Eurostar launches from St Pancras International
High speed rail has arrived at St Pancras International. All Eurostar services now operate to and from St Pancras International, our new central London home.
We said a fond farewell to Waterloo International on 13 November 2007, 13 years and 81,891,738 travellers since Eurostar’s maiden voyage in 1994.
The move to St Pancras International heralds a revolution in travel between the UK and Continental Europe. St Pancras International, in the heart of London, offers better connections throughout the UK and will be home to a faster Eurostar. What’s more, from now on all Eurostar journeys are carbon neutral – at no extra cost to you.
Reduced journey times: Eurostar journeys are at least 20 minutes faster from St Pancras International, on the UK’s first high-speed line.
New journey times
London - Paris
2 hours 15 mins
London - Brussels
1 hour 51 mins
London - Lille
1 hour 20 mins
Eurostar services will be even more reliable and even more punctual, thanks to the dedicated High Speed 1 line.
St Pancras International will have far better connections to London and the UK, with six Underground lines serving St Pancras International and five train operators serving St Pancras, King's Cross and nearby Euston.
St Pancras International is located in central London (Zone 1), so travellers will be within easy reach of the City, West End and Canary Wharf – with, for example, just three stops on the tube to Moorgate or Covent Garden.
St Pancras International will be a magnificent new central London station – a destination in itself with quality shops, top bars and restaurants.
In 2008, there will be more Eurostar services to and from St Pancras International.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Tuesday, November 06, 2007
St Pancras Station
The transformation of St Pancras
By Nick Higham BBC News
The development brings high speed train links to the UK .
It is easy to forget quite how unloved London's St Pancras station once was.
Today it is due to be officially opened by the Queen after an £800 million refurbishment, but in the early 1960s it was considered by many to be frankly grotesque - a hideous neo-Gothic folly, ridiculously fussy, not to mention grimy and impractical.
It represented everything mid-20th Century Britain hated about the 19th Century - at once obsolete, pompous and absurd.
It was considered a shame that Hitler's bombs had not done more damage. It was time to tear it down and start again, with something sleek and modern and efficient - like Euston Station, just along the road.
Like virtually every other building in London, St Pancras was indeed filthy, its red bricks covered in a layer of soot laid down by decades of exposure to the smoke from the coal fires that powered railway locomotives and heated the capital's homes, offices and factories.
St Pancras was also impractical - not so much the station itself, as St Pancras Chambers, designed by George Gilbert Scott and facing the Euston Road.
The chambers were built as the luxurious Midland Grand Hotel for the Midland Railway, for which St Pancras acted as its London terminus.
But the rooms had no bathrooms and the building's internal walls of load-bearing brick and iron resisted cost-effective conversion.
The station's refurbishment comes at a time when railways are back in fashion.
In the 1930s the hotel closed, to become railway offices, and in the subsequent three decades gradually sank into dilapidation.
But St Pancras had its champions, chief among them the future poet laureate, John Betjeman.
An enthusiast for all things Victorian and Edwardian, and a former architectural journalist, Betjeman could see the place had merits.
He helped lead a campaign to save the building, which culminated on 2 November 1967 when St Pancras was listed Grade 1, 10 days before it was due to be demolished and redeveloped as a sports hall and social housing.
That was 40 years ago to the month.
Four decades in which Britain's railways went into steady decline, the British Rail officials moved out of their offices in St Pancras Chambers, leaving them semi-derelict, and the station itself survived as a quiet haven for pigeons and dossers, the calm interrupted only by an occasional train to Nottingham or Sheffield.
It is hoped the site will be a popular gateway to mainland Europe.
The station's refurbishment comes at a time when railways are back in fashion.
There have been record numbers of travellers in the UK, and Britain now has its first complete high-speed line linking St Pancras with Paris and Brussels - not to mention the rest of the European high-speed rail network.
Gilbert Scott's Gothic masterpiece is undergoing separate renovation.
It reopens as a hotel in 2009, with its top two floors converted into luxury flats by the Manhattan Loft Co.
Behind it the vast train shed completed in 1868 and designed by the Midland Railway's engineer, William Barlow, has been reglazed and its cast-iron girders repainted a fetching sky blue to house the Eurostar trains.
To the north a new flat glass canopy has been built to cover separate platforms for Midland Mainline domestic services and a planned new high-speed commuter service into Kent.
A second new station has been built deep below ground for the Thameslink cross-London commuter service, replacing the scruffy King's Cross Thames link station 200 metres away.
