{"id":61720,"date":"2015-09-18T13:21:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-18T13:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=c376033eb67a5239be65906d7ffb521c"},"modified":"2015-09-18T13:21:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-18T13:21:00","slug":"speech-transforming-the-rail-passenger-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=61720","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Transforming the rail passenger experience"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n

And good afternoon ladies and gentlemen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a real privilege to be here today (18 September 2015).<\/p>\n

To see this fantastic new concourse.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the public opening at the end of the week.<\/p>\n

Finally, Birmingham is getting the station it needs and deserves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Somewhere spacious, light, and accessible.<\/p>\n

Which will help transform the passenger experience for around 170,000 people who use Birmingham New Street each day.<\/p>\n

Because for decades, this station has been associated with overcrowding.<\/p>\n

Outdated 1960s design.<\/p>\n

And poor customer facilities.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been handling twice the number of trains it was built to accommodate.<\/p>\n

And twice the number of passengers.<\/p>\n

So frankly, the team here have done a remarkable job keeping things running under difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n

But the problem with the old New Street station wasn\u2019t just insufficient capacity.<\/p>\n

It was what it said about Birmingham.<\/p>\n

This is \u2013 after all \u2013 the biggest railway interchange outside London.<\/p>\n

And the main station for Britain\u2019s second largest city.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the place where millions of people every year form their first impressions of Birmingham and the West Midlands.<\/p>\n

And whether they were business travellers or tourists, few of them could have warmed to the old station.<\/p>\n

The fact is that the old New Street station simply didn\u2019t reflect the modern city.<\/p>\n

A city with a vibrant metropolis.<\/p>\n

With world-leading manufacturing and digital industries.<\/p>\n

Where new businesses, new homes and new retail developments, like Grand Central Shopping Centre above this station, are regenerating areas that had fallen into decline – such as around Curzon Street.<\/p>\n

Between 2002 and 2012, growth in Birmingham was the lowest among the 10 UK core cities.<\/p>\n

But Birmingham was named the best performing core city in 2013.<\/p>\n

And as the Birmingham Post reported recently, growth in the West Midlands is subsequently outstripping any other core city region.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the Birmingham that New Street Station reflects today.<\/p>\n

And as Britain\u2019s economy continues to recover strongly over the next few years.<\/p>\n

And as we start building the first section of HS2<\/abbr> between London and Birmingham.<\/p>\n

The prospects for this city\u2019s future are just as exciting.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019m delighted to see that now it has this stunning new gateway.<\/p>\n

\n
\"The<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

But before I finish, I\u2019d like to say thank you.<\/p>\n

Thank you to all the passengers who have patiently waited for the work to be completed.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Sir Albert Bore \u2013 and all the local authority staff who have supported the project.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Mark Carne and his team at Network Rail \u2013 together with the rail operators.<\/p>\n

And everyone who has helped build and deliver this marvellous station.<\/p>\n

That includes more than 1300 local people who have been involved in the scheme so far, including 250 who were previously unemployed.<\/p>\n

And more than 100 young people who have worked on New Street as apprentices.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve all done a superb job.<\/p>\n

Thank you.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a3750 million Birmingham New Street station re-opens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61720"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61720"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61735,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61720\/revisions\/61735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}