Blackfriars station

Blackfriars

London Blackfriars
Station entrance on Queen Victoria Street prior to start of rebuilding work
Blackfriars Location of Blackfriars in Central London
Location	Blackfriars
Local authority	City of London
Managed by	First Capital Connect
Owner	Network Rail
Station code	BFR
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	1
Interchange	Mansion House Temple
National Rail annual entry and exit
2007–08	12.440 million
2008–09	12.959 million
2009–10	12.089 million
Original company	London, Chatham and Dover Railway
10 May 1886 (10 May 1886)	Opened
20 March 2009	Terminal platforms closed
20 November 2010	Station closed for major works
16 January 2011	station re-opened
Lists of stations	DLR · Underground · National Rail · Tramlink
External links	Departures • Layout
	Facilities • Buses

Blackfriars station, also known as London Blackfriars, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground complex in the City of London. Its platforms span the River Thames a short distance downstream from Blackfriars Bridge. The north bank entrance is on the south side of Queen Victoria Street close to the junction with New Bridge Street. A new entrance on the south bank opened on 5 December 2011. The station is in Travelcard Zone 1. The Underground station was closed for major engineering engineering for nearly three years from March 2009. It reopened on 20 February 2012.

National Rail

History

View of SR station from platform of former Ludgate Hill Station in 1953

The mainline railway station was opened as St Paul's by the London Chatham and Dover Railway (LC&DR) on 10 May 1886 when it opened the St Pauls Railway Bridge across the River Thames.

The St Paul's bridge was constructed to supplement the LC&DR's existing Blackfriars railway bridge, which had opened in 1864. This carried trains on the LC&DR's busy City Line from south London into the LC&DR stations at Ludgate Hill, Holborn Viaduct and, via the Snow Hill tunnel and a connection to the Metropolitan Railway near Farringdon, on to London King's Cross and St Pancras stations.

After the opening of St Paul's station, the earlier LC&DR Blackfriars Bridge station on the south side of the river was closed to passenger traffic on 1 October 1885 and became a goods-only station.

St Paul's station was renamed Blackfriars on 1 February 1937. Gradually, the structure of the original Blackfriars railway bridge deteriorated until it was unsound. The bridge deck was removed in 1985 and only the piers in the river and the orange bridge abutments remain.

The station was rebuilt along with the Underground station in the mid 1970s and was formally reopened on 30 November 1977. A part of the stonework elevation from the 1886 LC&DR station has been preserved at platform level in the mainline station indicating many destinations in the south-east of England and in Europe. St Paul's Bridge is now known as the Blackfriars Railway Bridge.

Services

This station is currently served by through services on the Thameslink route operated by First Capital Connect and Southeastern. This includes trains from Bedford, St Albans City and Luton in the north; and Brighton, Sutton and Sevenoaks in the south. Trains travelling south from the station run via London Bridge or Elephant & Castle and trains to the north next call at City Thameslink. Before March 2009 some services from the south terminated at three bay platforms, which have been removed in renovation works. Although a through station, for ticketing purposes it is considered a central London railway terminus for journeys from the south.

Service patterns

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
City Thameslink Farringdon on Sundays		First Capital Connect Thameslink Bedford-Brighton		London Bridge or Elephant & Castle
		First Capital Connect Thameslink Sutton Loop		Elephant & Castle
City Thameslink		First Capital Connect Northbound		Elephant & Castle
		Southeastern Southbound Bedford-Sevenoaks
	Disused railways
Ludgate Hill		London, Chatham & Dover Railway City Branch		Blackfriars Bridge
Holborn Viaduct		British Rail Southern Region City Line		Elephant & Castle

London Underground

Blackfriars

Platforms in 2005.
Location	Blackfriars
Local authority	City of London
Managed by	London Underground
Number of platforms	2
Fare zone	1
London Underground annual entry and exit
2007	12.621 million
2008	13.140 million
2009	0 (closed) million
2010	0 (closed) million
2011	0 (closed) million
1870 (1870)	Opened (MDR)
1871	Extended east (MDR)
1872	Started "Outer Circle" (NLR)
1872	Started "Middle Circle" (H&CR/MDR)
1900	Ended "Middle Circle"
1908	Ended "Outer Circle"
1949	Started (Circle line)
2009	Closed for refurbishment
Lists of stations	DLR · Underground · National Rail · Tramlink

The London Underground station is on the Circle and District lines, between Temple and Mansion House. It pre-dates the mainline station by 16 years. It was closed on 2 March 2009 for rebuilding work and reopened on 20 February 2012.

