The World’s most wonderful train station?
I’m a big fan of travel, be it across town or around the world. I’ve always known I liked travelling in the ‘around-the-world’ sense, but I only really discovered that I was interested in how people get around town when I started blogging. After a while I noticed that I was amassing more and more Rio transport related posts – how to hail a bus (no mean feat in Rio), priority seats for the obese, metro travel tips, the sexy voiced announcer at the airport.
So I guess it’s only natural that I would find myself continuing this trend during my 2 months back in England. One of the many pleasures of being back has been catching up with old friends and, through a twist of fate, a friend and I recently found ourselves in what was recently described as “the world’s most wonderful railway station”: St Pancras.
Victorian Neo-Gothic architecture. Splendiferous! Photo: © Nick Weall
This building was almost demolished back in the 1960s before Poet Laureate John Betjeman jumped to its defence, calling the plan a “criminal folly”. In recent times it was completely renovated at a cost of £800 million – during the process they removed 300,000 pounds of grime from the bricks and replaced 8,000 panes of glass in the roof. Now it is home to Eurostar, the high-speed trains that link Britain to Europe via the Channel Tunnel.
So that’s the background to this place, but what’s it like inside? Well, the short answer is: impressive.
It's a good looking space don't you think? And in just a few months, visitors for the London 2012 Olympics will be arriving here. I look forward to seeing how Rio's preparations will compare in 2016.
And that’s not all you get for 800 million quid. There are sculptures too!
John Betjeman, the man credited with saving this building so long ago, is commemorated.
This enormous statue by Paul Day is called "The Meeting Place" and quite a few people hate it. Still, nice bunda...
Paul Day also created a far more interesting high relief frieze that is situated around the base of the kissing giants. It shows a variety of train station scenes. Check out this video I made:
Far more interesting than the two dopey behemoths above.
I think it looks pretty nice in the video, but if you take a good look, it has a few unexpected, borderline sinister aspects. I’ll leave you with some stills so you can see what I mean.
Ahhhh, they're hugging, how sweet... Hang on a minute! She's texting over his shoulder! Is she having an affair?
What's going on with the guy in the turban in the middle? I'm not saying he shouldn't be there or anything like that, I just mean, the artist is asking you the question isn't he? Interesting.
Lonely, lecherous guys and prostitutes. Not such a rose-tinted view of the railways after all.
Don’t worry, Rio will have the bullet train connecting it to Sao Paulo. The one that was originally planned to be operational by 1992.The one that that’s going to cost more per km than the Channel Tunnel, even though it’s mainly a surface train. You know, that one… :)
Man, if that train ever does get finished, it will be absolutely WONDERFUL. São Paulo may get a little more touristy too as the ability to travel between the two will be much less annoying.
Nice train station too!
Ha ha! That bullet train! I thought they were going to drop that idea completely weren’t they? I heard that the tickets were going to be so expensive that anyone who could afford one would probably just fly anyway (i.e. the train would be a little bit cheaper but take 4 hours rather than 1). I won’t be holding my breath to see that one (though I’d love it if they could get it built and operational at a reasonable cost – I have some friends moving to São Paulo and I can’t afford the plane).
I think it’ll stay in a “planning” stage for many years to come. Now, don’t forget the Eurostar isn’t necessarily cheaper than flying and people are OK with that because it goes from city centre to city centre (and not distant airfield to distant airfield). I haven’t flown the “ponte aerea” in years but I remember it being pretty convenient. Has it become worse because the airports are too busy? I also have this impression that air tickets are becoming more accessible in Brazil so it’s interesting that you think still it’s too expensive. Last year, I was in Congonhas and they were announcing flights to some cities that I could swear didn’t even have airports a few years ago. It looks like there’s increased demand for flying these days. Do you think it’s because the alternative (coach trips) are becoming more expensive as well?
Hmmm, “too expensive” is a subject term isn’t it? I just haven’t had a lot of disposable cash since I’ve been in Brazil, so the flights have been too expensive for me to fly down to São Paulo for a weekend. And the bus takes too long to make it worth it for just 2 days.
Hopefully the future will bring improved prosperity at which point my proximity to Santos Dumont airport will make it an extremely convenient option! :)
Here’s hoping you have the pleasure of enjoying the long queues at Santos Dumont and Congonhas in the near future. :)
The so called supertrain has been given a thumbs down by transportation engineers and logistics experts alike: both agree that it would be much better to invest the resources in creating or expanding metro lines between city centers and outskirts ( periferia in many cases) so to offer working people decent transport links between home and work. In most cities said people spend hours inside a bus, caught in congestion, to finally arrive home and get some rest and family time. Then they hop back on the same bus to return to work.
I disagree with the commentators who predict that the “supertrain” won’t be built. If all professionals, of any repute in the field, have claimed it is a bad idea then obviously the government is going to build it regardless. It will be a huge landmark of a public work; albeit inefficent, and that’s really the only thing that matters in Brazil.
Think of all the people you see working in big cities and that spend hours getting home. Then consider that this indiotic train – designed to sooth the inferiority complex of third world politicians ,and coat their pockets – will relinquish vital resources that could be geared towards a transportation grid which which would be of most use. In the end you may conclude that behind all the samba, carnival and seemingly laid back easiness Brazil is actually an inhumane and ignorant society.
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Mr. Betjemen’s statue reminds me of a dear character who appears – in the final scene – of the short clip below.
Ah, if only Brazil had a few Betjemens of her own . . .
Wow, sounds like someone has an axe to grind… :)
Seriously now, while I agree that spending money on public transport systems is a great idea (and sorely needed), I don’t understand how the choice has to be between one or the other. I’d rather see sensible investments in both of them. There’s a lot of business that happens on the Sao Paulo-Rio axis and improving the transport options between the two cities is economically important even if it only directly affects a much smaller number of people.
Yeah, maybe I went a little overboard there. Sorry.
I still think that spending money on something , when said expense has been proven to be less than ideal , is irresponsible. And when it’s someone else’s money then simply despicable.