Passengers hoping to connect to Eurostar trains when the second section of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link opens on 2007 will have to “drag their suitcases along congested streets” because the Government has not provided enough funding to complete a linking facility.
According to The Times, passengers transferring from ThamesLink to Eurostar services will face a 10-minute walk, facing two sets of traffic lights, to get to the revamped St Pancras station.
Though a 400-metre “box” for a new Thameslink station has been built beneath St Pancras, The Times reports, the Government has not provided cash to fit it with platforms and escalators and so it will “lie empty indefinitely”.
Union Railways, which is building the station, reportedly said that, with no funding guaranteed, the facility would not be ready until 2008 “at the earliest”.
Paul Charles, communications director for Eurostar, is quoted as saying: “It is extremely frustrating that the new Thameslink station will not be ready when Eurostar starts running to St Pancras. This was meant to be the showpiece hub for the 21st century but without Thameslink it will lose some of its shine.”
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad Ltd www.newsfromabroad.com
