Blackfriars station Totally Explained

Everything about Blackfriars Station totally explained

London Blackfriars station is a London Underground and National Rail station in the City of London. It is adjacent to Blackfriars Bridge at the junction of New Bridge Street and Queen Victoria Street and is in Travelcard Zone 1.

National Rail

The National Rail station has both through and terminal platforms.

Services

The through platforms are served by First Capital Connect (formerly Thameslink) trains from Bedford, St Albans and Luton in the north to Brighton in the south via London Bridge, and the south west London suburbs around Sutton via Elephant & Castle.
   The terminal platforms are used by Southeastern services to Sevenoaks via Denmark Hill and Swanley and peak-only services via Herne Hill to Beckenham Junction and mainline services via Medway and Maidstone East/Ashford International.
   Southeastern also run peak-hour services through Blackfriars to and from City Thameslink.

History

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 King's Cross and St Pancras stations.
   In advance of 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 on the continent. St Paul's Bridge is now known as the Blackfriars Railway Bridge.

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. 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.

Future

Blackfriars station will be completely rebuilt and the office building above it demolished and replaced. The LUL station at Blackfriars will close for 24 months .
   After the closure of the existing terminus platforms in December 2008, the through platforms will be extended along Blackfriars Railway Bridge over the River Thames to accommodate 12-car trains (in place of eight today). The platform layout will be altered such that the through platforms will be on the east side of the station (currently the west side), and the terminus platforms on the west side (currently the east side) . This means trains to and from London Bridge will no longer have to cross the lines that lead to the terminus platforms.
   The works will involve making use of the disused piers which lie west of the existing railway bridge. The number of terminating platforms will be 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. In addition there will be an additional station entrance on the South Bank and the ticket offices for National Rail and LUL services will be combined..
River connections The station is located on the north bank of the River Thames. The platforms for the Thameslink rail services extend out over the River Thames on to Blackfriars Railway Bridge. Blackfriars Bridge runs parallel to the rail bridge.
   Because of its proximity to the river, interchange with London River Services commuter boats is possible from Blackfriars Millennium Pier. Services from this pier include boats to Putney, operated by Thames Executive Charters, and services between Embankment and Woolwich Arsenal, operated by Thames Clippers.

Further Information

Get more info on 'Blackfriars Station'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://blackfriars_station.totallyexplained.com">Blackfriars station Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.