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| New Market Railway Station, source from http://www.aucklandtrains.co.nz/2011/05/21/newmarket-station-wins-award/ |
Early last year, New Market Railway station opened for business after being revamped. It is one of the Auckland rail programmes that are invested $1.6 billion by the Council.Transport Minister Steven Joyce said that after Britomart, Newmarket was Auckland's busiest station. He said:
"Completing this project provides a new station offering all the amenities and services expected of a modern public transport facility, potential for more trains at peak times, and means fewer delays for trains coming into Newmarket," and "These milestones mark progress towards a more reliable and efficient public transport network that more Aucklanders will want to use."
In this year, this building won an award in the Urban Design category at the prestigious annual New Zealand institute of Architects awards and was judged one of the best New Zealand's building. It seems that the project of this station a success. However, is it true?
Last Sunday, I took a walk in New Market and happened to see this new station. The whole structure looked really fascinating and modern. Inside of the building was really clean and bright.
To my surprise, I only saw a few people in the station and the whole place was really quiet, which was not like Britomart at all. I remebered that, one weekend I went to Britomart to take the train, the station was filled up with people, their voices and laughters were everywhere. To be honest, I wasn't feel comfortable in this place, it just did not give me the same warm feeling as Britomart did. Maybe that was because the non character structure or dull interior decoration? Also, outside of the station were surrounded by a number of shops and most of them were run by Asians. These shops included nail beauty shop, hair salon, sushi shop and Chinese resturant. None of them are suitable for travellers who use the train here everyday. Its entrance was inapporipate to me as well. It made the station look like a back alley, whcih maybe inconvenient for people who are not familiar with this area to find the train.
Overall, it is true that this new station enable the easily travel and make the transport system more efficient and convenient, and it is well derseved the award. However, it is still way behind Britomart, considering its location, the surrounding environment and the interior design. I think the Council need to do more work in these areas. To become the next Britomart, new New Market Station still has a long way to go.
References:Revamped New Market Train Station Openshttp://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10620224
New Market Station Wins Awards. http://www.aucklandtrains.co.nz/2011/05/21/newmarket-station-wins-award/
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