Newcastle light rail, renewal & integrated transport

[captainch]

isn't newcastle station heritage protected? if it is it will end up like the buitifull newcastle post ofice now graffied and damaged! pull the trains out and newcastle will die even further! there is nothing in the hunter street mall to intice any one ,even the homeless have moved on!

[captainch]

take away the heavy rail line then why would you go to newcastle? the ppl in the valley can go to green hills at maitland.there is nothing in the hunter mall..........the big shopping centers have ppl going to charlestown /katara you can fire a cannon down hunter mall and hit no one! newcastle is dead and buried as a shopping centre, thought the station in newcastle was heritage listed...................not that means anything in newcastle look at the post office historic listed now damaged and griffittied station will be the same!

[Newcastle Flyer]

GPT, McCloy & Stronach want this "light rail" line to go down Hunter St, and to turn off just before Newcastle Station. Developers want to build a very large number of apartments on the Newcastle station site.

This always seems odd to me - rip out a major piece of transport infrastructure to replace it with a large number of apartments that will need enhanced transport infrastructure ?

Now if you were a developer and saw that the only land that is not undermined is valuable real estate, and has harbour views, . . .

isn't Newcastle Station heritage protected?

Yes, but to answer your question further see this image:

(Picture from the whatever the heritage list mob are called)
1. It IS on the heritage list, and includes the word "rare" due to various reasons)


2. But here is what I noted when going to the museum:

You can fire a cannon down Hunter St mall and hit no one! Newcastle is dead

3.

4.

[CityRail]

Newcastle Light Rail announced

Light rail will travel east from the new Wickham transport interchange along the existing rail corridor, before moving south to connect with Hunter Street and Scott Street and terminating at Pacific Park.

The route was identified following Urban Growth NSW’s engagement in the project, and combines the major benefits of the two routes initially identified by Transport for NSW – utilising the existing rail corridor and servicing the city centre, while avoiding impact on Hunter Street Mall.

Ms Goward said community consultation revealed Newcastle residents and businesses want access to the waterfront, more public domain and the option to extend the light rail in the future.

"By removing the barrier of the heavy rail line, and opening up significant areas of the rail corridor for public use, the city centre can be re-united," Ms Goward said.

"The NSW Government is investing in Newcastle to support the next phase of the city’s growth, following the successful lease of the Port of Newcastle. This project will support future urban renewal as part of the revitalisation of the city."

Ms Berejiklian said she was pleased the decision had been made and work could progress on delivering this important project.

"The NSW Government consulted with residents, customers, community groups and other Hunter stakeholders throughout the process of selecting the route," Ms Berejiklian said.

"The route strikes the best balance in providing a quality transport outcome for Newcastle and also allowing the city and its waterfront to be reconnected and revitalised.

"Now that this decision has been made, the Government looks forward to providing further details on the timeline in the near future."

Source: http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/media-r ... -announced

Newcastle light rail is now official. I look forward to see what is the routing for the tram line.

[captainch]

those pics were taken on prob australia day.......................any other day empty with lots of shops closed! spending millions on puting light rail in.spend that money on putting in a rail station/bus interchange at kotara!

[tonyp]

Yes, but to answer your question further see this image:

(Picture from the whatever the heritage list mob are called)

OK I give in. Are those two photos some sort of riddle? They are at Civic, not Newcastle.

[Newcastle Flyer]

Only 1 & 2 are at Civic
3 is a photo by Fairfax media
And 4 is Newcastle Station - of course, and that was a normal Sunday.

[BroadGauge]

those pics were taken on prob australia day.......................any other day empty with lots of shops closed!

I tracked the photo back to this story, it was taken on the day of a night market in summer back in 2010:

http://www.theherald.com.au/story/18046 ... ppoinment/

There are parks on the shores of Sydney Harbour that are packed out with people on New Year's Eve for the fireworks but for the rest of the year all you'll see is the odd local walking their dog - it's like using photos of NYE crowds to say one of those parks is busy all year round.

[captainch]

what happened to the rail crossing signal box thought it was protected

[tonyp]

what happened to the rail crossing signal box thought it was protected

I don't think so. That's why I'm wondering what the reason is for the photo. Newcastle Station and Civic Workshops are on the State Heritage Register (not that that guarantees anything nowadays).

[Newcastle Flyer]

See: Civic Railway Station Group

SIGNAL BOX (1937)
Exterior: The signal box is located at the Newcastle end of the Down platform. It is one of the smallest signal boxes in NSW. Dating from 1937 it has a simple square plan and hip roof and is set on a raised concrete platform containing rooms within. The box is timber framed with battened fibrous cement sheet construction and has external access from this platform, with windows (since boarded over) on three sides. Pneumatic level crossing gates at Mereweather Street have been removed and replaced.

