Any of our roving reporters checked out the new entrance yet?

One online item he

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5705

Paul S

On Dec 5, 5:27 pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:
Any of our roving reporters checked out the new entrance yet?

One online item he

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5705

Passed through late yesterday evening - great it's opened. Not really
finished yet - lots of hoardings up in the intermediate undercroft
lobby (or whatever one should call it? - this is the level between the
ground entrance and the platforms above), though they're are lots of
hoardings everywhere else at Blackfriars too, so it's to be expected
really.

On the south bank, the entrance opens up on the eastern side of
Blackfriars rail bridge (facing towards the Tate Modern) - the
riverside walkway under the rail bridge is open again after a
temporary period of closure (and resultant diversion of the Thames
Path / Jubilee Walkway away from the river), though this route again
features lots of hoardings as work goes on alongside and above it.

In the new entrance, ticket gates at ground level as one would expect.
Afraid I didn't really pay much attention to the rest of the ground
level - there was a ticket office (not open when I passed through),
and self-service ticket machines but they weren't switched on. None of
the PIS screens were operational in this new southern bit of the
station (either at ground or lobby level), at least not when I was
there - hopefully they'll be patched in sharpish.

Didn't really think to check how it fits in with the forthcoming bay
platforms on the western side of the bridge - I dare say the
passageway / hallway leading to them was obscured with hoardings and
perhaps not even quite built yet either.

So, nothing amazingly fancy, though the actual entrance seems nice and
welcoming - well, this lady seems very chirpy about it, considering
the hour:
http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk...items/view/121

The rest of the station structure panning the Thames will presumably
create something of an impression too when finished, but for the time
being it's still considerably obscured by scaffolding and hoardings.

All in all, a very welcome development.

Less welcome to prospective paxwas the fact that the 22:08 to Bedford
(an all stations stopper), the last northbound service from the south
through the core, had been cancelled...

On Dec 6, 7:02*am, Mizter T wrote:

All in all, a very welcome development.

Less welcome to prospective paxwas the fact that the 22:08 to Bedford
(an all stations stopper), the last northbound service from the south
through the core, had been cancelled...

Alas FCC continue in this vein, continue to wreck the overall project.

FCC have gone into random canx. of trains over the past few weeks,
they were very good for a while again, now its declining again.
Interesting it is about 2 years since the dispute, perhaps they were
being monitored for 2 years and now think they are free to revert to
how they were before?

Retuning to the thread subject, I will probably not attempt use of BF
until the District interchange is open, which for my practical travel
will be next year.

--
Nick

On Dec 6, 8:48*am, D7666 wrote:
On Dec 6, 7:02*am, Mizter T wrote:

All in all, a very welcome development.

Less welcome to prospective paxwas the fact that the 22:08 to Bedford
(an all stations stopper), the last northbound service from the south
through the core, had been cancelled...

Alas FCC continue in this vein, continue to wreck the overall project.

FCC have gone into random canx. of trains over the past few weeks,
they were very good for a while again, now its declining again.
Interesting it is about 2 years since the dispute, perhaps they were
being monitored for 2 years and now think they are free to revert to
how they were before?

Retuning to the thread subject, I will probably not attempt use of BF
until the District interchange is open, which for my practical travel
will be next year.

--
Nick

FCC do seem to have dropped the ball lately. I've been caught out
twice by random cancellations in the last month or so.

I'm heading down tonight to take a look at the new entrance.

"D7666" wrote in message
...

Retuning to the thread subject, I will probably not attempt use of BF
until the District interchange is open, which for my practical travel
will be next year.

The T/L prog website now showing 26th of Feb for the LU station - something
must be significantly late. Doesn't seem to be any detail on what the
problem is though....

Paul S

In article
,
(Garius) wrote:

FCC do seem to have dropped the ball lately. I've been caught out
twice by random cancellations in the last month or so.

I'm heading down tonight to take a look at the new entrance.

I've been up to London four times from Cambridge in the last week,
Wednesday, Saturday, Monday and today. Late arrivals (5 mins) every time,
13 minutes last night.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article
,
(Garius) wrote:

FCC do seem to have dropped the ball lately. I've been caught out
twice by random cancellations in the last month or so.

I'm heading down tonight to take a look at the new entrance.

I've been up to London four times from Cambridge in the last week,
Wednesday, Saturday, Monday and today. Late arrivals (5 mins) every time,
13 minutes last night.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:

In article
,
(Garius) wrote:

FCC do seem to have dropped the ball lately. I've been caught out
twice by random cancellations in the last month or so.

I'm heading down tonight to take a look at the new entrance.

I've been up to London four times from Cambridge in the last week,
Wednesday, Saturday, Monday and today. Late arrivals (5 mins) every time,
13 minutes last night.

That's Great Northern though - I'm not sure you've quite got the same to
complain about as those on the Thameslink side...

In message , at 05:37:04
on Tue, 6 Dec 2011, remarked:

I've been up to London four times from Cambridge in the last week,
Wednesday, Saturday, Monday and today. Late arrivals (5 mins) every time,
13 minutes last night.

It was significantly messed up on Sunday evening too.
--
Roland Perry

"D7666" wrote:

All in all, a very welcome development.

Less welcome to prospective pax was the fact that the 22:08 to Bedford
(an all stations stopper), the last northbound service from the south
through the core, had been cancelled...

Alas FCC continue in this vein, continue to wreck the overall project.

FCC have gone into random canx. of trains over the past few weeks,
they were very good for a while again, now its declining again.
Interesting it is about 2 years since the dispute, perhaps they were
being monitored for 2 years and now think they are free to revert to
how they were before?

One hopes not - that was a bleak time for Thameslink.

Not sure I'd recommend the Blackfriars option as a route home to any
playgoers or filmgoers at the NT or NFT just upriver as a route home (to
points north at least) after an evening performance/showing, if the service
is becoming flakey again.


Retuning to the thread subject, I will probably not attempt use of BF
until the District interchange is open, which for my practical travel
will be next year.

One thing I forgot to mention in my OP was the great potential for the new
southern entrance to be used to interchange with the Jubilee line at
Southwark station, less than half a mile away straight down Blackfriars Road
(or else via the parallel back streets just to the east - more pleasant/
entertaining/ quieter than the main road route). One could even get a bus
for two stops...

http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=531684&y=180473
(The new entrance is actually just a tad north of the arrow, basically just
above Hopton Street on the riverside walk.)

That's a half-decent route from points north (and indeed some points south)
on Thameslink to Canary Wharf / Docklands, albeit taking into account the
peak time joy that is the Jubilee line (though one would be getting on
before the eastbound masses at London Bridge... though after the eastbound
masses from Waterloo).