Newtown Station Upgrade

The scope of works incorporated a new centrally located concourse sitting above the existing island platform with a new booking office, stairs, lifts, ticket barriers and vending machines, as well as new platform canopies and the resurfacing of the platform to allow level access to trains.

The scope also included for a new public walkway leading from King Street to the concourse and a secondary access to the station via Thomas Street, with new stairs and lift.

The existing heritage Bridge House underwent various refurbishment works and the heritage awnings on King Street were restored with necessary alterations.

The project underwent construction for 24 months and was carried out above six live railway tracks and a working inner-city station platform. Despite numerous possessions over the project duration, at no stage were all the tracks out – there was continually at least two live lines throughout construction. This brought significant programming and methodology challenges.

This was the largest single access upgrade undertaken on the Sydney network, in a very tight station with high numbers of passenger movement. For a small station this was a very busy site – total pedestrian movements through the construction zone over the 24 month period was 8,668,000. The Total Train Movements through the construction zone over 24 months was 151,296 eight car sets.

By using a combination of innovative construction methodologies Gartner Rose was able to overcome a number of site challenges. Examples include:

• Prefabricating a precast concrete beam on site adjacent to the new station to allow it to be lifted into place in one movement with a 450-tonne crane
• Building the entire roof structure on site and then craning it into place during one possession