Full steam ahead! IN PICTURES and VIDEO: Birmingham New Street station opens
From grey, dingy and unwelcoming to sparkling and futuristic – it is New Street station, but not as you know it.
The £600 million new and improved Birmingham New Street is here and open for business, with the first passengers already passing through it – six years after improvement works first began.
Dancers performed at the station's opening this morning
It was in 2008 that the ambitious proposals to transform Birmingham's widely criticised rail station into a state-of-the-art transport hub fit for the 21st century were first revealed.
As a major crossover point for people travelling north and south, New Street is one of the busiest stations in the country, and had long been in need of a facelift.
From Government ministers to councillors and the travelling public, everyone had their say on the station's sorry state.
Today the station concourse is three times bigger to provide room for more passengers. A stunning glass atrium, allowing natural light to flood the station, is the showpiece addition and greets visitors as they enter.
The wraps have also been taken off new information boards that will help passengers as they make their way around the station, which serves tens of millions of people every year. New automatic ticket barriers have been added to stop fare dodgers.
From the outside New Street has been completely transformed from a tired 1960s eyesore to futuristic transport hub, with space-age mirrored cladding hugging the exterior.
John Lewis announced it would be getting on board with the scheme in 2011, with the high end department store the flagship retailer at the new Grand Central complex, which will open next week.
The 500,000 sq ft development includes major names in fashion, homewares and dining, with Cath Kidston, The White Company, Kiehls and Giraffe among the 60 stores and eateries opening up.
Transforming the station while keeping its thousands of passengers moving every day has not been an easy task.
An army of staff have been working around the clock bringing the station up to standard, with 3,000 workers on-site over the last few months as the development neared completion.
Councillors and business bosses have hailed the 'magnificent transformation' of the station, which they say will be a major catalyst in attracting new investment to the city.
