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Wednesday 1 Oct 2014

New designs unveiled as Queen Street consultation continues

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail has today (Wednesday, October 1) launched a second phase of public consultation to hear more views on the proposed £104m transformation of Glasgow Queen Street station.

The company has also unveiled updated designs for how the station will look, which reflect changes made to the plans following the first round of consultation with passengers and public.

Scotland’s third busiest station with 20m passengers a year, Glasgow Queen Street needs to expand to meet predicted growth to 28m passengers by 2030 and to accommodate the longer trains that will be running on key routes in the future.

As well as overhauling Queen Street’s rail infrastructure and operational capabilities, the redevelopment will transform passenger facilities and improve how the station interacts with the surrounding city.

With construction work due to begin in 2015 and complete in 2019, the project to redevelop Queen Street will:

• Create a landmark, modern station which reflects Queen Street’s role as a gateway to the city and also as an important departure point for visitors heading north
• Redevelop the east side of the building to extend the Buchanan Galleries and create new passenger facilities over two levels
• Redesign the concourse to double public floor space, extend platform lengths, improve passenger circulation and enhance waiting areas, entrances and catering / retail space
• Replace the current 1970s entrance, and the hotel extension above, with a 500m2 modern glass frontage.

From feedback received during the first phase of consultation, the following changes have been made to the plans:

• we have changed the design of the façade and the shape of the roof

• the main access ramp has moved from outside to inside the building and is now within the glass frontage of the station
• we have widened the stairs at the entrance onto George Square
• access to the low level at the east side of the station is enhanced by moving the lifts closer to the stairs and we have made allowances for potential future provision of lifts to the low level at the west side
• we have initiated an additional study to look at enhanced access to the low level station

• the footbridge running east / west at mezzanine level across the centre of the station has been removed
• we have changed ticket gate lines to further enhance concourse space and improve access to the low level station

• we are working with access consultants and representatives to maximise provisions of disabled access and facilities including; parking, drop-off entrances/exits and toilets
• additional cycle stands have been added.

Transport Minister Keith Brown said: “Queen Street is one of Scotland’s most important stations. This consultation is informing plans which will transform the station into a 21st century transport hub.

“It will be an inviting and enjoyable place for people to begin or end their journey on some of Scotland’s busiest rail routes, including the improved Glasgow-Edinburgh via Falkirk line through the EGIP scheme, which will result in 30% more seats and around 20% faster journey times on our flagship route.

“The redevelopment of Queen Street station will be another huge benefit of EGIP, which has already delivered the stunning new-look £25m Haymarket Station in Edinburgh, as well as improving journeys and facilities for passengers at all points in between.”

David Dickson, Network Rail route managing director for Scotland, added: “The proposals unveiled for the second phase of consultation demonstrate that we have listened to, and acted on, what people are telling us they want to see at the station.

“Listening to what passengers, and those who live near the station, think of this exciting new vision for the future Queen Street, and enabling them to contribute to creating that vision, has enriched the proposals.

“The feedback we receive in this second phase will be just as important in shaping a station which better serves passengers, serves Glasgow and creates a landmark development in this iconic location.”

The Queen Street redevelopment is part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP), which will deliver a rolling programme of electrification across central Scotland over the next five years and beyond.

Funded by the Scottish Government, EGIP will reduce journey times and boost capacity on key routes including the main Edinburgh Waverley-Glasgow Queen Street line.

The second part of the public consultation will run from today until Monday, December 22. The report on part one (which took place from February to May) has been published at www.queenstreetredevelopment.com.

The consultation is being undertaken as part of Network Rail’s application for a Transport and Works Scotland Order to acquire the powers and permissions needed to deliver the new station. The TAWS application will be submitted to Scottish Ministers in June 2015.

For more information about the proposals, visit www.queenstreetredevelopment.com or follow on twitter @NetworkRailGQS. Comments or questions can be sent to GlasgowQueenStreet@networkrail.co.uk.