Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Eurostar at St Pancras

What a jewel the new St Pancras is. How could they have thought of reducing it to rubble and replacing it with a ugly monster like Euston? This country owes a debt of gratitude to Sir John Betjeman, The Poet Laureate, whose vision and enthusiasm saved this piece remarkable piece of Victorian architecture.

Today heralds a renaissance of rail travel in this country. With speeds of up to 186mph, Paris and Brussels are reached from St Pancras faster than Norwich or Cardiff. One hopes that high-speed services like Eurostar will be available from London to Scotland and the North at some future point. But, in order to upgrade our 19th century rail infrastructure to accommodate high-speed trains much will have to be done. As I understand it, this includes new tunnels at Swiss Cottage and elsewhere, new platforms at numerous stations, new station at Crewe and so on. Until then, the low-cost airlines will continue to prosper.




"Lille is the new Canterbury"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

A very cool way to travel!

Freddie Daniells said...

Live just round the corner. Indeed it is the view from my front window! Come down J some time and I will show you. Popped down for a glass of fizz in Europes longest champagne bar with my cleaner tonight. It is absolutely the best station I have been to in the UK. Stunning!

Jeremy Jacobs said...

Will do Freddie.

Strange that Crossrail wont be stopping there!