The forgotten station |Honi Soit
The transportist gets a shout out in The forgotten station by Simon Coleman in Honi Soit, the University of Sydney newspaper. The article concerns Redfern station, which we talked about earlier in Sydney train stations need two exits. An excerpt below:
An artist’s impression of a future Redfern station. Image: NSW Government / RedWatch.
40 per cent of USyd students use the station to commute to campus, and the University expects the student population to increase by 26,000 to 75,000 in the next two decades. Director of campus infrastructure services Greg Robinson has labeled Redfern Station “inadequate” while lobbying the state government unsuccessfully for light rail and metro, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2015 the University lost out to Waterloo for a new metro station as part of the second harbour crossing, and the proposed West Metro is unlikely to go anywhere near the University. Three years prior, in 2012 UNSW prevailed over USyd for a light rail link. More recently, the state government has canceled light rail planning for Parramatta Road (and given Labor’s lack of support) it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Given the absence of planned alternative transport options for the University, Redfern Station looks set to become increasingly important.
Previous government studies (obtained by the RedWatch community organisation under freedom of information laws) have shown that Redfern’s capacity and accessibility could be increased while preserving its heritage. The original entrances on Lawson Street could be closed, and a modern concourse with two staircases and lifts to every platform (removing the bottlenecks of the old cramped stairs) built at the opposite southern end of the platforms. The new concourse would have an eastern entrance at Gibbons Park near the apartment towers, and a western entrance at a pedestrianised Little Eveleigh Street or Ivy Lane. This western entrance would provide a direct walk to campus and pedestrian access far less cramped than Lawson Street. As University of Sydney Professor of Transport Engineering David Levinson notes on the Transportist website, the western entrance would reduce backtracking and save at least a few minutes of walking to campus.
I would hope that not merely would there be a new "southern" entrance to Redfern, but that the "northern" entrance would be retained.