RAIL passengers can expect to see big changes at Newcastle's Central Station from early next year.

Newcastle City Council bosses say that work is well under way behind the scenes to prepare the station for a major revamp needed to bring millions more rail users into the city.

Plans for a £5.2m redesign of the station were unveiled earlier this year and include a new entrance opposite the Centre for Life, a new short-stay car park and taxi pick-up point, and a striking new space for passengers inside the station.

The council has now revealed that construction is set to begin at the station in early 2020 and be completed by March the following year.

The Northern Echo:

Cllr Ged Bell, cabinet member for employment, said: “The exciting and ambitious plans for Central Station are moving forward and work has begun.

“Following cabinet approval in February, the project is now going through the technical design stage that involves working with our delivery partners at Network Rail, London North Eastern Railway and the North East Local Economic Partnership, and obtaining all necessary funding, statutory and regulatory approvals.       

“A planning application will then be submitted later in the year to enable construction work to commence in early 2020 to achieve completion by March 2021.”

It is hoped that the upgrades will allow for the future development of a multi-storey car park on the Forth Goods Yard, as well as new homes and offices.

The Northern Echo:

Passenger numbers through the station are expected to rise from 8.7m to 12m by 2023, and these plans will help enable platform extensions to serve new, longer trains.

The council has said that the works they have planned should cause far less disruption to both rail passengers and traffic around the station than was the case during the previous renovation of its historic entrance.

The works planned by the council will include:

  • The creation of a new western entrance and walkway from Central Parkway, opposite the entrance of the Centre for Life’s conference suite, which will connect the station to Stephenson Quarter;
  • The walkway will lead to a new public and retail space inside the station with a glazed roof, in what is currently used as a delivery area;
  • Moving the taxi rank into the existing short-stay car park at the front of the station, with taxis queuing up Bewick Street;
  • Pedestrianising the Orchard Street tunnel, where the taxi rank currently is, and cleaning it;
  • Installing a new lift inside the Orchard Street tunnel to provide additional access to the station;
  • Moving the short-stay car park into the current long-stay car park to the east of the station;
  • Refurbishing the road tunnel at Forth Street beneath the railway bridge;
  • A new access road into Forth Goods Yard, currently used as a rail yard for Network Rail, to unlock the site for developments including a multi-storey car park;
  • Improving traffic flow at the front of the station with better traffic signalling.