History

The exterior of the station in 1977

The station was opened on 30 May 1870 by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR; now the District and Circle lines) as the railway's new eastern terminus when the line was extended from Westminster. The construction of the new section of the MDR was planned in conjunction with the building of the Victoria Embankment and was achieved by the cut and cover method of roofing over a shallow trench.

On 3 July 1871 the MDR was extended eastwards to a new terminus at Mansion House.

Service patterns

Preceding station		London Underground		Following station
Temple towards Edgware Road (via Victoria)		Circle line		Mansion House towards Hammersmith (via Tower Hill)
Temple towards Wimbledon, Richmond or Ealing Broadway		District line		Mansion House towards Upminster

River connections

Blackfriars Millennium Pier

The station straddles the River Thames occupying the length of Blackfriars Railway Bridge, and since December 2011 there have been station buildings, with passenger entrance, on both sides of the river. Previously there were buildings and entrances on the north side only. Blackfriars Bridge is a road bridge running parallel to the rail bridge.

Interchange with London River Services commuter boats is possible from Blackfriars Millennium Pier on the north side of the river. Services from this pier include boats to Putney, operated by Thames Executive Charters, and services between Embankment and Woolwich Arsenal, operated by Thames Clippers.

Transport links

London Bus route 45, 63, 100, 388 and night route N63.

Current developments

Station rebuild

See also: Thameslink Programme

Blackfriars Underground station worksite during the Thameslink Programme rebuild

Blackfriars station is being rebuilt. The office building above has been demolished and will be replaced as part of the Thameslink programme. The new station will be the same height and will house a shared National Rail–London Underground ticket hall and ventilation shaft together with escalators and lifts between a mezzanine level for National Rail services and the sub-surface level for London Underground services. The Underground station will also see major enhancements, with a new roof of glazed north lights and partial-height glazed side panels to be installed along the entire length of the bridge. A new station entrance has been created at Bankside, where a second ticket hall has been provided.

The through platforms have been extended along Blackfriars Railway Bridge over the River Thames to accommodate twelve-car trains (in place of the previous eight). The platform layout is being altered by building new platforms on the west side, avoiding the need for trains between City Thameslink and London Bridge to cross the lines that lead to the terminal platforms.

Looking northwards at the old station from a departing train

The works exploit the disused piers west of the existing railway bridge which once supported the former West Blackfriars and St Paul's Railway Bridge. The easternmost line of disused piers has been strengthened, tied into the existing bridge and clad in stone. The number of bay platforms is being reduced from three to two in the process, but some terminating services will become through services, and the increased length will allow longer trains to terminate at Blackfriars. The subway entrance to Blackfriars station has been permanently closed.

The project was designed by Jacobs and Tony Gee and Partners and is being built by Balfour Beatty.

By January 2011 the eastern half of the station's new roof had been erected, and First Capital Connect services began using the newly constructed platforms on the east side of the bridge, where the bay platforms used to be. Work is now proceeding on the western side of the station to remove the original Thameslink platforms and widen the bridge to provide space for the new terminus platforms. The station's new entrance and ticket hall on the south side of the river opened on 5 December 2011.

Former stations

Immediately across the river on the same line was Blackfriars Bridge railway station, which accepted passengers from 1864 to 1885 and goods up to 1964. The station has been demolished but the entrance driveway remains. Further down Blackfriars Road is the entrance to an earlier Blackfriars station which operated from 1864 to 1868 as part of the competing South Eastern Railway. The bricked-up entrance and preserved engraved station name can be seen under the railway bridge carrying the railway between London Bridge and Waterloo East over Blackfriars Road. At track level the space occupied by the platforms can be seen.

Other information

The Waterloo & City Line, between Waterloo and Bank, runs almost directly under Blackfriars station and there have been suggestions to construct an interchange station for the line at Blackfriars. The Department for Transport considers this to have "no significant transport benefit".

The Cambridge Buskers started here.

External links

• Train times and station information for Blackfriars station from National Rail
• London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive
  • Station building, 1876
  • Construction of the MDR near Blackfriars Bridge, 1869
  • Underground station ticket hall, 1927
  • Subway entrances to Underground station, 1930
  • Underground station platforms, 1946
  • Underground station platforms, 1963
• Disused stations - Blackfriars station
• Blackfriars and the City Line