City Thameslink is a central London railway station within the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

, with entrances on

Ludgate Hill Ludgate Hill is a street and surrounding area, on a small hill in the City of London. The street passes through the former site of Ludgate, a city gate that was demolished – along with a gaol attached to it – in 1760. The area include ...

and

Holborn Viaduct Holborn Viaduct is a road bridge in London and the name of the street which crosses it (which forms part of the A40 route). It links Holborn, via Holborn Circus, with Newgate Street, in the City of London financial district, passing over ...

. The station is on the Thameslink route between to the south and to the north. The station opened in 1990 to replace

Holborn Viaduct railway station Holborn Viaduct was a railway station in the City of London, providing local and commuter services. It was located to the southeast of Holborn Viaduct, and east of Farringdon Street. The station was opened in 1874 by the London, Chatham and Dov ...

. It was part of the

Thameslink Thameslink is a 24-hour main-line route in the British railway system, running from , , , and via central London to Sutton, , , Rainham, , , , and . The network opened as a through service in 1988, with severe overcrowding by 1998, carrying m ...

project that re-opened the Snow Hill Tunnel to provide a continuous north–south route across London. Originally named St. Paul's Thameslink, it was renamed City Thameslink the following year to avoid confusion with the nearby St Paul's tube station on the Central line. The station was refurbished in 2010–11 to increase capacity, and the timetable was revised in 2018 with the introduction of automatic signalling.

Name and location

The station is near the western edge of the

, close to its border with the

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

. It has two entrances, one on

and another on

, both of which access the two platforms. It is one of the few main line stations in central London that does not have an interchange with the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

; it is roughly equidistant from

Chancery Lane Chancery Lane is a one-way street situated in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. It has formed the western boundary of the City since 1994, having previously been divided between the City of Westminster and the London Boroug ...

and on the Central line. A planned Tube station in the immediate area, to be named , was ultimately never built. Although City Thameslink is a through-station, for ticketing purposes it is classed as a London terminus for Thameslink services to and from the south. It is in

Travelcard Zone 1 Fare zone 1 is the central zone of Transport for London's zonal fare system used by the London Underground, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and National Rail. For most tickets, travel through Zone 1 is more expensive than journeys ...

and one of the "core stations" on the Thameslink route, along with , and . The name has come in for criticism as being uninspiring. Several

London Buses London Buses is the subsidiary of Transport for London (TfL) that manages most bus services in London, England. It was formed following the Greater London Authority Act 1999 that transferred control of London Regional Transport (LRT) bus se ...

routes pass the station, 8; 25; 46; 521 and night routes N8 and N25.

History

Opening

The Thameslink line opened in 1988 after the Snow Hill tunnel, closed to passengers since 1916, was re-opened to provide a through route to Farringdon and King's Cross from South London. Initially, trains used the approach viaduct for the now-closed station. The new service was an immediate financial success, and it was decided to redevelop the Holborn Viaduct site with a new station and business complex. The work was part-financed by the London property developer Rosehaugh Stanhope. Before Holborn Viaduct closed, a new line between and the tunnel was constructed on a different alignment slightly to the east and at a lower elevation, providing the opportunity to build of office space above the station on a site. City Thameslink was built to replace Holborn Viaduct station. The total cost was estimated at between £360 and £450 million. Because of a proposed routing for the second phase of the

Jubilee line The Jubilee line is a London Underground line that runs between in east London and in the suburban north-west, via the Docklands, South Bank and West End. Opened in 1979, it is the newest line on the Underground network, although some secti ...

through the area, part of the station was built to allow for a future interchange. Holborn Viaduct closed on 26 January 1990. All Thameslink services were suspended for 17 days the following May so that demolition work could be carried out. The station was opened by

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most of the overground rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. It was formed from the nationalisation of the Big Four British rai ...

on 29 May 1990 as St. Paul's Thameslink, and was renamed to City Thameslink on 30 September 1991 to avoid confusion with the Central line station on the London Underground, which is several hundred yards to the east, to the north of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. It was the first mainline station built in central London in almost 100 years. The station was designed by SAS International, who designed the original walls and panelling. In conjunction with construction of the new station, the area around the old Holborn Viaduct and Ludgate Hill stations was redeveloped and an old bridge across Ludgate Hill was removed. In 1992, following the demolition, an additional service tunnel was constructed connecting City Thameslink to Farringdon. When the Thameslink franchise was awarded to

First Capital Connect First Capital Connect (FCC) was a British train operating company, owned by FirstGroup, that operated the Thameslink and Great Northern sectors from April 2006 to September 2014 which later became the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern (T ...

