St Pancras railway station

St Pancras
London St Pancras International
St Pancras station from Euston Road
Location	St Pancras
Local authority	London Borough of Camden
Managed by	Network Rail (High Speed) for HS1 Ltd Eurostar Network Rail (Thameslink platforms)
Owner	London and Continental Railways
Station code	STP, SPX
DfT category	A (mainline platforms) C1 (Thameslink platforms)
Number of platforms	15
Accessible	Yes
Fare zone	1
OSI	King's Cross St Pancras London King's Cross London Euston
Cycle parking	Yes – external (in car park)
Toilet facilities	Yes
National Rail annual entry and exit
2013–14	26.046 million
– interchange	3.504 million
2014–15	28.242 million
– interchange	3.888 million
2015–16	31.724 million
– interchange	4.474 million
2016–17	33.492 million
– interchange	4.584 million
2017–18	34.622 million
– interchange	4.393 million
Railway companies
Original company	Midland Railway
Pre-grouping	Midland Railway
Post-grouping	London Midland & Scottish Railway
Key dates
1 October 1868	Opened as terminus for Midland
15 July 2006	New domestic (Midland Main Line) platforms opened
6 November 2007	Relaunched by HM The Queen. Renamed St.Pancras International
14 November 2007	Eurostar services transferred from Waterloo
9 December 2007	Low-level Thameslink platforms opened
13 December 2009	Southeastern high-speed domestic services introduced
Other information
External links	Departures Layout Facilities Buses
Template:Portal-inline

St Pancras railway station (/ˈpæŋkrəs/), also known as London St Pancras and officially since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is the terminus for Eurostar continental services from London via High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel to Belgium, France and the Netherlands. It provides East Midlands Railway services to Corby, Sheffield and Nottingham on the Midland Main Line, Southeastern high-speed trains to Kent via Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International, and Thameslink cross-London services to Bedford, Peterborough, Brighton and Gatwick Airport. It stands between the British Library, the Regent's Canal and King's Cross railway station, with which it shares a London Underground station, Template:Lus.

The station was constructed by the Midland Railway (MR), which had an extensive network across the Midlands and the North of England, but no dedicated line into London. After rail traffic problems following the 1862 International Exhibition, the MR decided to build a connection from Bedford to London with their own terminus. The station was designed by William Henry Barlow and constructed with a single-span iron roof. Following the station's opening on 1 October 1868, the MR constructed the Midland Grand Hotel on the station's façade, which has been widely praised for its architecture and is now a Grade I listed building along with the rest of the station.

By the 1960s, St Pancras was surplus to requirements and services were diverted to King's Cross and Euston but there was fierce opposition to its proposed closure and demolition of the station and hotel. The station was reinvented in the late 20th century as the terminal for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link in an urban regeneration plan across East London. The complex underwent a £800 million refurbishment which was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 2007. A security-sealed terminal area was constructed for Eurostar services to continental Europe via High Speed 1 and the Channel Tunnel, with platforms for domestic trains to the north and south-east of England. The restored station has 15 platforms, a shopping centre, and a coach facility. St Pancras is owned by London and Continental Railways (LCR) and managed by Network Rail (High Speed), a subsidiary of Network Rail.

Location

St Pancras is at the southern end of the London Borough of Camden on a site orientated north/south, deeper than it is wide. The south is bounded by Euston Road (part of the London Inner Ring Road), and its frontage is the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel, while the west is bounded by Midland Road which separates it from the British Library and the east by Pancras Road which separates it from King's Cross station. The British Library is on the former goods yard site.

Behind the hotel, the train shed is elevated 5 m (17 ft) above street level and the area below forms the station undercroft. The northern half of the station is mainly bounded to the east by Camley Street, with Camley Street Natural Park across the road. To the north-east is King's Cross Central, formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads and the Regent's Canal.

Several London bus routes serve St Pancras, including 10, 59, 73, 205 and 390.

Services

East side entrance from Pancras Road

St Pancras contains four groups of platforms on two levels, accessed via 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 serve Thameslink, 1–4 connect to the Midland Main Line, while platforms 11–13 lead to High Speed 1; there is no connection between the two lines, except for a maintenance siding outside the station. There are also a variety of shops and restaurants within the station concourse. The station is the London terminus for Eurostar's high-speed trains to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lille via the Channel Tunnel. It is also the terminus for East Midlands Railway services from London to Derby, Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield, and smaller towns en route. Thameslink trains on the cross-London Thameslink route call at platforms beneath the main station, south to Gatwick Airport and Brighton and north to Luton Airport Parkway for Luton Airport and Bedford. High-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern, depart on the same level as Eurostar & East Midlands Railway.