I''ll try to find it later, but at first, that link included the word 'rare' refering to the signal box, but it looks that word has since been removed.

EditI can't find the reference to 'rare' at the moment

The signal box is unique as the smallest elevated box constructed on the NSW rail system.

[tonyp]

Yes I see, it's on the Railcorp heritage register. That doesn't prevent demolition, it just requires an assessment before any such action.

[boxythingy]

Read a newspaper article (lost and can't find it now) regarding the Mayor hoping that Newcastle Station as a significant historic site will be preserved.

News playlist containing recent news reports:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_N3nrF ... -lSRgfXriR

[Newcastle Flyer]

Yes I see, it's on the Railcorp heritage register. That doesn't prevent demolition, it just requires an assessment before any such action.

Tonyp, I won't go into detail, but neither the box or run around road at Newcastle, were not meant to be demolished.

[Newcastle Flyer]

And now this direct from the CEO of UrbanGreed, oh I mean Urban Growth, that they now want "large scale residential buildings" on that rail corridor, and yes I recorded it.

It was at first, 100% NOT going to be sold,
but then Gladys & Goward said rail corridor will be development (it was small cafes, then just cafes)
now it is "large scale buildings" on the rail corridor.

[tonyp]

The irony is that, with all that development, they will need both heavy rail and light rail into the area in the long term. If they build over the heavy rail easement it will be too late to reconsider. I don't recall seeing a regional city being so actively stuffed by its overall planning as Newcastle.

Newcastle Station is on the State Heritage Register, but the problem is that the politics of heritage in NSW is that if you're Joe Average owner of a heritage-listed house you will be dragged over the coals if you do something wrong, but if you're a government agency, church or big business you can basically do whatever you want. Total double-standard that completely discredits the system.

[captainch]

you only have to see whats hapened to the HISTORIC newcastle post ofice its listed BUT its just going in to dispair after all these years,graffiti..............homeless live there lighting fires.....................the kindest thing you can do now is pull it down maybe that was the whole idea of it! in nsw heritage means look like its being saved for the media....................then when its rotting away pull it down ........................build what you want ..............or set fire to it in the middle of the night!

[Bedford-29]

Well we can always remember Newcastle old tram system.
http://tdu.to/41630.att
http://tdu.to/41627.att
http://tdu.to/24057.att
http://tdu.to/41906.att
http://tdu.to/41631.att
http://tdu.to/41626.att

[Tonymercury]

The heritage listing for Newcastle Station-

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/herit ... ID=4801028


and Civic-

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/herit ... ID=4801623

and Wickham-

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/herit ... ID=4801045

[tonyp]

The heritage listing for Newcastle Station-

Those are the Railcorp heritage register listings. There are also these State Heritage Register listings:

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/herit ... ID=5044973

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/herit ... ID=5012122

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/herit ... ID=5044977

Each covers an identified area of land shown in its plan. It still doesn't prevent development within the protected area of land. It just needs to be sympathetic to the heritage qualities - like a 30 storey building adjacent to a 2 storey railway station.

[tonyp]

Well we can always remember Newcastle old tram system.

It's worth noting that, when it was proposed to close the Newcastle tram system, Newcastle Council and a local union organisation proposed that Council would take over the system and keep it operating if the state government would supply some new R1 class trams from the order then being built by Comeng. The Labor state government refused both the trams and the offer.

The trams were of course later burnt by the state government, many of them not even having operated long enough to require their first major overhaul.

[Tonymercury]

It just needs to be sympathetic to the heritage qualities - like a 30 storey building adjacent to a 2 storey railway station.

You'll never get a job as a developer - all four sides please!

[mubd]

The railway line to Newcastle will be cut on December 26.

http://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/media-r ... boxing-day

[boronia]

Between 26 December 2014 and 4 January 2015, all Newcastle trains will terminate at Broadmeadow so improvements can be made to Hamilton Station.
From 5 January 2015 trains will terminate at Hamilton and Broadmeadow – with more details on the service plan to be released.

Why not make Broadmeadow the permanent terminus, at least for services from Sydney?

Maybe use Hamilton just for Hunter services.

If it is going to take 2 years to redevlop Wickham, people will get used to the "temporary" arrangements, possibly making Wickham redundant.

And how many more buses will be needed at Newcastle to run these shuttles?

[mubd]

The way they've worded it makes me very suspicious that they will dump the light rail once the tracks are ripped up.