Bradford Forster Square Refurbishment

Posted on March 16, 2016 by bradfordrail

£15million has been secured by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to refurbish Bradford Forster Square railway station. (Article in the T&A)

The construction is due to start in 2018 with an estimated completion in 2021.

BRUG has complained that the access to the station has let the station down for many years, the stairwell and lifts close early on an evening, which means that access to the station from the city centre is via the dark cobbled footpath, which is often dark, and creates a perception of risk, which deters evening use of the station.

The plans will be discussed at the next BRUG meeting: 4th March 2016 at the Bradford Community and Voluntary Services.

Car Park, view from the HMRC building

Aerial view of the station and lift access from Cheapside and proposed meadow.

Platform view with new wooden platform canopies

View of the proposed meadow

Glazed Atrium over the lift entrance and station coffee shop

Waiting Rooms and Toilets

Plans of the refurbished station

Plans of the refurbished station

From what we have seen of the plans, this is an ambitious plan to re-develop Bradford Forster Square railway station, and we would like to invite the Council and Combined Authority to meet with us and discuss their proposals further.

“We are concerned that Bradford Interchange was not selected as their prime redevelopment station, it is a life expired station with a huge potential due to the upcoming redevelopment of the Caldervale line, new trains and new destinations. But all high quality investment in the Bradford stations is to be welcomed.

Station Entrance

The station re-development at Forster Square is cosmetic, but welcomed, the old lift and stairwell will be replaced with two open frame lift shafts. – Though we note no walking route, potentially through the meadow, is proposed.

There is also no planned retail/station (ticketing) offer on the Cheapside Entrance (or a wood & glass canopy), which we would like to have seen – We need to really ‘shout about’ the station directly below and draw passengers in.

Pod Shops

The ‘pods’ that will installed under the archways will be a welcome development, and we would encourage the council the consider deploying more along the route to the Midland Hotel making the most use of the available archways and a wonderful welcome as people enter the city and Broadway.

Evening Staffing / Access to waiting rooms / Toilets etc
We are concerned that the toilets and waiting room capacity could be limited and locked too early on an evening, we would hope that staffing at the station was extended in the evening to ensure these facilities, along with the coffee shop were open late into the evening, – coinciding with other facilities in the city – so that those leaving the theatres on an evening aren’t greeted with a dark (cold) station.
What more can we ask for?
We are interested to hear from the council what plans they have for the use of the station forecourt (including the pedestrian area). – With such a large forecourt it might have been possible to extend the retail / non-commercial offer for the station
We would have liked to have seen a secondary access to the station from Hamm Strasse – The existing centre platforms extend to Hamm Strasse and it would have been an additional way to bring passengers on to the station. We would hope that the Bike Hubs were extended throughout the city to encourage cycling in the city. Further we would like the station to have a greater connections with the bus network. We will be discussing the development plans at our next meeting on the 4th April and invite councillors and WYCA to attend.
Overall, we think that the development is extremely welcome, we would ask that station is equipped (and operated) with ticket barriers at all times to reduce fare evasion.
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