City Thameslink is a National Rail station in the City of London. It is entirely underground, with a southern entrance on Ludgate Hill just off Ludgate Circus, and a northern entrance on Holborn Viaduct. It is in Zone 1, between Blackfriars and Farringdon, on the Thameslink route. It was the intended location of Ludgate Circus station on the Fleet Line (now Jubilee Line) until that project was abandoned in the late 1970s.
History
Station ticket barrier, looking towards the Ludgate Hill exit
The station opened on 29 May 1990 as St Paul's Thameslink. The name was changed in 1991, apparently to avoid confusion with St Paul'sLondon Underground station (Central Line), which is several hundred metres away on the other side of St Paul's Cathedral.
When Thameslink first opened, trains used the approach viaduct for Holborn Viaduct station to reach the Snow Hill tunnel. In preparation for that station's closure on 26 January 1990, a new line between Blackfriars station and the tunnel was constructed, this time on a different alignment slightly to the west and at a lower elevation, allowing buildings to be constructed on top. City Thameslink was built on the line as a replacement for Holborn Viaduct station.[2]
When the Thameslink franchise was taken over by First Capital Connect on 1 April 2006 the name "Thameslink" was dropped from the branding of this group of services, but the name of City Thameslink station was not changed. Following criticism of the loss of a useful and distinctive name, FCC has somewhat relented and now refers to this group of services as its "Thameslink route".[citation needed]
Services
The station is served by trains on the Thameslink route, whose franchise has been operated by First Capital Connect since 2006. There are two main service patterns: fast trains on the Brighton to Bedford service, and stopping trains between St Albans or Luton and Wimbledon or Sutton. All trains in both categories call at all stations on the central cross-London core of the Thameslink route, including City Thameslink. (However, at present there are no services at weekends.)
Before March 2009 there are also a few terminating peak-hour services to Kent provided by Southeastern and these went to the Smithfield sidings just north of the station.
After the bay platforms at London Blackfriars closed in March 2009 Southeastern services which previously terminated at Blackfriars were extended to Kentish Town, St Albans, Luton or Bedford and call at this station.[3] Trains south of Blackfriars services are operated by Southeastern crews, north of Blackfriars by First Capital Connect crews.[4] This station is now served by 10 trains per hour in each direction throughout the off-peak, instead of the previous eight.
There are occasionally proposals to bring the existing station in to the Tube network. One of the more prominent suggestions is its potential use as part of an extension to the Docklands Light Railway from Bank tube station to Charing Cross tube station via Aldwych tube station. The extension would be entirely underground, and would run along the route of the abandoned Fleet Line. It may re-use some of the disused tunnels constructed during the project. This project would see a realisation of the proposed Ludgate Circus station.
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