Blackfriars Underground station is served by the Circle and District lines and is between Temple and Mansion House stations.
The station was opened on 30 May 1870 by the Metropolitan District Railway (MDR) as the railway's new eastern terminus when the line was extended from Westminster. The construction of the new section of the MDR was planned in conjunction with the building of the Victoria Embankment and was achieved by the cut and cover method of roofing over a shallow trench.
On 3 July 1871 the MDR was extended eastwards to a new terminus at Mansion House.
It was closed on 2 March 2009 for major renovation work and reopened on 20 February 2012.
Blackfriars station was significantly renovated between 2009 and 2012. The office building above was demolished and replaced as part of the Thameslink programme. The new station is the same height and houses a shared National Rail and London Underground ticket hall and ventilation shaft together with escalators and lifts between a mezzanine level for mainline railway services and the sub-surface level for London Underground services. The Underground station also received major enhancements, with a new roof of glazed north lights and partial-height glazed side panels installed along the entire length of the bridge.
On the south bank of the river a new station entrance was built at Bankside, containing a second ticket hall. The through platforms were moved to the east side and extended along Blackfriars Railway Bridge over the River Thames to accommodate 12-carriage trains (in place of the previous eight). The layout has been altered by building new bay platforms on the west side, avoiding the need for through trains between City Thameslink and London Bridge crossing the paths of terminating ones.
The works exploited the disused piers west of the existing railway bridge which once supported the former West Blackfriars and St. Paul's Railway Bridge. The easternmost line of disused piers was strengthened, tied into the existing bridge and clad in stone. The number of bay platforms was reduced from three to two in the process, but some terminating services have now become through services, and the increased length allows longer trains to terminate at Blackfriars. The subway entrance to Blackfriars station has been permanently closed.
The original concept for the project was designed by Pascall+Watson architects, with execution by Jacobs and Tony Gee and Partners; it was built by Balfour Beatty. By January 2011 the eastern half of the station's new roof had been erected and First Capital Connect services began using the newly constructed platforms on the east side of the bridge, where the bay platforms used to be. On the western side of the station the original eight-carriage platforms were removed and the bridge deck widened to provide space for the new terminus platforms. The station's new entrance and ticket hall on the south side of the river opened on 5 December 2011.
The Waterloo & City line, a deep-level tube line which runs non-stop between Waterloo and Bank, runs almost directly under Blackfriars station and there have been suggestions to construct an interchange station for the line at Blackfriars. The Department for Transport considers this to have "no significant transport benefit".
In January 2014 the Blackfriars Railway Bridge became the world's largest solar-powered bridge having been covered with 4,400 photovoltaic panels providing up to half of the energy for the station.
London Buses routes 45, 63, 100, 388 and night route N63 serve the station.