Wire · AZ Weekly Post
City Thameslink will close for more than seven months from May 2027 while all 10 escalators are replaced. The station will shut until late December 2027, although Thameslink services will continue to run through the area without stopping. Passengers are being advised to get on at Blackfriars station instead.
Network Rail said the escalators, which have been in service for more than 35 years, have reached the end of their operational life. Lucy McAuliffe from Network Rail said the lengthy closure was not a decision they took lightly, but a single closure was "the least disruptive and most efficient" way to carry the work. City Thameslink is used by about 7.6 million passengers each year, according to Network Rail, which recommended passengers use Blackfriars as an alternative station during the closure.
It is a six-minute walk from City Thameslink's Ludgate Hill entrance and about 11 minutes from the Holborn Viaduct entrance. The organisation said Blackfriars had "plenty of space to cope with additional passengers", while Farringdon station, around a 12-minute walk from the station's northern entrance, was not recommended because it is already very busy. Network Rail also said recent flooding had accelerated the deterioration of the escalators, which "can no longer provide the long-term reliability passengers expect".
McAuliffe said replacing all 10 escalators at the same time would help reduce future disruption. She added that when City Thameslink reopens in December 2027, passengers would benefit from completely renewed escalators designed to provide "safer, more dependable and accessible journeys". Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook , external , X , external and Instagram , external .
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Source: BBC
