New Start New Street - station concourse changeover
Yesterday, Sunday 28 April 2013, marked a significant milestone in the redevelopment of New Street Station with the opening of the new concourse. The changeover from the old concourse has produced a remarkable change that will wow visitors and those familiar with the old 1960s concourse.
What makes the change even more exciting is that this is the smaller section of the new concourse and when the completed full concourse opens it should wow and dazzle and will mark a new dawn for Birmingham.
Ten years ago, remarkably how fast time flies, the new Bullring opened and transformed the image of the city overnight. This new concourse, albeit a small part of the finished station of 2015, will also transform peoples views of the city and the sense of excitement and approval was quite visible in the air as people made there way around the new concourse and the new routes to the station.
Well deserved thanks must go to the project team, contractors and workers and the organisation of a remarkable engineering project on a live train station and shopping centre. That they have worked while the eyes of the city were expectant of a new station and managed a changeover that opened with keen volunteers directing people to the new entrances on time is a fantastic achievement.
The pictures and the experience of the new concourse show there are still bits to tidy up and finish and the platforms have yet to be fully transformed but don't let this distract from the new brighter station. The former paid concourse remains to allow passengers to exit platforms but you'll still exit through the new concourse and that contrast will make the improvements all the more stark and impressive.
Handy leaflets are being distributed to help people find their bearings in the new concourse and they are worth looking at to familiarise yourself with the changes.
Now the real excitement and countdown begins to the opening of the rest of the new concourse.
I took the following pictures on Sunday 28th April showing the new concourse.
There are more pictures on my flickr set: NewStreetNewStart
To see the scale of the changes you only need to look at these pictures from the 27 April with the end of the former concourse in sight.
What makes the change even more exciting is that this is the smaller section of the new concourse and when the completed full concourse opens it should wow and dazzle and will mark a new dawn for Birmingham.
Ten years ago, remarkably how fast time flies, the new Bullring opened and transformed the image of the city overnight. This new concourse, albeit a small part of the finished station of 2015, will also transform peoples views of the city and the sense of excitement and approval was quite visible in the air as people made there way around the new concourse and the new routes to the station.
Well deserved thanks must go to the project team, contractors and workers and the organisation of a remarkable engineering project on a live train station and shopping centre. That they have worked while the eyes of the city were expectant of a new station and managed a changeover that opened with keen volunteers directing people to the new entrances on time is a fantastic achievement.
The pictures and the experience of the new concourse show there are still bits to tidy up and finish and the platforms have yet to be fully transformed but don't let this distract from the new brighter station. The former paid concourse remains to allow passengers to exit platforms but you'll still exit through the new concourse and that contrast will make the improvements all the more stark and impressive.
Handy leaflets are being distributed to help people find their bearings in the new concourse and they are worth looking at to familiarise yourself with the changes.
Now the real excitement and countdown begins to the opening of the rest of the new concourse.
I took the following pictures on Sunday 28th April showing the new concourse.
There are more pictures on my flickr set: NewStreetNewStart
To see the scale of the changes you only need to look at these pictures from the 27 April with the end of the former concourse in sight.
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