A planning specialist at the University of Central England in Birmingham says the £128M revamp of the New Street station is vitally important to the long-term future of city.
Dick Pratt, a lecturer in Town Planning at UCE Birmingham Faculty of Law, Humanities, Development and Society described the project as remarkable and an opportunity for the city to position itself at the heart of Europe.
'This is indeed a magnificent opportunity for Birmingham,' he said. 'It's a chance for the city to establish itself as a railway hub for England, Scotland and Wales and to achieve this in the timescale envisaged will be nothing short of remarkable.
'The New Street site has suffered for years from being a bottleneck in the rail network system. This is aggravated by having to perform as an inter-city station as well as suburban and regional hub. Whilst the redevelopment will not increase the number of platforms, it will improve the passenger flow through pedestrian access and in time greatly improved signalling systems will allow more trains per hour to arrive and depart from the station with much greater reliability.
'However, Birmingham will eventually have to think about how it is to be connected to Europe,’ he added. ‘We have to think beyond short-haul air traffic, perhaps by considering a high speed train link and it is difficult to see how this could be achieved with the existing railway network.’
Dick Pratt, a lecturer in Town Planning at UCE Birmingham Faculty of Law, Humanities, Development and Society described the project as remarkable and an opportunity for the city to position itself at the heart of Europe.
'This is indeed a magnificent opportunity for Birmingham,' he said. 'It's a chance for the city to establish itself as a railway hub for England, Scotland and Wales and to achieve this in the timescale envisaged will be nothing short of remarkable.
'The New Street site has suffered for years from being a bottleneck in the rail network system. This is aggravated by having to perform as an inter-city station as well as suburban and regional hub. Whilst the redevelopment will not increase the number of platforms, it will improve the passenger flow through pedestrian access and in time greatly improved signalling systems will allow more trains per hour to arrive and depart from the station with much greater reliability.
'However, Birmingham will eventually have to think about how it is to be connected to Europe,’ he added. ‘We have to think beyond short-haul air traffic, perhaps by considering a high speed train link and it is difficult to see how this could be achieved with the existing railway network.’
