The McLaren Street entrance is rather like the Wynyard Walk to Barangaroo
- a connection to a remote location that saves people from having to cross
roads and traffic. The distance is thus somewhat of necessity longer. The
main station entrances at the south end are nowhere near so far. I can
still walk, but stairs are pretty much out and escalators starting to get
dodgy to navigate. So lifts are appreciated by us.
It is said that the Victorians (era that is, not the state) designed their
railway stations to invest travellers with a sense of occasion, a feeling
of doing something important, an art certainly lost later in the 20th
century, not to mention airport terminals. It's also why we're seeing many
old railway stations restored rather than demolished and replaced. I think
it's about time this particular tantiliser for train travel is revived and
the Sydney Metro project is doing that in spades. The Sydney city centre
metro stations are going to be fabulous architectural landmarks for the
city for many generations, as well as having the practical capacity that
has become very pinched on the older stations that were built when they
thought the city was only going to have a couple of million people.
Tony P
On Sunday 25 February 2024 at 18:45:01 UTC+11 Michael Lewis wrote:
> I enjoyed Phil's video. However, being "senior", I can still move
> comfortably on escalators or lifts, but find very long walks, hard work -
> particularly in the middle of a purposeful group of travellers - which was
> my experience between Wynyard and Barangaroo some years ago. I'm
> experienced using Jerusalem Station, which is also very deep, requiring
> multiple escalators or lifts. However, the lateral distances are short,
> which does not appear to be the case at Victoria Cross - particularly from
> The Northern entrance. The white walls and what look like moulded chairs
> will be used as drawing boards and removal challenges. Monumental,
> beautiful, but it's still only a railway station.
>
> On Sunday, February 25, 2024 at 6:19:18 PM UTC+11 TP wrote:
>
>> There are no horizontal covers over the running tracks. I know the design
>> you mean, but these (and afaik on all Sydney metro stations that have full
>> height PSDs) are vertical walls. There should be very little dust fallout
>> in these public areas. The platforms are completely screened from the
>> trains, so there would be little infiltration of train brake, pantograph
>> etc fallout. They must have some confidence in that, otherwise they
>> wouldn't have all those white walls and ceilings throughout the station!
>>
>> To give others context, Phil has filmed starting at the McLaren Street
>> entrance, a block north of the main station entrances, hence the long
>> passageway (about 2.5 minute walk I understand). Then he's gone down onto
>> the platform from the north end and gone to the south end and up the
>> escalators to the south end entrances at Miller Street and Denison Street,
>> near Victoria Cross. Then he's turned around and walked all the way back to
>> McLaren Street via the platform.
>>
>> It will be 9 minutes to Central from this station, compared to 13 minutes
>> from the existing North Sydney Station. Intermediate stations on the metro
>> line: Barangaroo, Martin Place and Park Street. Intermediate stations on
>> the suburban line: Milsons Point, Wynyard and Town Hall. There is also the
>> City Circle east covering Circular Quay, St James and Museum, but involving
>> a change. Eastern Suburbs line doesn't offer any additional city locations
>> other than the above. There is also the option of transferring to the
>> George Street tram from any of the rail lines to reach intermediate points
>> along that axis.
>>
>> So overall, quite a good spread of coverage for people wanting to go to
>> different parts of Sydney CBD. Later these will be joined by Hunter Street
>> Station on Metro West, making a total (including Central) of 11 stations
>> within the CBD. Furthermore, Wynyard, the light rail, Hunter Street and the
>> two Martin Place stations will be linked by a single underground concourse,
>> making it, I believe, the second-largest underground rail interchange in
>> the world (after one in Paris iirc).
>>
>> Tony P
>>
>> On Sunday 25 February 2024 at 17:35:39 UTC+11 Matthew Geier wrote:
>>
>>> Phil didn't waste any time, I just got home from the 'Victoria Cross
>>> open day' and haven't had a chance to download my camera yet!
>>>
>>> There are some architectural details they will come to regret - the
>>> opening shot of Phil's video shows two brown 'covers' over the running
>>> tracks - they are going to be absolutely hell to keep clean - the 'slats'
>>> are going to trap dust and small bits of litter, but the way they are
>>> constructed means any one cleaning them will need 'working at heights'
>>> gear.
>>>
>>> I've not been in any of the other new stations so I don't know if they
>>> all have this detail or not. Certainly was NOT designed for ease of
>>> maintenance.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 25/2/24 17:25, TP wrote:
>>>
>>> The station is located in the middle of North Sydney CBD with entrances
>>> spread along Miller Street between Victoria Cross and McLaren Street, as
>>> well as Denison Street. The platform is 11 storeys below street level.
>>> There is a new building of about 40 storeys above the station at the Berry
>>> Street corner, next to the MLC building.
>>>
>>> For a tramway link (not that there's any shortage of that in North
>>> Sydney), the northern entrance is only half a block from the stil-extant
>>> former North Sydney Cable car depot (now the Independent Theatre).
>>>
>>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zgilBgzynI&t
>>>
>>> Tony P
>>>
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