We had been promised a pelting with eggs from students supporting France’s
great strike. It was almost a disappointment to step off the first Eurostar
from St Pancras International and walk out of the Gare du Nord entirely
unmolested.
In fact, the only visible protest of the day was at St Pancras itself, where a
gentle and very English knot of campaigners were wheeling their bikes among
the crowd to draw attention to the lack of cycle parking at the £800 million
restored station.
Cycle racks were not the only thing missing at London’s new international
terminus yesterday. Passengers arriving to board the first commercial
service at 12.30 found the coffee bar still under construction and the
business lounge firmly closed. Business passengers were compensated with a
goody bag containing an apple, water, a tiny bottle of champagne and a
voucher for a case of wine. The unfortunates of standard class had to make
do with free bottles of smoothie handed out by a team of young women.
The very first train, a VIP special, pulled out of the Barlow train shed on
the dot of 11.01, accompanied by a small orchestra playing Elgar and a large
crowd of onlookers taking photographs. Only in a British station could the
announcer then come on the public address system with a warning that flash
photography was not permitted on the platforms. Some people have no sense of
occasion.
Business was brisk at the champagne bar, the only food and drink outlet yet
functioning, and the £7.50 charged for a glass of the cheapest bubbly seemed
no deterrent to drinking before the sun was over the yardarm.
John Harper, 76, from St Germans, Cornwall, was admiring the renovated station
almost as much as his £59 return ticket. “I last left this station in 1954
on my way to Tilbury and a ship to Australia. It was a grubby old hole then.
I think it’s rather splendid now.”
At exactly 12.28, the first fare-paying passengers pulled out past waiting
trains bound for Luton, Leicester and other more mundane destinations.
However fast it may be, shaving 20 minutes off the journey to Paris, the new
rail link between St Pancras and north Kent could never be described as a
scenic route. Within a minute it plunges into six miles of tunnel under the
back gardens of East London to emerge at Stratford station, which will serve
the 2012 Olympics. But there is no view of the site; the line remains
stubbornly in a deep cutting before burrowing into the next tunnel.
When daylight is restored, you find yourself among the badlands of Dagenham
Dock, compared with which the old route from Waterloo was a constant delight
of familiar landmarks.
Emerging from the Thames tunnel at Dartford, the train made a brief
unscheduled stop so that Eurostar could show off the deserted platforms of
its new Ebbsfleet station: “verray ’andy”, the French train conductor
informed us, “for le Bluewater shopping”.
Over on the other side, we stopped at Lille to enjoy another scene of concrete
desolation. This was no help to a train that has to travel at 186mph to
arrive on time. It didn’t, pulling up to its French buffers five minutes
late. But at least it was moving: much of France’s railway system was not.
Russell Blackmore, from Maida Vale, northwest London, a regular traveller on
Eurostar, was impressed by St Pancras. Over lunch of salmon fish pie and a
small bottle of Bordeaux, he said: “It’s a massive improvement — a better
station and much quicker.”
There were no celebrations on arrival at the Gare du Nord, just some
passengers having their picture taken with the driver holding a small Union
Jack, and an elderly lady struggling off the train with two enormous
balloons in celebration of her 70th birthday.
I think it's great that we have more transport links with our neighbours across the channel, even if there are a few teething problems, as have been commented on. It's just another example of how this country is progressing into the future, despite what the forecasters seem to be saying.
There are, of course, changes that can and probaby will be made, especially if enough people kick up a fuss. There wouldn't be any harm in adding bicycle racks and access for the disabled in the near future. Have some faith!
Dan, Solihull, UK
Mr Harper may think the "grubby hole" has been turned into something splendid. I, do not. The refurbishing of the train shed, which was designed to contain the fume and smoke of steam locomotives, is not now required. Had the shed and the nearby hotel been torn down in the 1950 we should now have a multi-purpose building with offices etc placed over the purpose built railway station.
Forget the flim-flam of champagne bars and the use of the Undercroft and concentrate of what really matters: the sensible use of very expensive surface area to improve the living, working and traveling conditions of citizens and transport users.
Before we touch Waterloo let us consider out needs for the next 100 years. Can we replace that train shed with something which is multi-purpose?
Walter Coleshill, Pittsboro, U.S.A.
Was not hugely impressed. As the article correctly states, most of the shops, etc are not open, you step outside and you sre in seedy King's Cross, no escalators once you are in the underground and, whilst shaving 20 mins off the journey from Paris (my train was late arriving) the journey across London was about 30 mins longer than it used to be.
I think there is a groupl think thing going on and don't want to be a killjoy, but think it's much ado about nothing!
James, London,
Firstly, there is no legislation that dictates how many cycle racks need to be incorporated into a public building. Secondly, St Pancras International is just that, an international railway station. Most holidaymakers & business travellers will not be travelling to St Pancras via bike, as it is simply unfeasible for luggage-carrying, plainly too far to ride to (ie, a great many users of Eurostar will be from outside the M25), or they are taking their bikes with them. I don't see any complaints about the cycle rack provisions at airports, so why the fuss here? However, the domestic terminus should have more than adequate racks, and if it doesn't, Network Rail should rectify this immediately.
Chris Rose, Oxford,
A great engineering project completed on time, well done to everybody.
Len Wesley, Ipswich, uk
no bike racks?
bah!
what about wheelchairs?
incidentally, how often to you see wheelchair user on a london bus?
jem, london, uk
I was very excited after hearing of the planned modernisation, as I believed it would open up European rail travel to the North of England. With excitement I checked the availability of Eurostar tickets, and planned a weekend break to Paris (thoughts even turned to the Ski train.) The tickets were a bargain so I eagerly checked the trains from Darlington to London.
This is when reality struck; the price of a return ticket for 1 person from Darlington to London cost more than 2 return plane tickets from Newcastle! The plane tickets are now booked. I did pay the green supplement though.
Simon, Stockton-on-Tees,
A high proportion of Eurostar passengers hail from points south and west of Charing Cross. A journey by taxi or the Northern Line and then on foot to St Pancreas is hardly a good swap for 20mins off the journey time. The vast sum of money wasted on this absurd project would probably have sorted BR commuter services all over the UK. As it is there was not even money enough in the budget to allow SW Trains to use the empty Waterloo Int to sort out the appaling (and expensive) "service" they run to Basingstoke Soton Bournemouth and Poole.
Howard Wortley, Christchurch, Dorset
Why is a public buildig allowed to open if there are no bicycle racks provided. Can we chain our bikes to the ticket vending machines? Outrageous. Some planner probably thought that eurostart travellers don't cycle.
Would never happen in my home country where there are bicycle racks everywhere.
stephane, birmingham,