Re: Re: Newcastle Station Before and After OT
  prescottt

Newcastle still is the second largest "greater" city in NSW, but a very decentred one. For example, Google where David Jones and Myer stores are located in Newcastle nowadays. Greater Newcastle now has more in common with the multi-centred Gold Coast which has an almost identical population. Where would you put a major rail terminus in Gold Coast, or would would you have several railway stations and use a tram to feed to and from the rail line? Oh wait ....

I know Newcastle very well having been involved professionally with its planning and railway matters many years ago, though well before the events of the last decade. I've also stayed there a lot over the years with old friends so I know the dynamics of how the city works. Opening up the harbour waterfront was on the agenda for many years, but couldn't really be implemented as long as there was a functioning CBD. The CBD was in decline for years but the earthquake was the death-blow. Removal of the rail line has enabled the development of continuous open space to the waterfront at the eastern end and opened up the access to Honeysuckle further west. There will be development on the narrow bits of the corridor between lines of existing buildings in the section in between, but these are overshadowed spaces unsuitable for open space anyway, as the video posted by Richard shows.

Sure a lot of developers will make money out of it (they already have for years in the area), but there is no conspiracy theory, just a very long-standing town planning agenda which most locals actually support. Personally I would have cut the rail back to Broadmeadow and run the tram from there. This would enable trains to run directly through from Sydney to the majority of the Newcastle urban area and the Hunter Valley (if the wires were extended to Maitland). I think Wickham was a poor compromise resulting from the political hounding by the save the rail groups - trying to please everybody but not actually solving much at all.

Tony P