And a third station has in effect been built by London Underground to improve access to the Circle and Metropolitan line stations under Euston Road.
We will have to see whether fashionable Londoners really do flock to William Barlow's restored masterpiece to while away their evenings sipping champagne.
The architect, Alastair Lansley, is a survivor of the old British Rail architect department, where he worked on the rebuilding in the 1980s of Liverpool Street station.
There too a grimy, unloved, workaday building was stripped back to reveal a Victorian gem, with glass roofs and decorative cast-iron columns.
At Liverpool Street the space thus revealed was promptly filled up again with shops.
At St Pancras Lansley and his team have been able to keep the main concourse free of clutter, tucking most of the retail space away downstairs in the "undercroft" below the platforms, along with all the Eurostar check-in facilities and departure lounge.
The undercroft is there because Barlow chose to take his tracks on a bridge over the Regent Canal, just to the north, rather than underneath it.
That meant raising the platforms on more than 700 cast-iron columns, and filling the space underneath with barrels of beer from the breweries of Burton-on-Trent and with the drayhorses to deliver them to London pubs.
Now St Pancras is being promoted as a trendy destination in its own right. We are promised the longest champagne bar in Europe, a regular farmer's market and upmarket shopping.
We will have to see whether fashionable Londoners really do flock to William Barlow's restored masterpiece to while away their evenings sipping champagne and watching the long Eurostar trains gliding in and out.
But there is no question that the new St Pancras is an impressive gateway to the Continent.
And, fittingly, just next to the champagne bar is a memorial to the man without whom St Pancras would long ago have vanished - a statue of the always shambolic John Betjeman, gazing up at that magnificent roof.
By Nick Higham BBC News
The development brings high speed train links to the UK .
It is easy to forget quite how unloved London's St Pancras station once was.
Today it is due to be officially opened by the Queen after an £800 million refurbishment, but in the early 1960s it was considered by many to be frankly grotesque - a hideous neo-Gothic folly, ridiculously fussy, not to mention grimy and impractical.
It represented everything mid-20th Century Britain hated about the 19th Century - at once obsolete, pompous and absurd.
It was considered a shame that Hitler's bombs had not done more damage. It was time to tear it down and start again, with something sleek and modern and efficient - like Euston Station, just along the road.
Like virtually every other building in London, St Pancras was indeed filthy, its red bricks covered in a layer of soot laid down by decades of exposure to the smoke from the coal fires that powered railway locomotives and heated the capital's homes, offices and factories.
St Pancras was also impractical - not so much the station itself, as St Pancras Chambers, designed by George Gilbert Scott and facing the Euston Road.
The chambers were built as the luxurious Midland Grand Hotel for the Midland Railway, for which St Pancras acted as its London terminus.
But the rooms had no bathrooms and the building's internal walls of load-bearing brick and iron resisted cost-effective conversion.
The station's refurbishment comes at a time when railways are back in fashion.
In the 1930s the hotel closed, to become railway offices, and in the subsequent three decades gradually sank into dilapidation.
But St Pancras had its champions, chief among them the future poet laureate, John Betjeman.
An enthusiast for all things Victorian and Edwardian, and a former architectural journalist, Betjeman could see the place had merits.
He helped lead a campaign to save the building, which culminated on 2 November 1967 when St Pancras was listed Grade 1, 10 days before it was due to be demolished and redeveloped as a sports hall and social housing.
That was 40 years ago to the month.
Four decades in which Britain's railways went into steady decline, the British Rail officials moved out of their offices in St Pancras Chambers, leaving them semi-derelict, and the station itself survived as a quiet haven for pigeons and dossers, the calm interrupted only by an occasional train to Nottingham or Sheffield.
It is hoped the site will be a popular gateway to mainland Europe.
The station's refurbishment comes at a time when railways are back in fashion.
There have been record numbers of travellers in the UK, and Britain now has its first complete high-speed line linking St Pancras with Paris and Brussels - not to mention the rest of the European high-speed rail network.
Gilbert Scott's Gothic masterpiece is undergoing separate renovation.
It reopens as a hotel in 2009, with its top two floors converted into luxury flats by the Manhattan Loft Co.
Behind it the vast train shed completed in 1868 and designed by the Midland Railway's engineer, William Barlow, has been reglazed and its cast-iron girders repainted a fetching sky blue to house the Eurostar trains.
To the north a new flat glass canopy has been built to cover separate platforms for Midland Mainline domestic services and a planned new high-speed commuter service into Kent.
