Eurostar's new era starts at St Pancras

Eurostar launches service from the £800 million refurbished St Pancras International station today, after a 13-year spell in Waterloo.

The new route will cut journey times to Paris by 20 minutes to two hours and 15 minutes, and to Brussels by 25 minutes to one hour and 51 minutes.

The 186mph high-speed rail service has been well promoted, but it starts from an inharmonious style. A nationwide railworkers' strike in France begins exactly on the "big day" of Eurostar, in protest at President Nicolas Sarkozy's planned pension reforms.

Although Eurostar insists the open-ended strike won't impact on its service, passengers will have difficulties to travel beyond Paris Gare du Nore, the terminal station of the newly completed £5.8 billion Channel Tunnel rail link.

Despite the amount of travellers is seriously affected by the strike, the renovated St Pancras International station still manages to give people a splendid impression.(WATCH THE VIDEO)