The work is due to be completed in 2009

The Department of Transport is to fund the scheme at King's Cross Station which includes a new ticket hall

Work on the Northern Ticket Hall was halted in 2004 due to rising costs but transport chiefs said the station must "meet the demands of the 21st Century".

Organisers hope the revamp, due to be completed in 2009, will "give a boost" to the Olympic bid and help cut congestion at the station.

Open piazza

Transport Minister Tony McNulty said: "The extra Tube passengers arriving over the three week period of the Games will have easy access, can take fast lifts to the surface and then travel via new high speed trains to Stratford.

"The station will now unquestionably be able to support the increase in population resulting from 1,800 new homes planned north of the station."

The revamp also includes a new concourse, more than three times the size of the existing one, providing new integrated transport links with international and domestic services from St Pancras, as well as London Underground.

The Grade I listed fa�ade of the station will be restored, the roof replaced and a new open piazza, larger than Leicester Square, will also be built.