First segment of Central Walk opens to the public

The first segment of Central Walk opened yesterday on Sunday. Here are a few observations.

The pedestrian tunnel feels more spacious. The ceiling is higher, the walls are further apart, and even the colour is more inviting.

This is a stark contrast when compared to the existing underground pedestrian tunnels.

When complete, it’ll add 4 escalators and 1 elevator to most above ground suburban platforms. However, platforms 22/23 only have enough space for 3 escalators. These suburban platforms currently have 1 elevator and 3 sets of stairs, but no escalators.

Initially just 1 pair of escalators per platform was opened. A future segment will add another pair of escalators and an elevator to each platform. For now, there’s still a lot of fenced off areas on the platform and a closed off parallel walkway underground.

The Chalmers St entrance is still not open. It will provide entry to Central from the Southern end of the adjacent tram stop, which already has an entrance to Central on its Northern end. This will be good for hot or rainy days when passengers want to get undercover quickly.

The Western end of the underground tunnel has a blue carpet. Twitter user Marcus Wong suggests that “Given the temporary hoardings forming the walls, I’m guessing the carpet is hiding bare concrete before the final finishes are applied”, while another Twitter user Baltoria comments that “it’s likely to dampen construction noise”.

The Western end exits out into the North Concourse/Grand Concourse, which itself opened recently and extends the “grand” open space further East than was the case previusly. This will be where the entrance to the metro platforms will be and feels the least complete of the opened sections.

There is also a set of Passenger Information Boards at the Eastern entrance for all platforms, and also at each set of escalators for that individual platform. A small, but important, quality of life design for users looking for the right platform.