Blackfriars closure

Paul Scott wrote:

> "One of the capital's busiest Underground stations is to shut for nearly
> three years. Blackfriars station, used by about 44,000 City workers and
> tourists every day, will close for works to upgrade the main line
> Thameslink."

Blackfriars is the station closest to my old school (City of London) and if
it had been closed when I went there I would have been almost permanently
late in the mornings and in the afternoons the combined effect of getting to
the nearest station (Temple?) and the mainline timetable would have almost
doubled my journey home. Nice!

> "Richard Parry, London Underground's director of strategy and service
> development, said: "The redevelopment of Blackfriars Underground station
> is part of Network Rail works. Once the works are complete, customers will
> get a new upgraded station with step-free access, increased capacity and
> better interchange facilities between the Tube and national rail
> services."

Oh yes, I've had *so* many problems interchanging with the current set-up at
Blackfriars!

> How long was T4 out of service, until late 2006?

BAA never took the T4 out of service while the underground station was
upgraded ;-)

In message <6fue19Fdb30mU1@mid.>, at 20:57:17 on Wed, 6
Aug 2008, Tim Roll-Pickering <T.C.Roll-Pickering@qmul.ac.uk> remarked:
>Blackfriars is the station closest to my old school (City of London) and if
>it had been closed when I went there I would have been almost permanently
>late in the mornings and in the afternoons the combined effect of getting to
>the nearest station (Temple?)

Mansion House is much closer, to the East.

>and the mainline timetable would have almost doubled my journey home.
>Nice!

Nothing suitable available from Cannon St?

>> "Richard Parry, London Underground's director of strategy and service
>> development, said: "The redevelopment of Blackfriars Underground station
>> is part of Network Rail works. Once the works are complete, customers will
>> get a new upgraded station with step-free access, increased capacity and
>> better interchange facilities between the Tube and national rail
>> services."
>
>Oh yes, I've had *so* many problems interchanging with the current set-up at
>Blackfriars!

I changed there recently and it was a pain. Needed a National Rail
ticket so up lots of stairs to the ticket office from the tube. I was
then catching a northbound train so had to go downstairs and back up
again.
--
Roland Perry

In message <6fue19Fdb30mU1@mid.> of Wed, 6 Aug 2008
20:57:17 in uk.transport.london, Tim Roll-Pickering
<T.C.Roll-Pickering@qmul.ac.uk> writes
>Paul Scott wrote:
>
>> "One of the capital's busiest Underground stations is to shut for nearly
>> three years. Blackfriars station, used by about 44,000 City workers and
>> tourists every day, will close for works to upgrade the main line
>> Thameslink."
>
>Blackfriars is the station closest to my old school (City of London) and if
>it had been closed when I went there I would have been almost permanently
>late in the mornings and in the afternoons the combined effect of getting to
>the nearest station (Temple?) and the mainline timetable would have almost
>doubled my journey home. Nice!

The Journey Planner shows City of London [Boys] School is a 5 minute
walk from Blankfriars and 7 from Mansion House but 15 from Temple.
I fancy that the service withdrawal will not be an acceptable excuse.
I take it you dropped geography, early in your school career. ;)
--
Walter Briscoe

"Peter Masson" <peter.masson1@> wrote in message
news:1KudnWZRKIQsAgfVnZ2dnUVZ8uednZ2d@bt.com...
>
> Blackfriars NR station will remain open for most of the time. It is
> Blackfriars LUL which is to close (although trains will continue to run
> through without stopping). The adjoining stations of Mansion House and
> Temple are both less than half a mile away, while interchange passengers
> have other stations where they can access the tube network.

I'll wager that Blackfriars became busier last year when
SPILL opened on the Thameslink route. I used to have a
quick hop from KXTL onto the Victoria line, to travel down
to Victoria. When SPILL opened, I was faced with the trek
along the full length of St Pancras and then into the Underground,
or changing at Blackfriars. A no-brainer really.

Other stations? Well, Farringdon may be close(ish) to Blackfriars,
but it's nine stops round the Circle line!

Hoping I don't have to work in Victoria again.
--
Garry Smith garry@caleyjag.

