LIME STREET STATION £2 MILLION REVAMP
A MAJOR revamp of Liverpool's Lime Street Station got under way yesterday, in a project that will transform the city centre's main transport hub.
The £2m scheme will give the interior of the station a facelift before the city's Capital of Culture year with work expected to be completed by May next year.
Millions of travellers entering the gateway to the city will see modernised information screens and a fresh interior of the Grade II listed structure.
Improvements will include a new southern concourse for the station, new flooring, new information screens, a relocated taxi rank, extra cycle parking, extra seating and new disabled spaces created in the short stay car park.
Cllr Mark Dowd, chairman of Merseytravel, said: "Lime Street Station is such an important gateway for the region, and first impressions are important.
"At the moment, the impression we are giving the millions of people every year isn't great, particularly inside the station.
"The station flooring adjacent to the trains has remained untouched since before Beatle Mania. Our investment will help to change that.
"Lime Street Station is going to be very important over the next two years, with Liverpool's birthday and the 2008 celebrations, but this is also about leaving a lasting legacy of improvement that will shape people's perceptions for many years to come."
Network Rail, on behalf of Merseytravel, will carry out the work near to Platforms 7, 8 and 9 over the next six months.
Neil Scales, chief executive and director general of Merseytravel, said: "We will be working to ensure we cause very little disruption while these internal works take place, but they are important if Lime Street Station is to reflect the changing, growing face of Liverpool and the wider region."
In the new design, contrasting coloured flooring tiles will define the walkways and seating areas and slip-resistant ceramic tiles will modernise the inside of the station.
The taxi pick up/drop off point for the station will be relocated from the existing Lord Nelson Street side to the Skelhorne Street part of the station.
And the screen that separates the south concourse of the station will be relocated for better access to the platforms and to the Skelhorne Street entrance and exit of the station.
Once completed, the short-stay car park will include 29 spaces, including four blue badge spaces.
kate.mansey@liverpool.com