14 DAY TRIAL // The plan to have London house the world's largest environmentally-friendly bridge is well on schedule, seeing how just today the 2,200th solar panel was installed on top of the Blackfriars station.
Thus, what used to be a cultural heritage from the Victorian era is slowly, but surely, turning into a modern construction aimed at fighting back pollution and its negative effects on the environment.
As environmental consultant Bakia Mbianyor argues, “In terms of CO2 emissions, rail travel is already the most sustainable form of mass transport with 0.1Kg of CO2 per passenger mile. The solar panels at Blackfriars will now allow us to reduce our carbon footprint still further, at one of our most important stations in central London.”
This new energy station is expected to produce about 900,000k kWh of electricity per year, which will translate in about 500 tonnes of CO2 being kept from entering our atmosphere.
Official reports inform us that Paul Byrne, one of the people in charge of ensuring the success of this project, explained how, “We've rebuilt Blackfriars on a 125 year old rail bridge, creating a 21st century, solar-powered station on Victorian foundations.”
He also added that “Blackfriars will become fully operational for passengers this month, with two new entrances, four new platforms and a new London Underground station in use. We'll complete work on the bridge, including the installation of solar panels, later in the year.”
Although the people using this bridge for their daily commute will soon forget to take notice of the solar panels just above their heads, the fact remains that the latter will play a very important part in their day-to-day traveling routines, seeing how they will be responsible for powering an important London transport hub.
Work on the Blackfriars solar station began nearly four years ago as part of a series of projects intended to up-grade and up-green the Thameslink route, which carries more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak.
More about this topic can be read on Solar Century's official website.