A second new station has been built deep below ground for the Thameslink cross-London commuter service, replacing the scruffy King's Cross Thames link station 200 metres away.
And a third station has in effect been built by London Underground to improve access to the Circle and Metropolitan line stations under Euston Road.
We will have to see whether fashionable Londoners really do flock to William Barlow's restored masterpiece to while away their evenings sipping champagne.
The architect, Alastair Lansley, is a survivor of the old British Rail architect department, where he worked on the rebuilding in the 1980s of Liverpool Street station.
There too a grimy, unloved, workaday building was stripped back to reveal a Victorian gem, with glass roofs and decorative cast-iron columns.
At Liverpool Street the space thus revealed was promptly filled up again with shops.
At St Pancras Lansley and his team have been able to keep the main concourse free of clutter, tucking most of the retail space away downstairs in the "undercroft" below the platforms, along with all the Eurostar check-in facilities and departure lounge.
The undercroft is there because Barlow chose to take his tracks on a bridge over the Regent Canal, just to the north, rather than underneath it.
That meant raising the platforms on more than 700 cast-iron columns, and filling the space underneath with barrels of beer from the breweries of Burton-on-Trent and with the drayhorses to deliver them to London pubs.
Now St Pancras is being promoted as a trendy destination in its own right. We are promised the longest champagne bar in Europe, a regular farmer's market and upmarket shopping.
We will have to see whether fashionable Londoners really do flock to William Barlow's restored masterpiece to while away their evenings sipping champagne and watching the long Eurostar trains gliding in and out.
But there is no question that the new St Pancras is an impressive gateway to the Continent.
And, fittingly, just next to the champagne bar is a memorial to the man without whom St Pancras would long ago have vanished - a statue of the always shambolic John Betjeman, gazing up at that magnificent roof.
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Conrad in Chicago
Two follow up stories from blogs of last two days:
1. Today family members fly into Chicago as the former owner of my daily newspaper goes on trial there.
Conrad Black girds for U.S. trial Wednesday March 14, 05:30 AM
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Conrad Black, who once presided over one of the world's largest media empires, goes to court on Wednesday to determine if he and his associates stole millions of dollars as his conglomerate crumbled.
In what is expected to be a four-month trial in federal court in Chicago, the Canadian-born Black faces charges of fraud, racketeering, tax violations, obstruction of justice, and
money laundering.
Three former associates of Black's at Chicago-based Hollinger International Inc. and its Canadian holding companies face fewer counts. Black, 62, could receive a 101-year prison sentence and more than $50 million (26 million pounds) in fines if convicted.
Black, who once controlled a holding company with $2 billion in annual revenue, has branded the charges "a massive smear job" and pronounced himself ready for battle: "I want to face these accusers and expose this case for what it is," he said after one pre-trial hearing.
The defendants are collectively accused of siphoning off $84 million from the sales of newspapers and magazines that prosecutors say belonged to shareholders of Hollinger International, the media giant once controlled by Black.
The company, since renamed Sun-Times Media Group, has sold off hundreds of Canadian and U.S. newspapers as well as London's Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post.
LAVISH LIFESTYLE
Black, a member of Britain's House of Lords since 2001, is also accused of misusing the company's money to finance a lavish lifestyle that included extravagant parties attended by celebrities at his homes in London, New York and Florida.
He is also charged with using a company plane to go to the South Seas for a vacation and company funds to throw a birthday party for his wife, conservative columnist Barbara Amiel Black.
Each of the four defendants has at least two lawyers, ready to rebut the prosecution's key witness, former Black partner David Radler, who has pleaded guilty.
U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve scheduled opening arguments for Monday, but attorneys not involved in the case said the two sides are likely to be polarized in the type of juror they want.
"Because (Black) is such a flamboyant character there will be some jurors that will be totally intrigued by him," said Rebekah Poston, an attorney who has defended executives in complex cases.
"I also think because he represents corporate America and life in the excess lane, there will also be a reaction ... by the conventional juror (who is) conservative, law and order, trusting in government, and damaged by prior corporate cases," she said.
WITNESSES
Mentioned as potential witnesses for or against Black are former Pentagon official and fellow neoconservative Richard Perle, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Illinois Republican powerhouse James Thompson, and real estate mogul Donald Trump.
The first three were members of Hollinger's board of directors who may have been aware of the payments to Black and his associates. The case grew out of institutional shareholders' objections to payments pocketed by Black and his co-defendants that precluded them from competing with media properties that they were selling off.
