Sunderland Council leader Paul Watson has pressed the button to launch a unique new light artwork – marking the completion of a £7 million project to modernise Sunderland station’s platforms.
The £7m refurbishment, led by Nexus with the support of station owner Network Rail and station manager Northern Rail, has transformed the city centre gateway used by two million people every year.
The refurbished platforms feature new lighting, ceilings, floors and wall panelling to give the station a unique new look, making it a world-class gateway to the city centre of Sunderland.
Public address systems and passenger information displays have been transformed and three separate artists have been commissioned to work with architects and designers to create a unique new urban landmark.
The station’s first escalator was also installed and new passenger waiting areas created in the four-year project.
Cllr Watson pressed a plunger to ‘switch on’ the last of the artworks. ‘Platform 5’ is a 150-metre wall of light by Olympic artists Jason Bruges Studio, on which ghostly moving images of passengers appear and disappear with each passing train.
Local people volunteered to be filmed to create the Platform 5, a unique new artwork for the city centre partly funded by Sunderland City Council.
Cllr Watson said: “Sunderland is an international city deserving of a world class gateway such as this.
“The city centre station is one of the busiest in the country and we want to provide the thousands of passengers who use it every day with the best facilities and travelling experience we can.”
Cllr David Wood, Chairman of the Tyne and Wear Integrated Transport Authority, said: “This investment underlines the commitment of the ITA and Nexus to provide Sunderland with the best quality public transport, eight years after the Sunderland Metro line was opened.”
Bernard Garner, Director General of Nexus, said: “Sunderland represents the most money Nexus has ever invested in modernising a station, and we are very pleased with the way the new-look platform areas are taking shape.
“Feedback from passengers has been very positive, and we look forward to letting people see and experience the vastly-improved spaces we have created.”
Matthew Beeton, Area Director, Northern Rail, which manages the station, said: “This refurbishment programme has transformed Sunderland station and we look forward to working with all the partners to deliver further improvements for customers.”
Nexus has led the project as the owner of Metro, which caters for three-quarters of all passengers at the station. Northern Rail regional and Grand Central intercity trains to London share the station, the only one in the UK where light and heavy rail services share the same platform.
The work was funded by a ground-breaking agreement reached between Nexus and the Department for Transport to exert the principle of hypothecation of service decrement costs, calculated between 2005 and 2023.
This meant that by reducing the subsidised regional train service between Sunderland and Newcastle from a half-hourly to hourly service along the same route used by five Metro trains an hour, public money was freed up to invest instead on the station fabric.
The project was managed by consulting engineers Arup, who worked with Sadler Brown Architecture Ltd and main contractor BAM Nuttall.
Alongside ‘Platform 5’ two other permanent artworks form part of the final design.
Julian Germain’s ‘Found’ is made up of 41 poignant photographs along the station’s east wall, showing items discovered in the lost property office of the Tyne and Wear Metro in a new light.
Morag Morrison’s ‘Outside’ is a colour scheme for administration buildings along the platforms designed to create a more intimate waiting environment.
Nexus, Sunderland City Council, Northern and Network Rail are meanwhile working in partnership to develop plans to refurbish the street-level concourses and facilities at the station.