Bringing romance to rail travel

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - If you were to ask most 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 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."