[Anonymous]

[travelworld]

According to the London SE1 community website, “Network Rail says that it would cost too much money to rename Blackfriars Station to include Bankside in its name when the new southern entrance opens this winter.” (The issue is that the station is being rebuilt and, when complete, will actually span the Thames and will have entrances both north and south. The southern entrance will be on Bankside, hence the suggestion of a name change). The website goes on….

“Network Rail says that it is “sympathetic” to the idea but a review has found that “a full station name change was not financially viable, particularly in this age of austerity”.

Instead the company has suggested that text indicating that the station provides access to the South Bank and Bankside is displayed on the station signs.

The company has launched a four-week public consultation to help decide the wording that should be used on the station’s wayfinding and directional signs.

The survey offers four options for the station’s new signage:
• London Blackfriars (for Bankside)
• London Blackfriars (for South Bank and Bankside)
• London Blackfriars (for Bankside and South Bank)
• London Blackfriars (for South Bank)

Respondents are also asked which of the following new names they would prefer should external funding be found for a complete rebrand:
• London Blackfriars – Bankside
• London Blackfriars Bridge
• London Blackfriars – South Bank”

I must confess that I’m not quite sure how many billions of UK public funding Network Rail gets but it’s good to see how wisely this is being spent….

[MartynSinclair]

Well it gives the company something else to think about other than leaves on tracks or how wet the rain is….!

[LuganoPirate]

Or even the wrong type of snow!

[lloydah]

although the consultation has so far probably been more costly than the re-naming

[VintageKrug]

When is the station opening?

[DNAdams]

I think it is due to be complete and open in spring 2012

[VintageKrug]

Checked, and the Underground station will be open in December 2011, the mainline station remains open and the new station should be ready in Spring 2012 as you mentioned.

[VintageKrug]

Well, seems it opened last week, a tad later than planned.

Is it possible to get to Gatwick on mainline now?

[BeckyBoop]

Yes takes about 40 mins on First Capital Connect with the cheapest single being £9.90. Trains stops at London Bridge and East Croydon.

[RichHI1]

Except in the rush hour when it stops a lot more. I have found from City that cab or tube to Victoria and GE can often be quicker and is a much nicer train.

[Ellwood]

If the Hong Kong Airlines flight leaves at 21:30 from Gatwick, what do you reckon is the latest that I can risk leaving Blackfriars is?

19:20 train gets in to Gatwick at 19:55, a quick hop on the monorail to North Terminal and checked in by 20:10, through Premium Security and a quick champers in the lounge.

As there are so few seats I can’t imagine any check in queues but it is a kind of unknown quantity so I was wondering if anyone had done a journey down to Gatwick in the evening and is Gatwick generally pretty quiet at this time of night?

Do the trains also mostly run to time? Thank you

[BeckyBoop]

Actually Rich 40mins is the average even at 7:32am the only exception is 34 and 36 in the morning until about 10am where you have one change (Victoria) and take an hour in total. Then between 5-6pm the 04 and 49 you change 1 again at Victoria.

Still not bad, just have to pray that all the inbound services to London are not heavily delayed. But if you get the early train out of London you should be good!

[RichHI1]

eejp1007 and BeckyBoop. I used this service regularly up until 2010 as I would go to meetings near Blackfriars, so I would drive to Gatwick park up in Short Ter and use FCC Thameslink.
My experience of this service was very poor, both in terms of FCC customer service and also service performance. The service returnign in the rush hour was very slow, the whole service was prone to delsy and cancellations and the rolling stock was horrible.
The unrlieability was I think a result of the nature of the line, the Brighton line woudl have problems, the Luton Bedford end had problems, there were issues due to the St Pancras to London Bridge piece and the heavy traffic over borough Market Junction.
THameslink has been the object of a major investment program and I am unsure how complete this is. The Text service on BBC still shows trains not running at night and weekends due to track work around Blackfriars and I believe a new trackway has been laid. Also I believe new rolling stock is underway but the last I heard it was delayed and Thameslink had loaned some old stock from southern.
To gauge you need to talk to someone who has used it in last couple of weeks. For a reliable service I would still cab it to Victoria and take Gatwick Express (you can tube but if you have bags…)
Becky when did you last use it?

[BeckyBoop]

Rich i have used the London Vic to Brighton service on Southern about 3 times in the last year and have never really had problem I found if we got a 5pm on a Friday. Apart from being dirty/run down and overly packed once it hit East Croydon it got in pretty much on time and reasonably quick. But if you get an early morning (upto 7:30 am) train out of London my people rarely have a problem apart from hitting East Croydon sometimes. Obviously you have to watch school holiday times.

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