Blackfriars station

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

London stations
name = London Blackfriars


manager = First Capital Connect
zone = 1
locale = Blackfriars
borough = City of London
start = 10 May 1886
platforms = 5
railcode = BFR
railexits0405 = 7.783
railexits0506 = 8.259
railexits0607 = 11.852 The National Rail station has both through and terminal platforms.

ervices

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 while the works take place. Initially it was planned for the Underground station to close for 24 months [cite web|url=http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/twa/dl/thameslink/thameslink2006transportandwo1036?page=3|author=Department for Transport [see paragraph 35] | year=2006-10-18| title=Thameslink - 2006 Transport and Works Act Decision Letter| accessdate=2006-12-07] ; however, it has been confirmed that it will instead be closed from 2 March 2009 to late 2011cite news|url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/8944.aspx|title=Blackfriars Underground station to close for redevelopment|date=2008-08-05|publisher=Transport for London|accessdate=2008-08-05] .

After the closure of the existing terminus platforms in March 2009, 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) cite web| url=http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/23| author=alwaystouchout.com| year=2006-10-28| title=Thameslink Programme (Thameslink 2000)| accessdate=2006-11-27] . 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.

Gallery

London Underground

London stations
name = Blackfriars Underground


manager = London Underground
zone = 1
locale = Blackfriars
borough = City of London
years = 1870
1871
1872
1872
1900
1908
1949
events = Opened (MDR)
Extended east (MDR)
Started "Outer Circle" (NLR)
Started "Middle Circle" (H&CR/MDR)
Ended "Middle Circle"
Ended "Outer Circle"
Started (Circle Line)
platforms = 2
tubeexits05 = 11.309
tubeexits07 = 12.621

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.

History

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.

The MDR connected to the Metropolitan Railway (MR, later the Metropolitan Line) at South Kensington and, although the two companies were rivals, each company operated its trains over the other's tracks in a joint service known as the "Inner Circle".

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

On 1 February 1872, the MDR opened a northwards branch from Earl's Court to connect to the West London Extension Joint Railway (WLEJR, now the West London Line), which it connected to at Addison Road (now Kensington (Olympia)). From that date the "Outer Circle" service began running over the MDR's tracks. The service was run by the North London Railway (NLR) from its terminus at Broad Street (now demolished) in the City of London via the North London Line to Willesden Junction, then the West London Line to Addison Road and the MDR to Mansion House.

From 1 August 1872, the "Middle Circle" service began operations through the station, running from Moorgate along the MR's tracks on the north side of the Inner Circle to Paddington then over the Hammersmith & City Railway (H&CR) track to Latimer Road then, via a now demolished link, to the West London Line to Addison Road and the MDR to Mansion House. The service was operated jointly by the H&CR and the MDR.

On 30 June 1900, the Middle Circle service was withdrawn between Earl's Court and Mansion House and on 31 December 1908, the Outer Circle service was withdrawn from the MDR tracks.

In 1949, the Metropolitan Line operated Inner Circle route was given its own identity on the tube map as the Circle Line.

The Cambridge Buskers started here.

Waterloo & City Line

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" cite web|url= http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/twa/ir/thameslinkreport/thameslink2000inspectorsrepo1034?page=32|title=Thameslink 2000 Inspector's Report 2006, section 17.2.7|date=18 October 2006|accessdate=2007-08-26] .

Gallery

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.

References

External links

* [http://photos.ltmcollection.org/ London's Transport Museum Photographic Archive]
** ltmcollection|32/9872332.jpg|Station building, 1876
** ltmcollection|59/i0000859.jpg|Construction of the MDR near Blackfriars Bridge, 1869
** ltmcollection|90/9872990.jpg|Underground station ticket hall, 1927
** ltmcollection|1d/i0000d1d.jpg|Subway entrances to Underground station, 1930
** ltmcollection|hv/i00001hv.jpg|Underground station platforms, 1946
** ltmcollection|hx/i00001hx.jpg|Underground station platforms, 1963
* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/stations/b/blackfriars/index.shtml Disused stations - Blackfriars station]
* [http://www.loveplums.co.uk/Tube/Blackfriars_Loughborough.html Blackfriars and the City Line]