London's St Pancras station signs deal to increase Eurostar capacity
The problem - as anyone who has used it recently will know - is that the cramped international departures area at St Pancras already struggles to cope at peak times.
But this week Eurostar and St Pancras
have signed a letter of intent
to "take significant steps to increase the station's capacity".
According to a statement from Eurostar the first step - while waiting for structural changes - will be "optimising security processes and cross-border passage, in order to improve the quality of service".
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Since the end of the Brexit transition period, passengers travelling between Paris and London must undergo more rigorous passport checks including passport stamping - the two terminals will also be affected by
the introduction of the EU's new EES and ETIAS systems,
currently scheduled for later in 2025 or early 2026.
The more in-depth checks have led to longer queues, and the cramped international departures area in St Pancras is particularly difficult at busy times.
Eurostar's statement adds: "The architectural firm Hawkins\Brown has been appointed to carry out a detailed design and feasibility study. This study will enable the companies to assess how the station can be reimagined to accommodate more passengers and operate more efficiently.
"This target will be achieved through intelligent design, which reorganises existing space and processes without changing the structure of the building, while respecting the heritage of St Pancras," it reads.
Eurostar has recently announced plans new destinations from London including Geneva and Frankfurt, to meet the growing desire to travel further afield by high-speed rail.
"As we plan to expand our fleet from the early 2030s and intensify our services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and now Germany and Switzerland, this project will play a key role in enabling this growth and continuing to offer a unique and seamless customer experience," comments Simon Lejeune, Chief Safety and Stations Officer at Eurostar, told BFM TV.
Several companies have expressed an interest in running train services through the Channel Tunnel in competition with Eurostar - but the post-Brexit travel rules means that these would all need to either use the St Pancras departures area, or create an extra international departures centre at another station with facilities for passport checks, which would need to be staffed by British and French border control agents.
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