During the COVID-19 pandemic, with travel bans in effect and people all over the world urged to stay
During the COVID-19 pandemic, with travel bans in effect and people all over the world urged to stay indoors, some of the busiest locations on earth are experiencing eerie stillness. Pictured here is a major transportation hub in central London: the joint stations of King’s Cross and St Pancras.St Pancras International will transport you to not only Heathrow and Gatwick airports, but also Sheffield, Luton, Kent, and Brighton. It also houses the Eurostar, the famous highspeed train that travels under the English Channel to a number of European cities: Paris, Brussels, Lille, Lyon, Avignon, Marseille, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. The station’s construction is positioned several meters above street level, with tracks above the Regent’s Canal and an elevated train shed. Space below was used for freight, particularly beer, which heavily influenced the architecture — pillars were spaced in such a way to most efficiently accommodate beer barrels. St Pancras International has 15 platforms all its own, but in addition, it joins and becomes one with King’s Cross below ground.Though two separate structures when viewed from street level, King’s Cross St Pancras Underground Station is one stop that services the Victoria, Northern, Piccadilly, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, and Circle lines. That’s more underground connections than any other London station — in the city with the oldest subway system in the world. Furthermore, one can catch additional services from King’s Cross via National Rail to cities like Leeds, Cambridge, and more (perhaps even Hogwarts, if you find the platform). And, of course, city buses stop here, too. As such, King’s Cross Square (seen in the second picture from the gates of St Pancras at the intersection of Pancras Road and Euston Road, otherwise known as the A501) is usually swarming with tourists, travellers with suitcases, hurried professionals, local passersby, street musicians and buskers, loungers on benches, a year-round market of food stalls, and a long line of people hedged in by ropes waiting for a long line of black cabs at a fast-moving but never-ending taxi stand.Recently, amidst the travel bans and general fear surrounding the coronavirus outbreak, this site — usually one of the busiest train stations in the world — has been standing all but deserted. -- source link
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