London Blackfriars is taking shape!

News update: Thames Path closures

The Thames Path at Blackfriars South Bank entrance is closed at night until April and during four weekends to allow construction to continue on the bridge above.

Work has been planned so that the south station can remain open while construction continues, however the walking route along the Thames Path needs to close from 10.30pm until 5am.

It will also be closed on these dates

11 & 12 February 2012
18 & 19 February 2012
25 & 26 February 2012
10 & 11 March 2012

The signed diversionary route used during the previous closure of the path will be in place.

Brand new station spanning the Thames

By the time of the Olympics, a brand new station will have been built at Blackfriars. It will be the first station in London to span the Thames, and already has a new entrance on the south bank providing access to destinations such as Tate Modern and the National Theatre. A new common entrance hall on the north bank will give superior connections to the Tube.

The first 12-carriage trains have been calling at Blackfriars since December 2011 which is also when the new entrances on the south bank and north bank opened. There is more work to do on the National Rail ticket hall on the north bank and platforms above. This will be completed before the 2012 London Olympics.

Read how rebuilding Blackfriars station is no mean task with this Thameslink Programme website factbuster.

Blackfriars powered by sunlight.

Bus stop numbers changed at Blackfriars.

Tube station opens 26 February 2012

Blackfriars Tube station reopens after extensive improvements on 26 February. Find out about the reopening here and your alternative routes in the meantime. Blackfriars National Rail station remains open.
You can connect with the Underground at Temple and Mansion House Tube stations just a short walk away or interchange at other Thameslink stations.
You might also be better off walking from neighbouring City Thameslink station instead, which is only a couple of hundred yards away, doesn't cost any more to reach and is enclosed, warmer and spacious.

Railway station works

Roof

Building work is progressing well at Blackfriars National Rail station, above. All services are operating from two new 'through' platforms, numbers 1 and 2, on the east side of the bridge.

With just two platforms in use and the entire station a building site, the station is a lot more congested.

However, the new common entrance for Tube and National Rail services is well advanced on the north bank and a new entrance on the South Bank opened on 5 December 2011.

Januarynorth

Above: North bank common entrance, January 2012

This common entrance opened as an access point on 12 December 2011, shortly after the new entrance on the south bank for your Thameslink route and Southeastern services (find out details here). The new National Rail ticket office will follow in the spring 2012.

The west side of the bridge, where trains previously ran before the Christmas 2010 track switch, is now being strengthened and widened. There will be three new rows of rib arches to support a new bridge deck and two new terminating 'bay' platforms above, creating four platforms in all. Engineers have built the bridge out to the west over one row of the remaining redundant piers from the former rail bridge in the river alongside.

These new bay platforms will open in May 2012.

With all this work going on, you're miles better off using City Thameslink station.

The story so far... work to date

New platforms

Trains now call at two new platforms, numbers 1 and 2, that span the River Thames, on the east side of the bridge.

These opened on 17 January 2011 after an eight-week closure during which time Network Rail and its contractors switched the railway tracks from one side of the bridge to the other (you can read here what the shut down was all about).

Up until this point, since 21 March 2009, engineers had been stripping down, strengthening and rebuilding the east side of the bridge with all train services running via the two remaining platforms on the west side.

They had also demolished a former office block and installed piling where the new common entrance is being built.

New common entrance

The new common entrance is coming on well on the north bank. Escalators have been lowered into place to the District and Circle Tube platforms (find out more) and the steel structure is going up. New ‘v-columns’ are also being installed for the escalator building in the entrance.

v-cols

Escalator 'v'-columns, June 2011

Crests removed and restored

Crest

A piece of Blackfriars history has been removed for careful restoration. Find out more.

Start of the pier show

Piers

The bridge is being widened over one row of piers that once supported the London, Chatham & Dover railway. Find out more.

Pavements closed

The pavement to the west of the station is closed for Network Rail construction works. This also shuts off the pedestrian subway entrance outside Blackfriars station (entry/exit points 2 and 3).

Please note: the riverbank stairway entrance is now closed.

Further pavement closures

Transport for London (TfL) has also closed the pavement on the eastern side of Blackfriars road bridge (see map above).

TfL made this decision in the interests of pedestrian safety and after consultation with Network Rail, the City of London and the London Borough of Southwark.

The safety concern is that pedestrians could become stranded at the edge of the Blackfriars redevelopment work site on the eastern side of the north end of the bridge where the station building work temporarily requires the suspension of the road crossing between the east and west pavements.

To reach the station from south of the river, people without tickets should use the western side of the bridge, enter the subway at point 5, exit at point 1, then cross the road at the crossing outside Blackfriars and dog-leg back to the station entrance. This is also the case for anyone approaching from the west along the north river bank.

Thames Path diversion

The Thames Path reopens on 5 December 2011. More details.