Arriving on one of the Eurostar platforms

The terminal is one of relatively few railway stations in England to feature multilingual signage in English and French. In March 2014, the station's public relations team commissioned a study of mispronounced words, reportedly as a result of passengers referring to the station as "St Pancreas".

Platform layout

Interior of station, with Eurostar train awaiting departure at left

The longer international platforms, used by Eurostar, extend into Barlow's train shed, whilst the other platforms terminate at the southern end of the 2005 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. Eurostar's arrival and departure lounges lie below these platforms, adjacent to The Arcade, a concourse fashioned from the original station undercroft which runs along the western length of the Barlow train shed. The southern end of The Arcade links to the western ticket hall of King's Cross St Pancras tube station.

Access to the East Midlands Railway platforms are via the northern end of The Arcade, while the Thameslink and domestic High Speed platforms are reached via a street-level concourse where the old and new parts of the station meet. The main pedestrian entrance is at the eastern end of this concourse, where a subway enables pedestrians to reach King's Cross station and the northern ticket hall of the tube station.

Domestic services

East Midlands Railway

Two Class 222 Meridian diesel multiple units and a Class 43 HST diesel set operated by East Midlands Railway, at the Midland Main Line platforms

Since 2019, platforms 1–4 have been the southern terminus for Midland Main Line trains operated by East Midlands Railway to/from the East Midlands and Yorkshire, including Leicester, Corby, Nottingham, Kettering, Derby and Sheffield. Occasional trains also run to Melton Mowbray, Lincoln, Leeds, York and Scarborough.

As of September 2018, the Monday-Saturday off-peak timetable has five services per hour: three fast and two semi-fast.

Service pattern	Destination	Calling at	Main stock	Journey time
XX:02	Sheffield	Leicester, Derby, Chesterfield	222	2 h 1 min
XX:05	Nottingham	Luton Airport Parkway, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough, Beeston	222	1 h 52 min
XX:31	Sheffield	Leicester, Loughborough, East Midlands Parkway, Long Eaton, Derby, Chesterfield	222	2 h 15 min
XX:34	Nottingham	Market Harborough, Leicester, East Midlands Parkway	HST	1 h 40 min
XX:47	Corby	Luton, Bedford, Wellingborough, Kettering	222	1 h 10 min

Thameslink

Thameslink platforms at St Pancras (2007)

As part of the Thameslink Programme, St Pancras International gained platforms on the Thameslink route, replacing King's Cross Thameslink 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. As extending the platforms at King's Cross Thameslink was thought to be impractical (requiring alterations to Clerkenwell No 3 tunnel and the Circle/Hammersmith & City/Metropolitan Underground lines, which would be extremely disruptive and prohibitively expensive), it was decided to build new Thameslink platforms under St Pancras.

The Thameslink platforms serve trains to Bedford, Luton, St Albans City, Cambridge and Peterborough in the north, and Wimbledon, Sutton, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport and Brighton in the south.

Southeastern

The high speed domestic platforms with Class 395 "Javelin" units

Southeastern runs high-speed Class 395 trains on High Speed 1 to Kent and the South East, to Faversham, Margate, Ramsgate, Canterbury West, Dover Priory, Folkestone Central, Ashford, Ebbsfleet International and other destinations in Kent.

The first domestic service carrying passengers over High Speed 1 ran on 12 December 2008, to mark one year before regular services were due to begin. This special service, carrying various dignitaries, ran from Ashford International to St Pancras. Starting in June 2009, Southeastern provided a preview service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, extending to Ashford International during peak hours. In September, Southeastern extended the peak-time services to Dover and Ramsgate. The full service began on 13 December.

