This evening (6 November) marks the official opening of the newly restored St Pancras International by HM Queen Elizabeth II.
The ceremony will mark the opening of the station building and launch of High Speed 1, allowing Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels stations to be reached in 2hr15min and 1h51min respectively.
It addition, it will signal the start of seven days preparation to move Eurostar”s entire London operations overnight on 13 November, to begin commercial services from St Pancras International on the morning of Wednesday 14 November.
High Speed 1, the new line between central London and the Channel tunnel will enable Eurostar trains to travel at their full speed of 186mph (300km/h) resulting in journey times between London and the Continent being shortened by at least 20 minutes.
The first Eurostar train will leave St Pancras International just after 11:00 on Wednesday 14 November.
This evening”s landmark event marks a remarkable turnaround for St Pancras, which had seriously fallen out of favour in the UK”s more stagnant rail years, but which has now come to symbolise Britain”s re-emergence onto the European rail stage.