(FCC) in 2006, the Thameslink service was re-branded but City Thameslink was not renamed. By late 2010, FCC had reverted to the Thameslink name.

Recent events

As part of the

Thameslink Programme The Thameslink Programme, originally Thameslink 2000, was a £6billion project in south-east England to upgrade and expand the Thameslink rail network to provide new and longer trains between a wider range of stations to the north and to the ...

, an upgrade of City Thameslink station was completed in 2010. The upgrade was important because the closure of Blackfriars later in the year would lead to increased footfall. The platforms were made ready for future 12-carriage trains, and the passenger information system improved. New lighting, ticket gates and CCTV cameras were installed, and the service announcement system was upgraded to provide more accurate train times. SAS retrofitted the station interior, as they had done for the original 1990 construction, with enamel wall panels that fitted the original design specification. In a 2014 report,

London TravelWatch London TravelWatch is a statutory British consumer organisation that campaigns for improvements to transport in London. It deals with all complaints from passengers using any Transport for London modes including some cycling and pedestrian issu ...

suggested an underground passageway linking City Thameslink to St Paul's tube station to provide an interchange with the Central line that would benefit passengers travelling from the Central line catchment to Gatwick and Luton Airports. In 2018, Govia Thameslink Railway announced a major timetable change, which was implemented that May. The changes included a half-hour service across Central London, connecting City Thameslink with and . The signalling was upgraded to support automatic train operation through the station, along with the rest of the core Thameslink route, and

British Rail Class 700 The British Rail Class 700 '' Desiro City'' is an electric multiple unit passenger train capable of operating on from overhead wires or 750 V DC from third rail. 115 trainsets were built between 2014 and 2018, for use on the Thameslink net ...

trains were introduced into the service. The following January, several evening services from City Thameslink to

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

and were reinstated, after a six-month absence.

Services

City Thameslink is served by trains operated by

on the Thameslink Route which run Monday-Saturday only with the station being closed on Sundays. Train services are operated using Class 700 ''Desiro City''

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the g ...

. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour is: * 4 tph to via * 2 tph to via and Gatwick Airport * 2 tph to Three Bridges via Redhill * 2 tph to via , , and * 4 tph to (2 of these run via and 2 run via ) * 4 tph to (all stations) * 2 tph to (all stations except , and ) * 4 tph to (semi-fast) * 2 tph to via * 2 tph to via Stevenage City Thameslink serves as the lost property office of the Thameslink line. A fee is charged for retrieving property.

Connections

routes 8, 11, 15, 17, 25, 26, 40, 46, 56, 63, 76, 242,

341 __NOTOC__ Year 341 (Roman numerals, CCCXLI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcellinus and Probinus (or, less freq ...

, 521 and night routes N8, N11, N15, N21, N25,

N26 N26 (known as ''Number 26'' until July 2016) is a German neobank headquartered in Berlin, Germany. N26 was founded in 2013 in a Rocket Internet Incubator and currently operates in various member states of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA). I ...

, N63, N89, N199, N242, N550 and N551 serve the station.

References

Citations Sources * * * *

External links

{{TSGN and SE Stations, CityFlyer=y, CityMetro=y, Catford Loop=y, Ashford=y, SE None=y, SN None=y Railway stations in the City of London DfT Category C1 stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1990 Railway stations opened by British Rail Railway stations located underground in the United Kingdom Railway stations served by Govia Thameslink Railway Railway termini in London London station group