"Peter Masson" <peter.masson1@> wrote in message
news:1KudnWZRKIQsAgfVnZ2dnUVZ8uednZ2d@bt.com...
>
> <jdfi@m> wrote in message
> news:3594b82f-7680-4b73-9c12-424e72bbe839@i76g2000hsf..com...
>> On Aug 7, 1:48 am, "fjm...@" <fjm...@> wrote:
>> > On 6 Aug, 22:55, darkprince66 <darkprince17031....uk> wrote:
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > > 10 minutes walk? To the nearest tube station? Gasps in horror... You
>> > > poor darlings ;-)
>> >
>> > I know, that was my reaction. If we weren't spoiled we wouldn't be so
>> > worried. Chancery Lane, Holborn etc aren't far. By the standards of
>> > many towns and cities, Waterloo isn't far.
>> >
>> > Francis
>>
>> True, but it still makes you wonder how _necessary_ the closure really
>> is. As far as I recall, the works are to extend the platforms (to the
>> south bank) and create four through ones instead of two through and
>> three bays - I'm sure someone _could_ work out a way to do this
>> leaving one platform open each time (even if Northbound only or
>> whatever).
>
> Blackfriars NR station will remain open for most of the time. It is
> Blackfriars LUL which is to close (although trains will continue to run
> through without stopping). The adjoining stations of Mansion House and
> Temple are both less than half a mile away, while interchange passengers
> have other stations where they can access the tube network.
>
> The changes to the NR station are to change it from two through platforms,
> plus three east side bays, all of 8-car length, to two through 12-car
> platforms plus two west side bays. More significant is to rebuild the
> circulating areas so that the station can cope with many more passengers,
> including many more interchanging with LUL. There will be a new entrance
> on
> teh south bank.


And still no stop on the W&C Line.

BTN

<jdfi@m> wrote in message
news:3594b82f-7680-4b73-9c12-424e72bbe839@i76g2000hsf..com...
> On Aug 7, 1:48 am, "fjm...@" <fjm...@> wrote:
>> On 6 Aug, 22:55, darkprince66 <darkprince17031....uk> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> > 10 minutes walk? To the nearest tube station? Gasps in horror... You
>> > poor darlings ;-)
>>
>> I know, that was my reaction. If we weren't spoiled we wouldn't be so
>> worried. Chancery Lane, Holborn etc aren't far. By the standards of
>> many towns and cities, Waterloo isn't far.
>>
>> Francis
>
> True, but it still makes you wonder how _necessary_ the closure really
> is. As far as I recall, the works are to extend the platforms (to the
> south bank) and create four through ones instead of two through and
> three bays - I'm sure someone _could_ work out a way to do this
> leaving one platform open each time (even if Northbound only or
> whatever).

Er.. you've completely missed the point here - the news is about the long
term closure (two and a half years) of the LU platforms, not the Thameslink
ones.

Paul

On 7 Aug, 15:17, "Mortimer" <m...@> wrote:
> "Paul Scott" <notvalidpmsc...@> wrote in message
>
> news:JNCdneowG__ZcwfVnZ2dnUVZ8qfinZ2d@bt.com...
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > <j...@m> wrote in message
> >news:3594b82f-7680-4b73-9c12-424e72bbe839@i76g2000hsf..com....
> >> On Aug 7, 1:48 am, "fjm...@" <fjm...@> wrote:
> >>> On 6 Aug, 22:55, darkprince66 <darkprince17031....uk> wrote:
>
> >>> > 10 minutes walk? To the nearest tube station? Gasps in horror... You
> >>> > poor darlings ;-)
>
> >>> I know, that was my reaction. If we weren't spoiled we wouldn't be so
> >>> worried. Chancery Lane, Holborn etc aren't far. By the standards of
> >>> many towns and cities, Waterloo isn't far.
>
> >>> Francis
>
> >> True, but it still makes you wonder how _necessary_ the closure really
> >> is.  As far as I recall, the works are to extend the platforms (to the
> >> south bank) and create four through ones instead of two through and
> >> three bays - I'm sure someone _could_ work out a way to do this
> >> leaving one platform open each time (even if Northbound only or
> >> whatever).
>
> > Er.. you've completely missed the point here - the news is about the long
> > term closure (two and a half years) of the LU platforms, not the
> > Thameslink ones.
>
> Interesting: I'd thought that it was the Thameslink platforms as well.
>
> What are they doing to the LU platforms and access that will take 2½ years?
> Obviously it's not track related if trains can still run through non-stop..


Given what happened at Bank ...

I bet there's just one passageway closed or something, which the
dubious simulation software they must be using has calculated to
result in thousands of deaths through overcrowding unless they close
the whole station.

Let's hope that they don't apply the same simulations to stations that
aren't having any work done, or they might realise that they have to
close all of them.

MIG wrote:

> Given what happened at Bank ...
>
> I bet there's just one passageway closed or something, which the
> dubious simulation software they must be using has calculated to
> result in thousands of deaths through overcrowding unless they close
> the whole station.

I guess you've just read Sky Rider's post by now, saved me looking it up,
cheers

:-)

Paul

Roland Perry wrote:

>>Blackfriars is the station closest to my old school (City of London) and
>>if
>>it had been closed when I went there I would have been almost permanently
>>late in the mornings and in the afternoons the combined effect of getting
>>to
>>the nearest station (Temple?)

> Mansion House is much closer, to the East.

True but I'd be coming from the west. Not that there's much difference.

>>and the mainline timetable would have almost doubled my journey home.
>>Nice!

> Nothing suitable available from Cannon St?

I can't remember Epsom ever being served from there. Even when there was an
Epsom to Blackfriars service it was far too slow (and awkwardly timetabled)
to be any use.