Brighton Station £5m remodelling work starts

[GatwickDepress]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-21274813

Brighton Station was built in 1840

Work on a £5m project to remodel Brighton Station to allow better views of the historic train shed has started.

The project will also include twice as many ticket gates, a new ticket office and a cafe.

The WH Smith building inside the station will also be demolished and the departure boards will be moved to allow uninterrupted views of the station.

Southern Railway said the station would "once again" be the station it was designed to be.

The third archway at the entrance and exit will also be opened up to allow better access.

Somewhat minor work compared to other stations, but it'll be nice to see happen all the same.

Incidentally, can anyone date the image from the BUPA banner? I can not for the life of me ever remember seeing that.

Mods, I couldn't see this posted already, but feel free to delete if it exists.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

I cant date the picture, but I can say that the image has been used 20+ times by the BBC, the oldest one I can find is from 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-15282086

 

[Skimble19]

Will WHSmith be moved elsewhere within the station?

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I started a thread on this when it was first announced in September 2012, there might be a bit more info in there:

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=71759

 

[thelem]

I cant date the picture, but I can say that the image has been used 20+ times by the BBC, the oldest one I can find is from 2011.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-15282086

It can't be much older than that, as the ATMs are Cash Machine branded, where as they used to be bank branded.

 

[yorksrob]

They could do with moving the track for platform 2 over to where the engine release road used to be and widening platforms 1 & 2.

 

[swt_passenger]

They could do with moving the track for platform 2 over to where the engine release road used to be and widening platforms 1 & 2.

It isn't that sort of project. It's purely about retail and concourse facilities, as the planning drawings describe, linked to by MattE2010 above.

 

[yorksrob]

It isn't that sort of project. It's purely about retail and concourse facilities, as the planning drawings describe, linked to by MattE2010 above.

They could still do with penciling it in for some time. It can't be very good for passenger flows as it is.

 

[mr_jrt]

They could do with moving the track for platform 2 over to where the engine release road used to be and widening platforms 1 & 2.

As said elsewhere - it's not that kind of project. That said, if it were, I'd be tempted to rearrange things so they could squeeze in more platforms. There's no need for them to be as wide as they are, and the road down the eastern arch could go for a start.

 

[yorksrob]

As said elsewhere - it's not that kind of project.

I heard the first time.

Platforms 1 and 2 & 5 and 6 are already rather narrow, particularly if you have 2 trains disgorging passengers at the same time.

It might be worthwhile curving 3 and 4 towards Worthing and replacing them with 2 additional London platforms where the cab road is. You would at least have more capacity going westward. I would still keep the Eastern Arch though.

 

[sarahj]

Yes, the WH Smiths is moving, as is the ticket office. The whole lego style building where Smiths is is going, as is the building where the main departure boards and millies cookies are. Millies cookies will be a loss as is has a counter on the platform side where people chainging trains can buy a coffee. The delice de france that will replace it, opp P 1&2, it is unkown if it will have a platform side counter. Waiting rooms will be built next to where the toilets are now. The wide platform between 7 and 8 is handy for delivery trucks, and also for the odd emergency service access.

Also next to the drop off area a bike hub is being built with also a bike hire and repair service. The only info I've seen on that is on the internal southern newsletter, which means I'm unable to post a link.

It seems that during the digging they have found that the buffers used to be further south than now.

 

[thelem]

Cycle hub info at http://www.southernrailway.com/southern/news/new-850000-cycle-hub-for-brighton-station/

General redevelopment info
http://www.southernrailway.com/southern/news/work-starts-on-brighton-station-concourse-improvements/

Unfortunately this doesn't include the map that they are displaying in the station, but from memory there will be more little retail units, including delice de france where the staff access to platforms is at the moment, upper crust in the corner of the current ticket office (opposite their current location), and flying coffee bean remaining in the middle of the concourse. I assume millie's will move to one of the new units being created, unless it's being replaced with delice de france (both SSP brands I believe).

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Anyone know where the new booking office / travel centre will be? From (albeit limited experience) it always seemed to me that Brighton could do with a much, much bigger booking office than is currently provided - during several trips there I have witnessed the queue out of the door and halfway onto the forecourt! I assume it will be merged with the current, non-railway run travel centre next to Upper Crust? I seem to recall reading somewhere that there were once plans to site the booking office near the old toilet block (between the current Upper Crust and M&S) - can anyone confirm if that's correct?

 

[swt_passenger]

Southern’s Project Sponsor Emma Toms said: “...and I am sure that when finished, Brighton station will once again be the station it was designed to be at the beginning – with plenty of complimentary modern facilities.”

Oh dear. I think she possibly chose the wrong version of that word...

 

[thelem]

The booking office will go in the building between the toilets and the taxi rank. It feels out of the way at the moment, but I guess it will be better once they have demolished the WH Smith building.

I had another look at the poster at the station, and the only outlet not mentioned as millies cookies, and the only new outlet mentioned was delice de france in a very similar unit, so it looks like that is a like-for-like swap.

 

[cle]

Brighton could easily take some more platforms, as jrt mentioned some are quite wide although at times they do require the space - lots of group travel and luggage! Not to mention swervy drunks!

But it could use an extra platform or so - if required. For instance if more Gatwick Express trains begin running down to Brighton. Although I think a good alternative to this would be to run some of those extended ones to terminate and turn at Hove instead. Huge morning demand, and arguably as many London daily commuters.