LONDON — It was the whistle heard ’round the world. Or at least that’s what British rail executives — and anyone who has been following the $1.6 billion refurbishment of London’s St. Pancras International Train Station — must have made of the moment on November 13, at 11:01 a.m. local time, when the first Eurostar train bound for Paris pulled out of the station. The high-speed train service connects London and Kent in Britain to destinations in France and Belgium. Minutes later, the first commercial Eurostar to arrive at St. Pancras pulled in, fresh from Brussels. An orchestra played the music of Edward Elgar, champagne corks were popped, and free smoothies were handed out.

Improvements to the station track have shortened journey times to Europe. In 2003, when the segment of the tunnel between the channel and Kent was replaced with a high-speed track, and journey times were shortened by 20 minutes, travel rose by 30% almost immediately, according to a Eurostar spokesman. But the fanfare and hoopla are about far more than 20 minutes gained, or better rail connections from the rest of Britain into the station than there were to Waterloo. St. Pancras is, and was, a unique Gothic splendor, an extravagant example of Victorian riches and taste. Its descent into ruin — and its long time languishing there — has made its rebirth something wonderful. “This is not just a new train station for London — it is a new destination,” a spokeswoman for the London tourism bureau, More London, said of St. Pancras.

The visible bulk of the original Victorian station is what was once the Midland Grand Hotel, the biggest piece of Gothic revival architecture in Britain, built between 1868 and 1876 and designed by Sir Gilbert Scott. One of the greatest triumphs of the St. Pancras regeneration is the rehabilitation of the Midland Grand, which was shut down 70 years ago after being deemed too decrepit to run as a hotel. It was reconstructed into an office space that served as headquarters in wartime efforts. It will reopen in 2009 as a 270-bed six-star Marriott Renaissance, and the rest of it as luxury apartments bought and converted by the Manhattan Loft Company. The least expensive apartment is a little more than $2 million, and all have been sold.

Adjacent to the Midland Grand is the “Barlow shed,” built by William Barlow in 1866, two years before the hotel opened for business. At 240 feet long and 100 feet high, it was at that time the largest enclosed space in the world. Barlow’s shed has been refitted to accommodate the length of the quarter-kilometer Eurostar trains, and an additional extension has been added for regional trains. It is indeed a wondrous space: The shed contains 14,080 glass panels, covering about 10,000 meters squared, or the size of 38 tennis courts. The pale blue iron beams supporting the arches make for a striking contrast with the fresh red brick everywhere else.

What is incredible here is the combination of new and old. State-of-the-art touch screens showing live train times and platform numbers compete with the restored and stately old St. Pancras clock. Then there are the sculptures: Martin Jennings’s statue of the train-loving poet, Sir John Betjeman, who campaigned to save the Midland Grand from destruction, looks up at the train shed, his hat in hand. Then there’s Paul Day’s bronze, “The Meeting Place,” situated at the head of the shed, which depicts a couple embracing. These pieces give the station a magisterial character that counters the heavily retail-oriented quality of the rest of the space.

The commercial project director of the St. Pancras renovation, Mike Luddy, said his vision of the new station was closely tied to the overhaul of New York’s Grand Central Terminal in 1996.

“I looked around the world for examples of great stations being refurbished,” Mr. Luddy said. “When I visited Grand Central, all the light bulbs went off. It went from being a falling down, dangerous space to a new destination for workers. Commercially, it has been very successful. People come to dine, drink, and shop. The same will hopefully happen at St. Pancras.” Indeed: There are more than 62 retail joints (and, as is commonly pointed out, no McDonald’s); St. Pancras is expected to make about $277,000,000 a year on retail alone.

Mr. Luddy told The New York Sun that his biggest challenge was getting railway bigwigs to go for glitzy commerce the way airports do. Perhaps the greatest sign of his success is the champagne bar, which, at 98 meters, is the longest in Europe. On my visit, it was bustling with travelers, from jaunty elderly couples to sleek-suited gentlemen to giggling girls heading for a couple of days in Paris. Elegant leather booths are arranged alongside the track, separated from the trains by only a thin glass wall. There is an impressive selection of champagne, with the cheapest (Jean-Paul Deville Carte Noire NV) on order for $15.50 a glass. Imbibers should note, however, that the bar is not enclosed, and is thus, like the station, nearly as cold inside as it is outside. Still, cold or not, it is definitely the place to toast a great feat of engineering, architecture, and, of course, marketing.