The last two platforms at Blackfriars station will be open for use on Saturday as work at the station draws to a close.
As engineering work finishes, Network Rail released this amazing time-lapse footage of construction at the site.
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.”
Network Rail 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.
Weekend and late evening services will also return to First Capital Connect’s Thameslink route through central London on Saturday.
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 the 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.
The new Blackfriars station will be fully operational by summer 2012.