Trump may appear as a defence witness to say he discussed his pending purchase of the Sun-Times building at Lady Black's surprise birthday party at La Grenouille restaurant in New York -- paid for in part by $40,000 in company funds.
2. Today is Non Smoking Day
Make a fresh start with better health
The health benefits of stopping smoking start almost immediately:
After...
20 minutes: Blood pressure and pulse return to normal
8 hours: Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood are halved, oxygen levels in the blood return to normal
24 hours: Carbon monoxide is eliminated from the body and the lungs start to clear out the build up of tar
48 hours: There is no nicotine left in the body. Taste and smell are greatly improved
72 hours: Breathing becomes easier, bronchial tubes begin to relax, energy levels increase
2 - 12 weeks: Circulation improves, making walking and running a lot easier
3 - 9 months: Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems improve as the lungs have room for up to 10% more oxygen
1 year: Risk of heart attack is halved
10 years: Risk of lung cancer is halved
10 years: Risk of heart attack is at the same level as non-smokers
Medium to long-term: Risk of developing lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke and chronic lung disease is reduced - the sooner you stop smoking, the sooner your risk starts going down
Medium to long-term: Stopping smoking at any age increases your life expectancy, provided that you stop before the onset of serious disease. Even if you have developed a disease, you can benefit from stopping as your body will be under less strain and be able to fight it more easily
Medium to long-term: A smoker who has suffered from a heart attack can halve the risk of a second heart attack by stopping smoking
Medium to long-term: Ten years after quitting smoking an ex-smoker's risk of lung cancer is reduced by 30 - 50% compared with that of a continuing smoker
Medium to long-term: Smokers who stop before the age of 35 have a life expectancy not significantly different from that of a non-smoker
Medium to long-term: Smokers who give up smoking between 65 and 74 years of age have a better life expectancy beyond 75 than those who continue to smoke
For life:
Reduce stress
Any physical activity is easier
Don't tire as quickly
Improve sense of taste and smell
Improved skin
1. Today family members fly into Chicago as the former owner of my daily newspaper goes on trial there.
Conrad Black girds for U.S. trial Wednesday March 14, 05:30 AM
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Conrad Black, who once presided over one of the world's largest media empires, goes to court on Wednesday to determine if he and his associates stole millions of dollars as his conglomerate crumbled.
In what is expected to be a four-month trial in federal court in Chicago, the Canadian-born Black faces charges of fraud, racketeering, tax violations, obstruction of justice, and
money laundering.
Three former associates of Black's at Chicago-based Hollinger International Inc. and its Canadian holding companies face fewer counts. Black, 62, could receive a 101-year prison sentence and more than $50 million (26 million pounds) in fines if convicted.
Black, who once controlled a holding company with $2 billion in annual revenue, has branded the charges "a massive smear job" and pronounced himself ready for battle: "I want to face these accusers and expose this case for what it is," he said after one pre-trial hearing.
The defendants are collectively accused of siphoning off $84 million from the sales of newspapers and magazines that prosecutors say belonged to shareholders of Hollinger International, the media giant once controlled by Black.
The company, since renamed Sun-Times Media Group, has sold off hundreds of Canadian and U.S. newspapers as well as London's Daily Telegraph and the Jerusalem Post.
LAVISH LIFESTYLE
Black, a member of Britain's House of Lords since 2001, is also accused of misusing the company's money to finance a lavish lifestyle that included extravagant parties attended by celebrities at his homes in London, New York and Florida.
He is also charged with using a company plane to go to the South Seas for a vacation and company funds to throw a birthday party for his wife, conservative columnist Barbara Amiel Black.
Each of the four defendants has at least two lawyers, ready to rebut the prosecution's key witness, former Black partner David Radler, who has pleaded guilty.
U.S. District Judge Amy St. Eve scheduled opening arguments for Monday, but attorneys not involved in the case said the two sides are likely to be polarized in the type of juror they want.
"Because (Black) is such a flamboyant character there will be some jurors that will be totally intrigued by him," said Rebekah Poston, an attorney who has defended executives in complex cases.
"I also think because he represents corporate America and life in the excess lane, there will also be a reaction ... by the conventional juror (who is) conservative, law and order, trusting in government, and damaged by prior corporate cases," she said.
WITNESSES
Mentioned as potential witnesses for or against Black are former Pentagon official and fellow neoconservative Richard Perle, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, former Illinois Republican powerhouse James Thompson, and real estate mogul Donald Trump.
