City Thameslink to close from May to December 2027 for 10 new escalators

By the TrainsNews newsroom · 31 October 2026

City Thameslink station in the City of London will close from Monday 17 May 2027 until late December 2027 so that all 10 of its escalators can be replaced. Thameslink trains will keep running through the station but will not stop there, Network Rail said in a statement on 29 October.

The escalators have been in service for more than 35 years and have reached the end of their working life, according to Network Rail, which says recent flooding has sped up their deterioration. All 10 will be replaced in a single closure. "Whilst it is disruptive, a full closure is the safest, quickest and most efficient way to complete the work," the company said. It added that a partial closure could not meet the safety requirements of the project. No cost has been given.

About 7.6 million people use the station each year. Network Rail is directing them to London Blackfriars, about a six-minute walk from the Ludgate Hill entrance or 11 minutes from the Holborn Viaduct end, where extra staff will be on hand. Farringdon, a 12-minute walk from the north entrance, is not recommended because it is already very busy. The tracks are not affected, and the only timetable change is that trains will no longer call at City Thameslink.

The escalators set the real capacity of a station whose platforms lie below street level. When one unit fails, the others take the load and crowding builds at the peak, which is why replacing all of them while the station stayed open would have meant months of reduced access, hoardings in passenger areas and tighter evacuation routes. Closing the station lets the work run without those conflicts, but the pressure moves to Blackfriars, one stop away on the same central section. How that station copes with the extra flows will be the real test of the plan. London faces a similar problem underground, where TfL is making Angel station exit-only at weekends to protect its own ageing escalators.

A communications campaign on alternative routes will start in early 2027. Travel information is available from National Rail Enquiries and on the City Thameslink closure page of the Network Rail website.

Source: Network Rail, "City Thameslink station to get 10 new escalators during closure from mid-May to late December 2027" (29/10/2026).

Photo: the entrance to City Thameslink station, London, October 2024. Tom Page, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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