St Pancras

Now the excitement has settled about the grand restoration of Barlow's great train shed at London's St Pancras, I think it's time for a bit of station-bashing.

To start: why are some of the domestic parts of the station called "International"? Is that not confusing?

That's what you see as you emerge from the Underground station (confusingly called "King's Cross/St Pancras", not, you'll notice, "St Pancras International"), but this is what you first have to walk along to reach it:

The Thameslink platforms ("A" and "B" to you, although to find them you have to follow signs that say "First Capital Connect" -- God knows how you're meant to know that if you're a stranger to Britain's insane privatised railway) are decked out in glazed wall panels:

It's all very clean, but it feels a bit clinical, too.

In fact, as you stand on the platforms, it all feels utterly soulless.

Is this really the best we can do at what is supposed to be one of the three or four major gateways to the UK?

And as for the rolling-stock...

We find out sometime this month what the Government has decided to do about an order for a replacement fleet for Thameslink. It's not looking great...