Letters: Edinburgh Waverley plans will transform train station

A MAJOR revamp of Edinburgh’s Waverley station would see a mezzanine floor built above the platforms to create a new concourse with street-level access from a “feature” entrance on Waverley Bridge.

Passenger numbers are set to hit 49 million a year by 2048

READ MORE: Edinburgh Waverley masterplan: Heritage groups and watchdog voice ‘deep concern’ over plans

Evening News readers have been reacting to the new proposals;

This has nothing to do with increasing space for passengers and everything to do with increasing rental income for Network Rail. It turns Waverley into a shopping mall, with the actual station buried underneath the shops as an afterthought.

John Nichol

Here’s an idea: what about a safe, workable taxi rank?

Jax Dunn

How come it will take 30 years to redevelop Waverley when in London huge station redevelopments/infrastructure improvements are being made at all times and in much shorter timescales?

Stuart Insh

They should make it integrated into the shopping centre like Aberdeen Station – you can shop, eat, even go to cinema and there’s a short stroll to get a train or a bus.

Donald J Makin

I’d start by making sure the trains were available and adequate enough to accommodate all the fare-paying passengers. Recent problems prove that should be a priority before a refurb of the Waverley.

Jenny Lee

If it’s like King’s Cross the mezzanine floor will be full of shops and restaurants with little space for passengers. If this is the plan then it’s a no.

Kim Grant

I came to the conclusion some time ago that you needed to get rid of the main station building at Waverley to enable a station that would be easy to navigate. There would be two large overbridges running right across the station from north to south from which you could sequentially access all the platforms – and all the platforms would be through platforms with no dead ends. There should be a link into Waverley Mall for eating and shopping, with some shops on the overbridges too. The listed main booking hall – with its glass domed roof – could be relocated to the Market Street entrance. Offices, staff accommodation and servicing facilities could be built on the open ground between the current Platform 8 and Market Street. It seems to me that you can leave the overall glass station roof alone and get this all done – they’ve just put in a small new bridge recently to the main concourse and it’s got a good height available to the roof. They’ve also just spent many millions of pounds on the roof. It would be crazy to now destroy it.

Lawrence Marshall

Where will the teleport pods be?

Philip Phil

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