^3m revamp under way at Southampton Central (This is Hampshire 25/08/2010)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

From This is Hampshire:

Work has started on a ^3m revamp of Southampton^s shabby central train station which a Government minister once dubbed ^the lowpoint of his week^.

The station will be completely refurbished with improved facilities for passengers including a new entrance, an enlarged booking hall and waiting room, new shops and passenger toilets. The city council is stumping up ^800,000 towards the work as it claims the ^unattractive and inadequate^ station, which is a gateway for over 5.5 million visitors a year, presents the city in a poor light.

However a Government report found it was too good to get a slice of ^50m promised for the country^s ten worst stations, despite a Government minister singling Southampton out for criticism for failing to provide him with a cup of tea. Former Transport Secretary Lord Adonis called a visit to the station ^the lowpoint of his week^ after he was disappointed to find no refreshments while waiting to change for an 8am service to Brighton.

Network Rail is putting in ^1.5m towards the work while South West Trains, which manages the station, will contribute the rest.

A brand new ticket office and shop will open next month to signify the first phase of the refurbishment.

South West Trains managing director Andy Pitt, said: ^The new entrance will provide a new gateway to the city and we hope to see more people choosing our trains as their favourite mode of transport.^

Richard O^Brien, Network Rail^s route director for Wessex, said: ^Passengers in Southampton rely on rail to make almost six million journeys every year reflecting the importance of the railway to the community and local economy. This major upgrade of Southampton Central station will make a big difference.^

The council^s Cabinet member for transport Councillor Matthew Dean said the council had long campaigned for an improved station and it was pleased to be helping to pay for it.

The station will remain accessible for all passengers.

Works are due for completion in late 2011. All train services will remain unchanged and station facilities will be open to minimise disruption.

[Brucey]

All references to entrance and booking hall are singular.  Does this mean one of the entrances are being removed?

[paul7575]

I think in general the up side entrance and platform (P1) are already just about there. A new ticket office has just opened on that side, and the shopfitters are in doing up the old ticket office there as of a week or so ago. That will become yet another catering outlet, not sure which side of the barrier line it'll end up on though. The SWT^▸ (South West Trains) article suggests that bit will be finished in September.  The up side waiting room and catering was done up only a few years ago, but the gents is still pretty hopeless.

A waiting room and coffee shop has appeared on the 2/3 island since Adonis did all his criticism in the papers, which is a bit of an improvement. 

The SWT website article this story is based on pictures the down side main entrance, internally and externally...

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SouthamptonCentral.aspx

...so if they do similar work on P4 to what is already on P1, ie enclosed waiting area and open up the existing Pumpkin and Smiths counter into an open plan style things should start looking up, though at the end of the day it's always going to be a bit of a concrete lump, architecturally.  Seems what the newspaper article fails to get across well is that some of the work is already done, but there's still a year to go.

Paul