Posted on the 15th December 2025 in PHTM News

NEW ENTRANCE FINALLY OPENS AT NEWCASTLE CENTRAL STATION BUT MAJOR TAXI REJIG ABANDONED

A new western entrance to Newcastle’s Central Station has finally opened, nearly seven years after a multi-million pound makeover was first planned.

Council and rail officials celebrated the opening of the £4 million gateway, located opposite the Centre For Life, on Wednesday morning, 10 December.

The project, which saw its designs revealed in February 2019, suffered significant delays due to the Covid pandemic and the collapse of contractor Tolent. The entrance connects directly to the station’s platform 12.

In a major reversal, city leaders have scrapped original plans to pedestrianise the Orchard Street tunnel, where taxis queue, and relocate the rank. The proposal to move taxis to the short-stay car park at the front and queue them up Bewick Street - a plan that had "sparked concerns over noise and pollution from neighbours around Clayton Street West" - has now been dropped.

Taxis will remain in the Orchard Street tunnel, which has previously been named among the most polluted parts of the city. However, council officials confirm the tunnel and the Forth Street viaduct will receive cosmetic upgrades to enhance safety and appeal, including "better lighting, CCTV, widened footpaths, and public artwork."

The new entrance is considered an "essential access point" for the planned development of 2,500 new homes in the Forth Yards area to the west of the station over the next two decades. The gateway will also link up to a proposed ‘High Line’ urban park on a disused railway spur.

Newcastle City Council leader Karen Kilgour said the opening “will make a huge difference,” adding: "By opening up this end of the station and making it accessible and safe, people can have access in a way that they haven’t before.

"When we have got all those new homes and new businesses on the Forth Yards site, this will be a really important access point into the city.”

Paul Rutter, Network Rail’s East Coast route director, hailed the development as “a big step forward for the station and for the city.” He continued: “It gives people better access, opens up the area around the station, and supports the wider plans to improve this part of Newcastle.”

The council remains optimistic that a future phase of redevelopment will include improvements to the concourse at the western side, which involves designs for a new public area and retail space in what is currently a delivery area.


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