St Pancras railway station
Updated: Wikipedia source
St Pancras railway station (), officially known since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a major central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is the terminus for Eurostar services from Belgium, France and the Netherlands to London. It provides East Midlands Railway services to Leicester, Corby, Derby, 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, Cambridge, Peterborough, Brighton, Horsham and Gatwick Airport. It stands between the British Library, the Regent's Canal and London King's Cross railway station. Beneath both main line stations is King's Cross St Pancras tube station on the London Underground; combined, they form one of the country's largest and busiest transport hubs. The station was constructed by the Midland Railway (MR), to connect its extensive rail network, across the Midlands and North of England, to a 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 its own terminus. The station was designed by William Henry Barlow, with wrought iron pillars supporting a single-span roof. At 689 feet (210 m) by 240 feet (73.2 m) wide, and 100 feet (30.5 m) high, it was then the largest enclosed space in the world. Following the station's opening 1 October 1868, the MR built the Midland Grand Hotel on the station's façade. George Gilbert Scott won the competition to design it, with an ornate Gothic red-brick scheme. St Pancras has been widely praised for its architecture and is now a Grade I listed building. St Pancras came under threat during the 20th century; damaged in both World War I and World War II by bombs, and then in the late 1960s by plans to demolish it entirely and divert services to King's Cross and Euston stations. A passionate campaign to save the station, led by the Victorian Society, Jane Hughes Fawcett, and Poet Laureate John Betjeman, was successful, and St Pancras was awarded Grade I listed status just 10 days before demolition was due to commence. At the start of the 21st century, the complex underwent an £800 million refurbishment to become the terminal for the Channel Tunnel Rail Link/High-Speed 1/HS1 as part of an urban regeneration plan across East London, and opened by Queen Elizabeth II in November 2007. A security-sealed terminal area was constructed for Eurostar services to mainland 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. London St Pancras International is owned by HS1 Ltd and managed by Network Rail (High Speed), a subsidiary of Network Rail.