Bringing romance to British rail

LONDON (Reuters) - If you were to ask most British rail travellers to describe their daily experience, chances are the words "elegant", "romantic" and "magical" would not pass their lips. But if Alastair Lansley has pitched things right -- and every indication so far is that he has -- rail rage may soon be a thing of the past, particularly if travelling via St Pancras, the new home for Eurostar trains to the continent.

The architect behind the renovation of the station, a 19th-century masterpiece once threatened with dereliction, is a devotee of railway architecture who's dedicated the past 11 years to returning St Pancras to its former glory. Designed by the architect William Barlow and completed in 1868, St Pancras was once the largest enclosed space in the world, featuring a breathtaking steel-and-glass train "shed" arching 240 feet (75 metres) over the railway lines.

The station itself is a red brick Gothic marvel boasting turrets and towers that was completed in 1876 and for nearly 60 years served as one of London's most luxurious hotels. Since 2001, both station and shed have undergone an 800 million pound ($1.6 bln) renovation to turn them into a state-of-the-art destination, not just for catching trains, but for high-end dining, shopping, champagne-drinking and living.

"We wanted to create another dimension in travel, to revive the romantic side of the railways," says Lansley as he guides a group of visitors around the beautifully restored "shed", which will officially be opened by the Queen next month and from where the first trains will depart to Paris on November 14.

"If you're travelling to Paris by train, it should evoke images of elegance and romance, and I think we're going to have achieved that." New high-speed trains will deliver passengers from the station to Paris in just two hours and 15 minutes -- the result of a 6 billion pound, 10-year infrastructure upgrade. It will feature a stylish champagne bar overlooking the platform.

At 93 metres (300 feet), that will not only be Europe's longest champagne bar, but it will also offer up to 40 marques of bubbly to tempt tipplers whether waiting for a train or just dropping by for a drink. A French brasserie, run by Searcy, the company behind highly rated restaurants on top of London's Gherkin and at the Barbican, will offer romantic dining behind the brick archways and sky-blue steel struts that support the glass roof.

Other features that lend a deep sense of history and romance are the vast central clock, an exact replica of the original Dent clock which was damaged while it was being removed to be sold to a collector in the 1970s. A nine-metre sculpture by artist Paul Day featuring a man and a woman whose heads are touching in an intimate embrace will grace the floor under the clock, forming a natural meeting point for those making a rendezvous at the station.

For Lansley, elegantly dressed in a charcoal suit and white shirt with French cuffs, St Pancras represents the future of rail travel, taking Britain towards the continent."On the continent, everyone is aware of the beauty of rail travel, but in this country frankly it's been lost. We hope that with this station, we can bring the romance back."