was introduced to Faversham
Faversham railway station
Faversham railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in north Kent, and serves the town of Faversham, 52 miles from London Victoria and 49 miles from London St. Pancras International. Train services are provided by Southeastern. Typical journey times for fastest services to Victoria is 70...

. The full service began on 13 December 2009.

Southeastern High Speed Typical Off-Peak Timetable

Service pattern Destination Calling at Journey time
XX:12 , , , , 1hr 08mins
XX:25 , , , , , , , , 1hr 08mins
XX:42 , , , , , 1hr 28mins
XX:55 , , , , , , , , 1hr 08mins

Service pattern Departure Calling at Journey time
XX:28 , , , , , , , , 1hr 11mins
XX:44 , , , , 1hr 07mins
XX:53 , , , , , 1hr 28mins
XX:58 , , , , , , , , 1hr 11mins

Eurostar (High Speed 1)

The full Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....

 timetable from St Pancras came into operation on 9 December 2007, with 17 pairs of trains to and from Paris Gare du Nord
Gare du Nord
Paris Nord is one of the six large terminus railway stations of the SNCF mainline network for Paris, France. It offers connections with several urban transportation lines, including Paris Métro and RER...

 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
Disneyland Resort Paris
Disneyland Paris is a holiday and recreation resort in Marne-la-Vallée, a new town in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. The complex is located from the centre of Paris and lies for the most part within the commune of Chessy, Seine-et-Marne....

. 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
French Alps
The French Alps are those portions of the Alps mountain range which stand within France, located in the Rhône-Alpes and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur regions....

 during the skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....

 season, and to Avignon
Avignon
Avignon is a French commune in southeastern France in the départment of the Vaucluse bordered by the left bank of the Rhône river. Of the 94,787 inhabitants of the city on 1 January 2010, 12 000 live in the ancient town centre surrounded by its medieval ramparts.Often referred to as the...

 in the summer.

Trains observe a mixture of calls at four intermediate stations (Ebbsfleet International
Ebbsfleet International railway station
Ebbsfleet International railway station is a railway station in Ebbsfleet Valley, in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, 10 miles outside the eastern boundary of Greater London, England. It is near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west and Gravesend to the east. Ebbsfleet International...

, Ashford International
Ashford International railway station
Ashford International railway station serves Ashford in Kent, England. Services are provided by Southeastern, Southern and Eurostar.International services use platforms 3 & 4, whilst domestic trains use the original platforms 1 & 2, and a new island built when the Channel Tunnel opened...

, Calais-Fréthun
Gare de Calais-Fréthun
Calais-Fréthun is a mainline and international railway station in the suburbs of Calais, France, one of three stations serving the town. the other two are Calais-Ville in the town centre and Gare des Fontinettes in the suburbs....

 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.

Service patterns

Platform usage

Platforms Designation Operator Destinations
1–4 MML Domestic East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains is a British passenger train operating company. Based in Derby, it provides train services in the East Midlands, chiefly in the counties of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire, and between the East Midlands and London...

Corby, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Lincoln, Sheffield, Leeds etc.
5–10 HS1 International Eurostar
Eurostar
Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Paris and Brussels. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between England and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel....

Lille, Paris and Brussels
11–13 HS1 Domestic Southeastern
Southeastern (train operating company)
London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern is a train operating company in south-east England. On 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent Franchise , replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South East Franchise...

Chatham, Faversham, Ashford, Folkestone, Dover, Ramsgate and Margate
A, B Thameslink First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

North to St Albans, Luton and Bedford
South to Sutton, Sevenoaks and Brighton

Olympic Javelin service

During the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...

 in London, St Pancras will be the terminus of the Olympic Javelin service, a seven-minute shuttle to ferry spectators between London Olympic Park
Olympic Park, London
The Olympic Park in London is a new sporting complex currently under construction, adjacent to the Stratford City development in Stratford, Bow, Leyton & Homerton in East London for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics....

 in Stratford
Stratford, London
Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...

 and Central London.

Competition with Eurostar

In January 2010, the European railway network was opened to liberalisation to allow greater competition. Both Air France-KLM
Air France-KLM
Air France-KLM is a European airline holding company incorporated under French law with its headquarters at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in Tremblay-en-France, Paris...

 and Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

 have expressed interest in taking advantage of the new laws to run new services via High Speed 1 to St Pancras.

