Trains from St Albans and Harpenden will run straight through City Thameslink from 17 May to late December 2027 while all ten escalators are replaced. Blackfriars is the stop to use.

City Thameslink station in central London will close from Monday 17 May 2027 until late December 2027. For about seven months, the Thameslink trains that St Albans and Harpenden commuters take into the City will run straight through without stopping.

Network Rail is replacing all ten of the station’s escalators. Thameslink says the nearest alternative, London Blackfriars, is the stop to use instead.

The closure was set out on Network Rail’s City Thameslink page, last updated on 30 October, and on Thameslink’s own notice.

The quick answer

  • When: from Monday 17 May 2027 to late December 2027. No exact reopening date has been given.
  • What changes: trains still run through central London as normal but do not call at City Thameslink.
  • Where to get off instead: London Blackfriars, the next stop south. Thameslink says it is a six-minute walk from City Thameslink’s Ludgate Hill entrance and about 11 minutes from the Holborn Viaduct end.
  • Not recommended: Farringdon, one stop north. Thameslink says it “gets very busy”, so delays getting in and out are likely at peak times.

Why the station is closing

The escalators have been in place for more than 35 years. Thameslink says they have become “increasingly unreliable, with frequent periods out of service”. Two at the Holborn Viaduct end were damaged beyond repair by flooding in 2025 and have been out of use ever since.

Network Rail says a full closure is the safest and quickest way to do the job. Because the station is underground, fire safety rules mean it cannot stay partly open with fewer exits. Network Rail says one long closure is “less disruptive overall than several years of phased works”.

Engineers will spend around seven months replacing the escalators, which have to be taken out in sections and the new ones installed piece by piece and tested.

What it means for you

City Thameslink has two entrances, on Ludgate Hill and on Holborn Viaduct. If either is the end of your commute from St Albans or Harpenden:

  • Stay on to Blackfriars. It is the next station south on the same line, so your train carries on there anyway. Thameslink says it has “plenty of room” for the extra passengers and will have extra staff on duty.
  • Allow a few more minutes for the walk. Six minutes from Blackfriars to the Ludgate Hill side, about 11 to the Holborn Viaduct side, at street level.
  • Step-free access is available at both Blackfriars and Farringdon.
  • Check weekends. Network Rail warns there may be some weekends during the closure with no trains at all through central London because of other engineering work. Those are announced separately.

The closure does not change the track, and Network Rail says timetable changes are limited to trains not calling at City Thameslink, so trains from St Albans City to St Pancras, Farringdon, Blackfriars and London Bridge should run as usual. Our St Albans trains to London page has the normal times.

What is still to be confirmed

  • The reopening date. Both notices say only “late December 2027”.
  • Tickets. Neither notice says anything about tickets or season tickets bought to City Thameslink, so check yours with Thameslink before May.
  • The weekend closures during the seven months, which are not yet published.