Two new platforms and 700 extra trains for London Blackfriars station

Work to rebuild Blackfriars station comes a step closer to completion this weekend as the station’s final two new platforms open for use.

Passengers will benefit from more than 700 extra trains every week at Blackfriars thanks to the new platforms and the completion of engineering work on the central London section of the Thameslink route, allowing trains to serve the station later at night and on weekends.

Network Rail senior programme manager for Blackfriars, Paul Byrne, said: “Our work to rebuild Blackfriars is approaching completion with two new platforms opening on Saturday, coupled with the end of weekend closures on the route, allowing over 700 extra trains to serve the station each week.

“We’ve still got a plenty of work to do before the Blackfriars upgrade is completed but more areas of the new station are opening month by month, train services are improving, and passengers are seeing the benefits.”

First Capital Connect customer service director Keith Jipps said: “The continued improvements at Blackfriars station are great news for our customers. We’ll have 40% more trains serving the station once we reopen at night and weekends. This and the new south station entrance, suddenly makes Blackfriars a great destination for art lovers and theatregoers.”

Network Rail, working in partnership with Balfour Beatty, has rebuilt Blackfriars station on top of a Victorian rail bridge, creating the only station in London to span the River Thames. The new station roof, built on top of the bridge, is currently being fitted with 4,400 solar panels to create London’s largest solar array. Timelapse footage of the entire station rebuild – from 2009 until the present day – is available online: http://bit.ly/JwzFT7

Saturday also sees weekend and late evening services return to First Capital Connect’s Thameslink route through central London. For three-and-a-half years the section of the route between London Bridge and St Pancras has been closed every night and almost every weekend to allow Network Rail to install new track and signalling and rebuild Farringdon and Blackfriars stations.

The work is part of an upgrade of Thameslink route, which runs from Bedford to Brighton through central London, which will eventually allow 24 trains per hour in each direction to run through Blackfriars.