Departures

Service pattern	Destination	Calling at	Journey time
XX:12	Dover Priory	Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Folkestone West, Folkestone Central	1 h 08 min
XX:25	Faversham	Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Gravesend, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham (Kent), Rainham (Kent), Sittingbourne	1 h 08 min
XX:37	Margate	Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Canterbury West, Ramsgate, Broadstairs	1 h 28 min
XX:55	Faversham	Stratford International, Ebbsfleet International, Gravesend, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham (Kent), Rainham (Kent), Sittingbourne	1 h 08 min

Arrivals

Service pattern	Departure	Calling at	Journey time
XX:28	Faversham	Sittingbourne, Rainham (Kent), Gillingham (Kent), Chatham, Rochester, Strood, Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International	1 h 11 min
XX:44	Dover Priory	Folkestone Central, Folkestone West, Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International	1 h 07 min
XX:53	Margate	Broadstairs, Ramsgate, Canterbury West, Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International	1 h 28 min
XX:58	Faversham	Sittingbourne, Rainham (Kent), Gillingham (Kent), Chatham, Rochester, Strood, Gravesend, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International	1 h 11 min

Olympic Javelin service

During the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, St Pancras was the Central London terminus of the Olympic Javelin service, a seven-minute shuttle between Central London and Stratford International station for the London Olympic Park.

International services

Eurostar train at St Pancras International

Main article: Eurostar

Seventeen pairs of Eurostar trains to and from Paris Gare du Nord every day, ten pairs of trains to and from Bruxelles-Midi/Brussel-Zuid for Brussels and the European Union de facto capital, and one train to and from Marne-la-Vallée for Disneyland Resort Paris. Extra services run to Paris on Fridays and Sundays, with a reduced service to Brussels at weekends. Additional weekend leisure-oriented trains run to the French Alps during the skiing season, and to Marseille via Lyon and Avignon in the summer. It also serves as the terminus for services to Amsterdam from Spring 2018. Trains call at a mix of four intermediate stations (Ebbsfleet International, Ashford International, Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe), with some running non-stop. Non-stop trains take 2 hours 15 minutes to Paris, and just under 1 hour 50 minutes to Brussels, other trains taking 5 or 10 minutes longer depending on whether they make one or two stops.

St Pancras International is one of four railway stations in the UK with juxtaposed immigration control facilities set up by the French Border Police to clear passengers for entry into France and the rest of the Schengen Area prior to boarding the trains. Passengers do not need any further immigration or passport checks after entering the main departure gates, or at the corresponding gate at the other end on return journeys, as they are cleared by the UK Border Force.

Routes

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Terminus		East Midlands Railway London-Sheffield		Leicester
Terminus		East Midlands Railway London-Nottingham		Market Harborough
Terminus		East Midlands Railway London-Corby		Luton
Terminus		Southeastern High Speed 1		Stratford International
Farringdon		Thameslink Thameslink		Kentish Town or West Hampstead Thameslink or St Albans City
				Finsbury Park
	International Services
Terminus		Eurostar High Speed 1 London-Paris		Ashford International or Calais-Fréthun or Lille Europe or Paris Gare du Nord
Terminus		Eurostar High Speed 1 London-Brussels		Ashford International or Calais-Fréthun or Lille Europe or Brussels South

Accidents and incidents

On 17 February 1918 a German Gotha aircraft dropped five bombs one of which destroyed the roof of the station's ornate booking hall and killed 20 people. The station was also bombed in World War II, including a parachute mine damaging the roof on 15–16 October 1940, and a bomb exploding in the beer vaults underneath Platform 3 on 10–11 May 1941.

On 20 July 1959, a locomotive overran a signal and consequently crashed into Dock Junction Signal Box. As a result, trains had to be hand-signalled in and out of St Pancras for several days.

Future developments

Freight

On 21 March 2012, a SNCF TGV La Poste trainset was displayed at St Pancras. However, regular services proposed for 2017 would use a new terminal planned near Barking.

Underground

One of the entrances to King's Cross St Pancras tube station from the St Pancras concourse.

Main article: 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 fare zone 1. The station has two ticket halls, both of which can be accessed directly from the St Pancras concourse. The tube station is served by more lines than any other station on the London Underground. In 2005 & 2017, the tube station was the busiest on the network.

The tube station pre-dated the mainline as part of the initial section of Metropolitan Railway project on 10 January 1863, which was the first section of the London Underground to open. The station expanded to accommodate St Pancras on opening, following by interchanges with the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (now the Piccadilly line) in 1906, with the City & South London Railway (now the Northern line) opening a year later. The Victoria line platforms were opened in 1968. A major expansion to accommodate High Speed 1 at St. Pancras opened in November 2009.

A pedestrian subway was built during the CTRL refurbishments. It runs under Pancras Road from the eastern entrance of the domestic concourse to the new northern ticket hall of King's Cross St Pancras tube station (opened November 2009) and the new concourse for King's Cross (opened March 2012).

External links

• Official website