Not only are there quite few passengers arriving on the Eurostar platforms, but a much higher proportion of them are first-timers than get there as part of commutes or even casual London visitors.
With the number of four and five car trains that EMR runs into the London terminal, they could manage with a couple of bay platforms. Just because the original station was designed nearly 160 years ago, for the Midland Railway, it doesn't mean that the speace should be wasted running short-formed trains into the shed when there are 400m sets to be accommodated. I can't understand why some posters here are so possessive about a relic from the mid-Victorian age that they want it to be kept in it's Victorian state. I remember St Pancras as a smoky hole, architecturally interesting but with a very uninviting appearance. It is a travel centre, not a railway station preserved for enthusiasts. It is likely that it's future is much more assured by being fully used in it's current condition. Had the much-delayed Thameslink project (proposed in 1991) gone ahead on time, - i.e. well before the CTRL designers earmarked the underused St Pancras shell, there would be insufficient demand from EMT (as was) to justify keeping the whole station in it's grubby Victorian 'splendour'.
100% this.
What is the obsession with keeping things as they were in the past if they aren’t fit for purpose.
When I first visited St Pancras in the late 70’s/early 80’s it was a smokey, grey, run down dump. It didn’t improve on this until Eurostar moved in.
Yes the flat roof isn’t a thing of beauty but isn’t the Barlow roof best viewed from within anyway?
For the poster complaining about the glass partitions, these are in place as part of the country’s borders. They could have put a spiked fence up instead I guess!
It’s a long walk from the tube? So are many other platforms at London termini, especially Fenchurch Street which doesn’t even have a tube station.
St Pancras has moved with the times, it appears some people have been left behind in the 19th century and need to move into the 21st century.
I don’t think that Apperley Bridge will age very well given the amount of concrete blocks used to create the accessible ramps, in 10 years time it may look quite mucky as platform 1 is quite exposed to the elements.
I quit like how platform 1 at Kirkstall Forge is blended into the grass which IIRC has a couple of picnic tables, the tiles around the entrance are a nice touch as well. I just wish that the smashed glass pains on the footbridge could be replaced.
Apperley Bridge is a classic example of built down to a budget. It looks awful with all that concrete. Some sympathetic cladding even if it was just at ground level would help.
Kirkstall Forge on the other hand looks reasonable, helped by the development around it.
