FEATURE: CHRISTIAN WOLMAR
Words: Christian Wolmar Sub-editor: Deborah Maby
A
sk any group of rail passengers to name Britain’s worst station, and it’s highly likely that many will point to Birmingham New Street. It is a victim of all the worst excesses of 1960s planning built at a time when the railways were being culled by Beeching to replace an elegant Victorian canopy destroyed by the Luftwaffe. A rather downmarket shopping centre called, with apparently deliberate misspelling, The Pallasades, a huge car park and a rabbit warren of cheap offices were plonked on top of it to hide what was thought to be a dying industry.
How times have changed. Birmingham is about to get what the project’s communications manager says is “a station fit for the 21st century”. In fact, it is even better than that: just as the railways were being quietly forgotten about in the 1960s, now the £600 million scheme to renew New Street is emblematic of their glorious future at a time when passenger numbers are soaring to levels not seen in almost a century.
The project is a partnership between the Department for Transport, Centro (the local integrated transport authority), Advantage West Midlands (the now defunct regional development agency, which put in £100 million) and Birmingham City Council, which has contributed £150 million, the same as the lead partner, Network Rail.
Not surprisingly, given the number of “stakeholders” and the importance for Birmingham as well as the whole region, the scheme has been long in gestation and was somewhat mired in controversy as it does not provide any extra track capacity. However, it was the need to improve facilities for passengers that was the driving force, and creating extra space for trains would have involved the construction of a completely new station. Indeed, an idea for a Grand Central station just east of the present site that would have had easier connections to the proposed HS2 station at Curzon Street was developed in some detail by Arup but eventually rejected by local politicians who felt it would be too disruptive.
The improvements for passengers are remarkable; creating what will be an iconic station. The cramped concourse will be
WWW.THECONNECTSERIES.CO.UK
expanded by a factor of more than three and there will be through routes giving access from all sides, which it is hoped will help regenerate those parts of the surrounding area that are currently rundown. There will be no fewer than 36 escalators, giving both up and down access to all 12 platforms, compared with the present total of just five. That is crucial since at the moment it can take several minutes for the chaos to clear when a cross-city train gets in, as those arriving bump into those trying to leave. The fact that New Street is considered legally as an underground station has added urgency to the need for better access, given it is now used by twice the number when it was first opened.
The project also involves the creation of a greatly improved shopping precinct - to be called, confusingly, Grand Central, a name that is clearly popular with planners - to replace the Pallasades, as well as a massive new John Lewis adjoining the station in a part of the city that was previously difficult to access from the station and was consequently economically deprived.
The project has actually been under way for two years but Simon Winfield, one of the managers, was rather chuffed that he had just come back from running an information stall at the station to coincide with the Conservative Party Conference and “one man had asked when work was starting – that shows just how little disruption we have caused”. Indeed, one of the key requirements of the scheme was that New Street had to be kept running all the year round except on the two days on which the whole rail network is closed, Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
The only disruption to passenger services has been the closure of one platform at a time, during which refurbishment is carried out and, crucially, is used for the twice- weekly works train. Winfield explains: “We created a logistics centre at Bordersley near Birmingham City football ground and bring material in from there - and indeed to remove the huge amount of concrete we have had to clear, which greatly reduces the number of lorries having to service the site. It also means that the stuff is coming in at the lower level, rather than having to be craned in.”
The improvements for passengers are remarkable, creating what will be an iconic station.
So behind the scenes, entirely hidden from the public, an enormous amount of work has already been carried out. Most excitingly, a large part of the concrete cover above the station will be removed, creating an atrium made of the same material as the Eden Project in Cornwall that allows natural light onto the concourse. The platforms will remain under cover but will benefit from much better lighting than the current awful 1960s strip variety.
The first milestone will be in April – the precise day has yet to be determined – when the first half of the scheme will be almost complete and work will start on the other half. In a move that will stretch the team’s organising abilities to the limit, the current concourse and shopping area will be closed off while the new section, which has been fashioned largely out of what was a car park, will be open. However, the opening will not be treated as a grand event: “People will still have to walk through a tunnelled area with lots of temporary facilities and the atrium will not, unfortunately, yet be completed”, says Ben Herbert, the communications manager, adding: “And that’s why we don’t want to make too much of a fuss about it.”
It will be very different in mid-2015 when there will be big celebrations – a Royal opening is a certainty – and one suspects that the Tory politicians who were in town during my visit will be keen on ensuring it is finished before the general election as a demonstration of the Coalition Government’s commitment to the railways. Politicians boasting about their achievements on the railways is another demonstration of just how far the industry has progressed from the dark days of the 1960s and there is no more potent symbol of this change than the transformation of Britain’s most unloved station.
RailCONNECT 5
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84