Midland Mainline and Eurostar from London St Pancras
London St Pancras is one of the major train terminals in central London. It is served by Midland Mainline, which runs trains to the East Midlands and Yorkshire. From November 2007, it will also become the UK’s main international train station. Over the last couple of years, extensive renovation work has gone on to allow it to become the London terminal for the Eurostar to Brussels in Belgium and Paris, Calais and Lille in France.
As with all travelling from London, the first thing to check is that your destination is serviced from London St Pancras, rather than one of the other terminals, such as nearby Euston and Kings Cross, or Marylebone and Paddington further west. While there is some logic to which destinations are served by which London terminal (largely based on geography), it is by no means foolproof, and often the reasoning can seem rather arbitrary at times.
The second thing to bear in mind, if coming from elsewhere in London or connecting through London from somewhere in the south-east, is to leave plenty of time. The Kings Cross/ St Pancras underground tube station is actually a fair walk from the St Pancras Mainline terminal. It’s a five minute trek for those who walk at a very fast pace, and an even longer one for those who walk slower, are carrying bags or get stuck behind crowds.
The following towns and cities are the main destinations north of the capital that can be reached from London St Pancras:
London to Bedfordshire: Luton Airport Parkway, Luton, Bedford.
London to Northamptonshire: Wellingborough, Kettering.
London to Leicestershire: Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough.
London to Derbyshire: Long Eaton, Derby, Chesterfield.
London to Nottinghamshire: Beeston, Nottingham.
London to South Yorkshire: Sheffield
Aside from the principle destinations, the following towns and cities can be reached on the Midland Mainline from London St Pancras station:
Belper and Willington (Derbyshire), Langley Mill and Alfreton (Nottinghamshire), Burton-on-Trent (Staffordshire), Sheffield Meadowhall, Leeds, York, Wakefield Westgate, Barnsley and Scarborough (Yorkshire)
The best way to get the best ticket prices is to book online in advance, and at non-peak times. The difference in price can be phenomenal – turning up on the day at a peak time can cost up to eight times more than the cheap tickets. And the cheap tickets aren’t exactly bargains, either…