06.02.09
New milestones in the £20m transformation of Haymarket Metro station
The £20m redevelopment of Haymarket Metro station edged nearer to completion this week with the installation of a second new escalator and new passenger information display screens.
The new screens, four in total, and the new escalator form part of the ongoing modernisation of Haymarket station from its original 1980s design. Work began 19 months ago to completely rebuild the station, used by around six million passengers a year, and it is due to finish in the summer.
The new information screens, which show train destination and waiting times, provide a vastly improved display for Metro passengers.
Television monitors have been used in place of the LED dot matrix displays. The monitors have a white on black contrast, which makes the display sharper and they are easier to read, especially for the partially sighted.
The second new escalator at Haymarket is a replacement unit and sits alongside the first new escalator which was installed last year in place of the staircase. Work to replace the one remaining old escalator will now get underway.
Haymarket previously had only two escalators – adding a third means having two in the same direction during rush hours and having a spare when one is being maintained.
Director General of Nexus, Bernard Garner, said: “The installation of the new information screens and the second escalator are small but very significant milestones in the £20m redevelopment of Haymarket Metro station.
“I think the new screens look great. They look more modern and they are much clearer to read than the old ones.
“The third escalator is a welcome addition because Haymarket is a busy station and for a major gateway into the city centre and as our deepest underground station its access really needed to be improved.”
The Haymarket project is due to finish this summer when a new four-storey building built by private developer 42nd Street Hub above the station will be complete, including shops and office space.
At ground level and below passengers will benefit from a bright clean new ticket concourse and three new escalators down to platform level.
The platforms themselves are being completely transformed with the familiar square panelling of Metro replaced by bright white curved walls giving the station a spacious airy feel.
The ‘boxlike’ panelling of Metro’s underground stations – unchanged since 1980 – have been removed to reveal the larger curving tunnel walls underneath. These are being clad in smaller vitreous enamel panels designed to curve with the wall and drilled with tiny holes to stop sound echoing along the platforms.
An artwork by Sunderland University lecturer Lothar Goetz, featuring striking bands of colour circling round the tunnel walls, will take shape as the remaining panels are fitted. A new non-slip resin floor is to be poured into place in the spring.
Nexus, which owns, manages and is modernising Metro say this new design by Newcastle architects Reid Jubb Brown will become a blueprint for other city centre stations.
Monument, Central and others used by millions of passengers every year are due to get similar improvements through the £320 million Metro: all change programme.
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