In December 2009 Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn
Deutsche Bahn AG is the German national railway company, a private joint stock company . Headquartered in Berlin, it came into existence in 1994 as the successor to the former state railways of Germany, the Deutsche Bundesbahn of West Germany and the Deutsche Reichsbahn of East Germany...

 received permission to run trains through the Channel Tunnel
Channel Tunnel
The Channel Tunnel is a undersea rail tunnel linking Folkestone, Kent in the United Kingdom with Coquelles, Pas-de-Calais near Calais in northern France beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. At its lowest point, it is deep...

 after safety requirements were relaxed. Deutsche Bahn had previously expressed a desire to run through trains between London and Germany. Direct trains between St Pancras and Cologne Central station
Köln Hauptbahnhof
Köln Hauptbahnhof is the central railway station in Cologne, Germany.The station is an important local, national and international hub, with many ICE, Thalys and Intercity trains calling there, as well as regional RegionalExpress, RegionalBahn and local S-Bahn trains...

 could start before the 2012 Olympics, with plans to run a regular service of three daily trains each direction to Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, Rotterdam
Rotterdam
Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

 and Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

 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
ICE 3
ICE 3 is a family of high-speed EMUs of Deutsche Bahn. It includes classes 403 and 406, which are known as ICE 3 and ICE 3M respectively...

 trainset in St Pancras on 19 October 2010.

In February 2010, the idea of a Transmanche Metro service gained support as local councillors in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 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
Gare de Calais-Fréthun
Calais-Fréthun is a mainline and international railway station in the suburbs of Calais, France, one of three stations serving the town. the other two are Calais-Ville in the town centre and Gare des Fontinettes in the suburbs....

, and Stratford International
Stratford International station
Stratford International station is a main line railway and Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham in northeast London, United Kingdom...

 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.

Great Northern

From December 2018, as part of the Thameslink Programme
Thameslink Programme
The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, is a £6 billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the south of London without requiring passengers to change...

, services from the East Coast Main Line
East Coast Main Line
The East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...

/Great Northern Route
Great Northern Route
The Great Northern Route is the name of the suburban rail services run on the southern end of Britain's East Coast Main Line and associated branches. Services operate to or from and in London...

, also part of the First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect
First Capital Connect is a passenger train operating company in England that began operations on the National Rail network on 1 April 2006...

 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.
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

King's Cross St Pancras tube station serves both King's Cross and St Pancras main-line stations. It is in Travelcard Zone 1.

Major work at King's Cross St Pancras tube station to link the various station entrances to two new ticket halls for London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...

 and reduce overcrowding was completed during 2010 and is now in use.

Fictional uses

  • St Pancras appears at the end of the street in the 1955 Ealing comedy The Ladykillers
    The Ladykillers
    The Ladykillers is a 1955 British black comedy film made by Ealing Studios. Directed by Alexander Mackendrick, it stars Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker, Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, Danny Green, Jack Warner and Katie Johnson...

    . which used the area around it, now partly demolished, for location shots.
  • It is the location of Valhalla
    Valhalla
    In Norse mythology, Valhalla is a majestic, enormous hall located in Asgard, ruled over by the god Odin. Chosen by Odin, half of those that die in combat travel to Valhalla upon death, led by valkyries, while the other half go to the goddess Freyja's field Fólkvangr...

     in Douglas Adams
    Douglas Adams
    Douglas Noel Adams was an English writer and dramatist. He is best known as the author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which started life in 1978 as a BBC radio comedy before developing into a "trilogy" of five books that sold over 15 million copies in his lifetime, a television...

    ' The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.
  • It features in many TV shows, including season 9 of Spooks
    Spooks
    Spooks is a British television drama series that originally aired on BBC One from 13 May 2002 – 23 October 2011, consisting of 10 series. The title is a popular colloquialism for spies, as the series follows the work of a group of MI5 officers based at the service's Thames House headquarters, in a...

    .
  • It featured in 102 Dalmatians
    102 Dalmatians
    102 Dalmatians is a 2000 live-action film, produced by Walt Disney Pictures and starring Glenn Close as Cruella de Vil. It is the sequel to 101 Dalmatians, a live-action remake of the 1961 Disney animated feature of the same name. In the film, Cruella de Vil attempts to steal puppies for her...

     when Cruella DeVil went to Paris on board the Orient Express.
  • It featured briefly in the film Shirley Valentine
    Shirley Valentine (film)
    Shirley Valentine is a 1989 British/American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert. The screenplay by Willy Russell is based on his 1986 one-character play of the same title.-Plot:...

    .
  • In the Railway Series story Gordon goes Foreign, Gordon travelled to St Pancras when the expected BR engine failed, only to be disappointed that he did not arrive at King's Cross; he had mistakenly believed King's Cross was London's only railway station.
  • The frontage appears in the Harry Potter
    Harry Potter (film series)
    The Harry Potter film series is a British-American film series based on the Harry Potter novels by the British author J. K. Rowling...

     movie franchise, doubling for .
  • The first 25 seconds of the opening credits of the TV series Porridge
    Porridge (TV series)
    Porridge is a British situation comedy broadcast on BBC1 from 1974 to 1977, running for three series, two Christmas specials and a feature film. Written by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, it stars Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale as two inmates at the fictional HMP Slade in Cumberland...

    show a prison van entering the station to deliver Fletcher for his journey to prison, although the character is not seen.

External links

, St Pancras Chambers
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