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Queen opens new £800m St Pancras | Queen opens new £800m St Pancras |
(30 minutes later) | |
The Queen has opened a transformed St Pancras station and new Channel Tunnel rail terminal for Eurostar. | The Queen has opened a transformed St Pancras station and new Channel Tunnel rail terminal for Eurostar. |
She said St Pancras International was magnificent, and hoped people would consider it as not just a station but as "a destination". | |
Developers have called St Pancras the jewel in the crown of a £5.8bn project to bring high speed rail to the UK. | |
It will house high-speed services to Kent, Midland Mainline, Thameslink and six Tube lines. | |
Ceremony's compere | |
The Queen is being introduced to those who have transformed the late-Victorian building into a 21st Century terminal. | |
Accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen is being greeted by several dignitaries at the station, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown and London Mayor Ken Livingstone. | |
The evening ceremony is being compered by actor Timothy West playing St Pancras' designer William Barlow. West retraced the station's history with a sound and light show. | |
The ceremony involves three trains arriving at St Pancras and their drivers meeting the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. | |
Eurostar trains now use high-speed track between Paris and London | |
A suspended giant screen is showing a video about the high speed rail project featuring F1 driver David Coulthard, actress Kristin Scott Thomas and other personalities. | |
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and pop singer Lemar are providing musical entertainment. | |
The 68-mile railway line, known as High Speed 1 (HS1), runs from St Pancras to the Channel Tunnel opening at Folkestone in Kent. | |
Work on the station began in 2001 to enable it to accommodate domestic rail services and Eurostar trains to and from France and Belgium. | Work on the station began in 2001 to enable it to accommodate domestic rail services and Eurostar trains to and from France and Belgium. |
As part of its refurbishment, the station has been fitted with state-of-the-art technology including Wifi, touch-screen monitors and passenger information screens in all 60 retail units. | As part of its refurbishment, the station has been fitted with state-of-the-art technology including Wifi, touch-screen monitors and passenger information screens in all 60 retail units. |
More than 150 years of dirt has been removed from the brick work and a new roof has been fitted with 18,000 panes of self-cleaning glass. | More than 150 years of dirt has been removed from the brick work and a new roof has been fitted with 18,000 panes of self-cleaning glass. |
The front of the station, Sir George Gilbert Scott's neo-Gothic building, will open as a five-star hotel in 2009. | The front of the station, Sir George Gilbert Scott's neo-Gothic building, will open as a five-star hotel in 2009. |
Eurostar is switching its terminal from Waterloo station to St Pancras and will be offering quicker journey times on services from London to Paris and Brussels. | Eurostar is switching its terminal from Waterloo station to St Pancras and will be offering quicker journey times on services from London to Paris and Brussels. |