A European perspective on the planning of major railway stations: considering the cases of St Pancras Station and Paris Gare du Nord

Abstract

This article seeks to understand how the European integration process and emergence of a competitive rail market in the EU is changing the planning of large railway stations. It firstly compares the adjustment to rail competition rules in France and in the UK. Secondly, it analyses recent changes in the organisation of St Pancras station in London and Gare du Nord in Paris - two stations with a special link in the form of the Channel Tunnel - which have become strategic hubs for rail services and centres of urban renewal within their cities. Thirdly, it looks at the special financial processes used to fund development projects for the two stations, which make them a laboratory for new uses of space. It concludes that the changes observable in the planning of the two stations are less a direct result of European integration than of global trends.