On Dec 5, 5:27 pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:
Any of our roving reporters checked out the new entrance yet?

One online item he

http://www.london-se1.co.uk/news/view/5705

Passed through late yesterday evening - great it's opened. Not really
finished yet - lots of hoardings up in the intermediate undercroft
lobby (or whatever one should call it? - this is the level between the
ground entrance and the platforms above), though they're are lots of
hoardings everywhere else at Blackfriars too, so it's to be expected
really.

On the south bank, the entrance opens up on the eastern side of
Blackfriars rail bridge (facing towards the Tate Modern) - the
riverside walkway under the rail bridge is open again after a
temporary period of closure (and resultant diversion of the Thames
Path / Jubilee Walkway away from the river), though this route again
features lots of hoardings as work goes on alongside and above it.

In the new entrance, ticket gates at ground level as one would expect.
Afraid I didn't really pay much attention to the rest of the ground
level - there was a ticket office (not open when I passed through),
and self-service ticket machines but they weren't switched on. None of
the PIS screens were operational in this new southern bit of the
station (either at ground or lobby level), at least not when I was
there - hopefully they'll be patched in sharpish.

Didn't really think to check how it fits in with the forthcoming bay
platforms on the western side of the bridge - I dare say the
passageway / hallway leading to them was obscured with hoardings and
perhaps not even quite built yet either.

So, nothing amazingly fancy, though the actual entrance seems nice and
welcoming - well, this lady seems very chirpy about it, considering
the hour:
http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk...items/view/121

The rest of the station structure panning the Thames will presumably
create something of an impression too when finished, but for the time
being it's still considerably obscured by scaffolding and hoardings.

All in all, a very welcome development.

Less welcome to prospective paxwas the fact that the 22:08 to Bedford
(an all stations stopper), the last northbound service from the south
through the core, had been cancelled...