The first three were members of Hollinger's board of directors who may have been aware of the payments to Black and his associates. The case grew out of institutional shareholders' objections to payments pocketed by Black and his co-defendants that precluded them from competing with media properties that they were selling off.
Trump may appear as a defence witness to say he discussed his pending purchase of the Sun-Times building at Lady Black's surprise birthday party at La Grenouille restaurant in New York -- paid for in part by $40,000 in company funds.
2. Today is Non Smoking Day
Make a fresh start with better health
The health benefits of stopping smoking start almost immediately:
After...
20 minutes: Blood pressure and pulse return to normal
8 hours: Nicotine and carbon monoxide levels in the blood are halved, oxygen levels in the blood return to normal
24 hours: Carbon monoxide is eliminated from the body and the lungs start to clear out the build up of tar
48 hours: There is no nicotine left in the body. Taste and smell are greatly improved
72 hours: Breathing becomes easier, bronchial tubes begin to relax, energy levels increase
2 - 12 weeks: Circulation improves, making walking and running a lot easier
3 - 9 months: Coughs, wheezing and breathing problems improve as the lungs have room for up to 10% more oxygen
1 year: Risk of heart attack is halved
10 years: Risk of lung cancer is halved
10 years: Risk of heart attack is at the same level as non-smokers
Medium to long-term: Risk of developing lung cancer, other cancers, heart attack, stroke and chronic lung disease is reduced - the sooner you stop smoking, the sooner your risk starts going down
Medium to long-term: Stopping smoking at any age increases your life expectancy, provided that you stop before the onset of serious disease. Even if you have developed a disease, you can benefit from stopping as your body will be under less strain and be able to fight it more easily
Medium to long-term: A smoker who has suffered from a heart attack can halve the risk of a second heart attack by stopping smoking
Medium to long-term: Ten years after quitting smoking an ex-smoker's risk of lung cancer is reduced by 30 - 50% compared with that of a continuing smoker
Medium to long-term: Smokers who stop before the age of 35 have a life expectancy not significantly different from that of a non-smoker
Medium to long-term: Smokers who give up smoking between 65 and 74 years of age have a better life expectancy beyond 75 than those who continue to smoke
For life:
Reduce stress
Any physical activity is easier
Don't tire as quickly
Improve sense of taste and smell
Improved skin
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
The Green Gospel
It used to be said that cleanliness is next to godliness. Now it is being argued that being "green" is being godly. The Bishop of London has given up flying for a year. How silly can you get.
The Conservatives are proposing only one untaxed flight a year in the hope of discouraging air travel.
There is an assumption that global warming is man made and can be stopped or slowed down by changes in human behaviour. I don't believe it. Neither do a whole range of world class scientists according to a recent television documentary. Politicians are legislating as though the debate is over when it is only just started. Negative politics against the grain of human nature never works. We urgently need some political "heretics" who will persist in believing and behaving in a non politically correct manner.
I am afraid that as usual it will the poor who will suffer . The poor at home and more particularly the poor of the third world.
Tomorrow morning family members fly from Manchester to Chicago to celebrate a 40th birthday. I hope they have a great time on their Western Explorer Tour as they travel to Los Angeles then San Diego and on through the Arizona desert to the Grand Canyon before reaching Las Vagas in the Nevada and finally transversing the Yosemite National Park and arriving in San Francisco. Fifteen days after setting out they fly back from Chicago to Manchester with an abundance of rich memories to go on enjoying for the rest of their lives.
Happy birthday and bon voyage.
The Conservatives are proposing only one untaxed flight a year in the hope of discouraging air travel.
There is an assumption that global warming is man made and can be stopped or slowed down by changes in human behaviour. I don't believe it. Neither do a whole range of world class scientists according to a recent television documentary. Politicians are legislating as though the debate is over when it is only just started. Negative politics against the grain of human nature never works. We urgently need some political "heretics" who will persist in believing and behaving in a non politically correct manner.
I am afraid that as usual it will the poor who will suffer . The poor at home and more particularly the poor of the third world.
Tomorrow morning family members fly from Manchester to Chicago to celebrate a 40th birthday. I hope they have a great time on their Western Explorer Tour as they travel to Los Angeles then San Diego and on through the Arizona desert to the Grand Canyon before reaching Las Vagas in the Nevada and finally transversing the Yosemite National Park and arriving in San Francisco. Fifteen days after setting out they fly back from Chicago to Manchester with an abundance of rich memories to go on enjoying for the rest of their lives.
Happy birthday and bon voyage.
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