HUNTINGDONSHIRE commuters will notice a completely different environment when they arrive in London on Monday March 19, when the new two-storey Kings Cross concourse opens.

There will be an easier route in and out of the station and new faster access via an escalator to the Tube lines below, said train operator First Capital Connect.

The concourse will boast a new ticket office/travel centre, and shops and cafes over two levels, as well as a pub.

FCC customer service director Keith Jipps said: “For years our customers using, as most do, platforms 9, 10 and 11 in Kings Cross, have had to push their way along platform 8 to reach the main concourse.”

And in six years’ time travellers from Huntingdonshire will have another change of London environment when they are routed into the neighbouring St Pancras station and through trains to south London and the South Coast are introduced in 2018 as part of an upgrade of the Thameslink service that should have opened in 2000.