Birmingham New Street Train Station UK |The Old Concourse The Final Day | 27 April 2013 Bull Ring

Описание: Birmingham New Street Train Station, The Old Concourse, The Final Day of Birmingham New Street Station Concourse, 27 April 2013. Bull Ring Shopping Centre. This concourse is now closed.

Extract from Wikipedia

Birmingham New Street is the largest and busiest of the railway stations serving Birmingham, England. It is in the city center and is a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Virgin Trains services from London Euston, Glasgow Central, and Edinburgh Waverley via the West Coast Main Line
and the national hub of the Cross Country network -- the most extensive in Britain, with long-distance trains serving destinations from Aberdeen to Penzance. It is also a major interchange for local and suburban services within the West Midlands, including those on the Cross City Line between Lichfield and Redditch and the Chase Line to Walsall and Rugeley.

New Street is the eighth busiest railway station in the UK and the busiest outside London, with 31.2 million passenger entries and exits between April 2011 and March 2012. It is also the busiest interchange station outside London, with over 5.1 million passengers changing trains at the station annually.

The original New Street station was built in the Victorian era and had the largest single-span arched roof in the world. This was demolished and replaced in the 1960s. An enclosed station, with buildings over most of its span and passenger numbers, more than twice those it was designed for,] the replacement was not popular with its users, having a customer satisfaction rate of only 52% - the joint lowest of any Network Rail major station.[6]

A £550m redevelopment of the station named Gateway Plus is currently underway. The redevelopment will include a new concourse, a new exterior facade, and a new entrance on Stephenson Street, and is expected to be completed in 2015. New Street will also become the terminus of the city-center extension of the Midland Metro, with a new tram stop on Stephenson Street, also expected to be finished by 2015.

Around 80% of train services to Birmingham go through New Street. The other major city-center stations in Birmingham are Birmingham Moor Street and Birmingham Snow Hill. On the outskirts, closer to Solihull, is Birmingham International, which serves Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre.

New Street station was built as a joint station by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the Midland Railway between 1846 and 1854 to replace several earlier rail termini, most notably Curzon Street.

For the first 31 years, the station was used by LNWR and Midland Railway trains. However, in 1885, the Midland Railway opened its own trainshed alongside the original one for the exclusive use of its trains, effectively creating two stations side-by-side. The two companies' stations were separated by a central roadway; Queens Drive.

Traffic grew steadily, and by 1900 New Street had become extremely busy, with an average of 40 trains an hour departing and arriving, rising to 53 trains in the peak hours.

Original LNWR station

The station was formally opened on 1 June 1854, although it had already been in use for two years. The station was constructed by Messrs. Fox, Henderson & Co. and designed by Edward Alfred Cowper of that firm. When completed, it had the largest arched single-span iron and glass roof in the world, spanning a width of 212 feet (65 m) and being 840 feet (256 m) long. It held this title for 14 years until St Pancras station opened in 1868. When first opened, New Street was described as the "Grand Central Station at Birmingham"

The main entrance building on Stephenson Street incorporated Queen's Hotel, designed by William Livock, which was opened on the same day. The Queen's Hotel was built in an Italianate style and was originally provided with 60 rooms. The hotel was expanded several times over the years and reached its final form in 1917 with the addition of a new west wing.

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