Birmingham New St / Grand Central construction thread (large images)

[GadgetMan]

Going via the 'B' end will be no good when the xx.49 to Nottingham gets re-platformed - you'll miss it!

Not necessarily as the relieving crew will also have to take the same long walk with the passengers.

 

[edwin_m]

The crew would be more likely to know the quickest way. And they might have found out through other channels before anyone gets round to telling the passengers!

 

[F Great Eastern]

I really don't like New Street now, It just feels wrong and confusing layout and if you compare it to St Pancras or Reading or other newly rebuilt stations they are far better. There seems to be a lot of walking now in the station required to do anything and with the concourse being right down at the far end from the new pacman entrance it's highly annoying and pretty disorientating, badly designed and hard to find your way around in my view.

There is little catering before the barriers with a lot of the stuff reserved for after the barriers which really sucks, and I really don't like those Virgin ticket machines, much preferring the other, quicker and more reliable ones that are made by Scheidt & Bachmann. It's also next to impossible to find any toilets before you go through the barriers (are any even there?).

I agree that New Street badly needed an upgrade, but for me this doesn't do the trick, it's no longer ugly, it's just confusing instead in my book and not somewhere I want to go back to in a hurry.

To end on something good though, those new Network Rail touch screens look good!

 

[Cherry_Picker]

You do know it's not finished yet, don't you?

 

[F Great Eastern]

Yes - I was just commenting on what I've seen so far.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

But your main complaint seems to be that it's not finished. The exit is where it is at the moment because the other half of the station is a sealed off building site and people can't access it.

 

[edwin_m]

There are toilets inside the barrier line near the new steps down to platform 10b. As of two weeks ago they were free but turnstiles in place so presumably will become chargeable.

Anyone know why they forgot to put stairs/escalators to platform 12 on the new concourse? The lift is there but the stair access is only via the old route. Will this be sorted by the time it is finished?

 

[F Great Eastern]

But your main complaint seems to be that it's not finished. The exit is where it is at the moment because the other half of the station is a sealed off building site and people can't access it.

No - you are reading something that is not there. The words you claimed I said are not anywhere in my post so you PRESUME wrong.

Unfortunately I can't time travel into the future so I can only comment on what I've seen in the past and present.

There are toilets inside the barrier line near the new steps down to platform 10b. As of two weeks ago they were free but turnstiles in place so presumably will become chargeable.

I presume that they are going to add some more before you go through the barriers? Is that in the station plan?

 

[Geezertronic]

Since closing New Street was not a viable option, the in situ works and the hassle it causes has to be put up with for the short term. It is probably more difficult for the construction to happen around the passengers than it is for the passengers to work around the construction

Anything is better than New Street in the past so when it is finished it will be an obvious improvement if not to everyones liking.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

No - you are reading something that is not there. The words you claimed I said are not anywhere in my post so you PRESUME wrong.

If this isn't complaining about something which isn't finished, I don't know what is:

I really don't like New Street now, It just feels wrong and confusing layout and if you compare it to St Pancras or Reading or other newly rebuilt stations they are far better. There seems to be a lot of walking now in the station required to do anything and with the concourse being right down at the far end from the new pacman entrance it's highly annoying and pretty disorientating, badly designed and hard to find your way around in my view.

It's not badly designed. It's simply not finished yet. There are huge great big signs up everywhere telling people it is only half finished. Wait until 2015 until you call it badly designed, if it is like that when it is finished then I will wholeheartedly agree with you but for now it is still very much a case of "wait and see" before making a judgement.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Sorry I thought this was a discussion forum - maybe I got that wrong and we are not allowed to discuss what is going on at the station therefore this thread serves no purpose.

Seeing as discussion is not allowed could one of the moderators close the thread until the station is finished seeing as one poster seems not to want us to discuss it until such date.

:roll:

 

[Cherry_Picker]

It is a discussion forum. You are perfectly entitled to have an opinion, and I am perfectly entitled to have an opinion on your opinion. It's not a personal attack on you or anything, I'm just saying that at this exact moment in time the work at New Street is incomplete so criticism of the design of the place really is a bit premature given the massive constraints that the people doing the rebuilding have to work within.

 

[moggie]

I presume that they are going to add some more before you go through the barriers? Is that in the station plan?

The toilets are inside the barrier line-as they were before the change occurred-your point is?

 

[Smethwickian]

There will be a greater choice of shops and catering all around the open atrium area when the final, fully-finished station reopens completely in 2015. And hopefully some additional public loos as well, I would have thought, in the shopping centre and/or John Lewis.

Meantime, I really think you have to take it as you find it, mid-project, and make the best of it. Access from some directions isn't ideal, external signing is not very good, and there are too few departure screens in parts of the station.

But considering there have been no outright closures and the station continues to serve all its passengers every day throughout such a massive building programme, I think they're doing remarkably well.

My major gripe - which looks now to be a permanent part of the layout - would be with the replacement of so many busy ticket windows and the busy travel centre with so few staffed ticket desks in one very small ticket office for a station of such importance. And yes, I do use the additional machines, when I know exactly what I want and the product is available from a TVM, but quite often it isn't.

 

[Mugby]

My major gripe - which looks now to be a permanent part of the layout - would be with the replacement of so many busy ticket windows and the busy travel centre with so few staffed ticket desks in one very small ticket office for a station of such importance. And yes, I do use the additional machines, when I know exactly what I want and the product is available from a TVM, but quite often it isn't.

I thought that too. Also they've adopted the Post Office system of requiring a numbered ticket and waiting for your number to be called. This actually causes more delays because some people are talking on mobiles or listening to music and miss their call, so the number has to be called again when there's no response. Same applies when some people take a ticket and then leave without waiting.

 

[railuser007]

At the moment getting out of the station takes longer than before as the exits on the 'a' end of the platforms are no longer available and also the way some trains stop in the morning on the platform the new 'b' exist does get way too crowded making everything slow and cramped - they should have kept the Navigation St exist open till everything was finalised.

 

[F Great Eastern]

The toilets are inside the barrier line-as they were before the change occurred-your point is?

Lot of very defensive people on this thread who don't seem to like others point of view.

In a large station I think there should always be toilet facilities before the barriers.

 

[Old Hill Bank]

Lot of very defensive people on this thread who don't seem to like others point of view.

In a large station I think there should always be toilet facilities before the barriers.

I see where you are coming from on the toilet thing but New Street has only had loos inside the barrier since the 1960s rebuild so this is nothing new to the station with the current ongoing works. What is in the plan for the final solution I do not know.

 

[Gwenllian2001]

What is in the plan for the final solution I do not know.

Don't mention the war!

 

[NathanPrior]

Has it gone back to the same normal entrance? I have to make the dash across from Moor St to New St on Saturday and it would help so much if either the Bullring entrance or main entrance were open again.

 

[The Planner]

No, that is still ages off.

 

[NathanPrior]

That's slightly screwed my plans then. My train arrives at Moor St at 10:01 and my next one leaves New St at 10:20

 

[Cherry_Picker]

You should make that. It's a ten minute walk from door to door, add another five to find your platform at New St. It might be an idea if you can find your platform in advance.