New station plan ‘could save billions’
ARCHITECTS SAY THEIR NEW DESIGN FOR STATION ‘WILL SAVE BILLIONS’
THIS is the alternative proposal for the redevelopment of Piccadilly Station that architects say will save ‘billions.’
It includes a new underground station for high speed rail services and a high speed rail tunnel under the city centre.
Architects Weston Williamson say their speculative proposal ‘offers significant advantages in terms of connectivity and value for money in infrastructure investment.’
Key to the plans is the creation of the ‘s-shaped’ tunnel that would ‘allow train services to pass between Manchester Airport and West Yorkshire via Manchester Piccadilly without having to reverse.’
It would, the architects say, allow direct high speed train services from Birmingham, Liverpool and Glasgow to Leeds via Manchester Piccadilly and direct HS2 services between London and Leeds would also become possible via Manchester.
“This would have the option of deferring the Phase 2b branch between Birmingham and Leeds and so save several billion pounds,” Weston Williamson claims.
Under the two current proposals, put forward separately by High Speed Rail
Two and Northern Powerhouse Rail, HS2 trains arriving in Manchester would have to reverse out of the station before continuing their journeys.
Both existing plans also propose an above-ground terminus next to the current station.
Weston Williamson, which has designed railway stations in London and Melbourne, say if either of the existing proposals are built ‘future generations of Mancunians will continue to suffer the cross-city rail connectivity problems that the city inherited as a legacy of un-coordinated railway planning in the 19th Century.’
Its plans also include the creation of a new pedestrianised ‘zero carbon’ public square and ‘new urban quarter’ around Store Street, Chapeltown Street and the Ashton canal.
The architects add: “By combining infrastructure for HS2 and NPR into the same integrated project, our High-Speed Station Square offers better value-for-money than developing infrastructure for HS2 and NPR as separate projects.”
In February Boris Johnson gave the green light for massive rail investment for northern cities – bringing both HS2 and east-west rail links to Greater Manchester and beyond.