Thursday, October 27, 2011

Anatomy of a Station Refurbishment

$200m was spent in 2010 on refurbishing a group of QR train stations. BrizCommuter decided to have a look at what was done at one of these (almost completed) stations - Enoggera. The TransLink blurb is here:
http://translink.com.au/about-translink/what-we-do/infrastructure-projects/enoggera-station-upgrade

Platform
The "Cage"
  • Platform - Drainage was added in the centre of the platform, with a slope created towards the middle of the island platform. Unfortunately, there was no raising of the platform edge to make it easier to access trains with wheelchairs or prams. Whilst a slight curve on one platform may make this problematic, the other platform is dead straight - no excuse! A yellow tactile edge was added to the platform in keeping with modern safety codes.
  • Buildings - The ticket office windows have been lowered to improve access, and a short ramp has been built to access the windows. The station buildings have had a fresh coat of grey paint, and security panels have been placed in front of the high windows making the station look rather "prison" like. Some more of the cage panels on the bridge and ramp have been added and/or replaced, and handrails on the bridge, stairs, and ramp have been re-painted yellow. BrizCommuter hasn't inspected the toilets yet, nor tested the shiny new platform seats for comfort.
  • Lighting - Bright new LED lighting has been added. This is a big improvement over the previous fluorescent lighting, and makes the station feel safer at night (although the security guard at night tends to help too). 
  • Signage - Ageing signage has been replaced in TransLink corporate style. No big station entrance sign yet. 
  • Passenger Information Display (PIDs) - The fairly new dot matrix display was removed, and has yet to come back. Maybe Enoggera will be getting a new colour LED display? At the end of the day, the PIDs are often pretty useless during a major delay anyway. 
  • Car Park - One of the three car park sections appears to have been resurfaced. 
  • Gardening - A bit of mulching and gardening was done around the Northern entrance and the Southern car park. Just like BrizCommuter's garden, it looked great until the weeds came through. 
  • Local scenic artwork - Token artwork from a local school is on the side of the ticket office, and helps brighten up the building's greyness.
  • Bus Interchange - BrizCommuter is unsure of who actually owns the Enoggera Bus Interchange. Anyway, it is still the same old desolate unrefurbished (and drainage deficient) white elephant. Tactile edges would be nice for consistency, but then again you would have to extremely unlucky to be flattened by a bus here.
So Enoggera now looks slightly spruced up, but still isn't going to win any design awards. When it comes to public transport spending priorities, it seems odd that there are an increasing number of smarter looking train stations, but still with a rather infrequent train service. At least one can now admire the  quality of the mulching whilst waiting 29 minutes for a train!

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