Blackfriars Closure A Blow for Serviced Offices

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In line with the ongoing Thameslink upgrade project the closure of central London’s Blackfriars tube station has been announced for March 2009 as part of a massive restoration which is expected to last until late 2011.

It has been reported that Blackfriars mainline station will remain open during the regenerative works but all services to Blackfriars tube will be suspended.  The news comes as a bit of blow to local serviced office providers, the likes of MWB on Fleet Street and Kingshott on New Bridge Street, where clients will have to be prepared to walk further to access London’s underground. 

Project plans for Blackfriars include an enlarged Tube ticket hall, step-free access, increased capacity and improvements to interchange services with the overground station meaning that although local businesses will be inconvenienced for a time, the overall improvements should be huge with London’s underground well overdue for a major face-lift!  And, with Temple and Mansion House, as well as St Pauls, all situated within relative close proximity of the station, clients are facing only a short addition to the length of their daily commute.

The Thameslink upgrade of Blackfriars includes plans for the number of peak-time trains to increase significantly and will see the introduction of 12 carriage trains as opposed to the current 8 carriage service. 

The ~5.5 billion project began in October 2007 with the extention of platforms at Luton Airport Parkway station.  The main aim of this massive undertaking is to beat congestion through the introduction of longer trains with more seats and thereby offering a less crowded, more efficient and far more pleasant system for use by the thousands of daily commuters travelling in and around central London.

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