Eurostar opens a stylish new ticket office at St Pancras International Station
Posted: 16 April 2014 | | 1 comment
Eurostar unveiled the first phase of a brand new ticket office in St Pancras International station, as part of an extensive programme of station improvements to enhance the passenger experience…
Eurostar today unveiled the first phase of a brand new ticket office in St Pancras International station, as part of an extensive programme of station improvements to enhance the passenger experience.
The stylish new ticket office has been relocated from St Pancras station’s southern entrance to Eurostar’s existing check-in area dramatically improving customer access. The new ticket office features a striking contemporary design in a bright, elegant and welcoming space with dedicated ticket desks where passengers can speak to Eurostar’s customer service staff about their bookings.
The second phase of the upgrade, a new Business Premier ticket office and an area for self-service ticket machines will open before the end of May. Once fully unveiled, the new ticket office facilities will help streamline Eurostar travellers’ journeys through the station.
The new St Pancras ticket office forms part of a wider investment programme, which includes work currently underway at Lille Europe station to significantly increase the capacity of the Eurostar terminal in order to accommodate anticipated growth in the volume of connecting passengers. In addition, there are a series of planned upgrades to Eurostar’s lounges for business travellers with work to transform the Brussels Midi lounge schedule to commence this summer.
Mikaël Lemarchand, Director of Stations of Eurostar commented; “Throughout our twentieth year of operation we are investing in every area of our business with our stations at the forefront of this investment programme. Stations are a central element of every journey our passengers take and we are committed to making the experience as seamless as possible. The new ticket office at St Pancras station is the first stage of a series of enhancements and passengers will also see exciting changes in Paris Gare du Nord, Brussels Midi and Lille Europe over the next 12 months.”
Eurostar passengers travelling from St Pancras International over the coming months can expect a number of special events to celebrate the opening of the new ticket office. Helping commemorate Eurostar’s twentieth year of operation, twenty lucky passengers using the new ticket office facilities today will receive exclusive business lounge access passes.
That’s great but to my mind the most important thing to upgrade are the Eurostar trains themselves. I’ve been using them for 14 years now and they are shabby and dirty. The material on the seats is fraying and grubby and carpets are stained. They also need to have free wifi available throughout the trains. I travel a lot on European high-speed trains and Eurostar could seriously learn some lessons from them.