Blackfriars station (rail bridge)

Blackfriars is the only railway station in London that stands over the river. Its platforms run the full length of the bridge, with entrances on both banks, so a passenger can walk in from the City and out onto the South Bank without touching a road. The station was rebuilt in that form between 2009 and 2012 as part of the Thameslink programme, and the roof that covers the platforms carries more than four thousand solar panels, which made it the largest solar bridge in the world when it was finished.

Beside it stand a row of red-painted iron columns marching across the river with nothing on top of them. These are the piers of the original Blackfriars railway bridge, built by Joseph Cubitt in 1864 for the London, Chatham and Dover Railway. The deck was removed in 1985 because it was too weak for modern trains, and the columns were left standing. At the southern end the railway company’s ornate stone abutment survives, with its coat of arms picked out in colour, a surprising thing to find on the river.

The station opened in 1886 as St Paul’s and was renamed Blackfriars in 1937, when the Underground station of that name took the older one.

In a panorama the station reads as a long low roof crossing the river beside Blackfriars Bridge, and the red columns beside it are unmistakable once you know to look. From the top of The Shard the solar roof and the bare columns can both be made out.

Please click any of the images below to explore the views in high resolution.