Clockwise from above: Gerard Liebig straps some roof beams to the crane; the station starts to take shape; an earthmover at work; project manager Ben Amrom watches proceedings.
Camera IconClockwise from above: Gerard Liebig straps some roof beams to the crane; the station starts to take shape; an earthmover at work; project manager Ben Amrom watches proceedings. Credit: Supplied/Emma Reeves, Emma Reeves www.communitypix.com.au d403693

New station taking shape

Lucy Jarvis, North Coast TimesNorth Coast Times

The Public Transport Authority gave the Times another look at the construction site last week, as project manager Ben Amrom explained how work was progressing.

With 36 people working on the site last Wednesday, the train station was a hive of activity.

Mr Amrom said the roof installation should take about a month, depending on weather conditions, and would give the station its distinctive shape.

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‘The shape is not like a rectangle, it’s not a straightforward shape,’ Mr Amrom said. ‘It is a bird (or) whatever people want to look at it. The wings extend to make an entrance ” it reaches out to the community ” that is where the main pedestrian access will be to the station.’

While the thick roofing will cover both platforms and the concourse, part of the roof will be glass that allows natural light in.

‘The roof material will go down the two sides, then the centre will be translucent,’ Mr Amrom said.

A crew of concreters poured the western staircase in a morning on July 10, the last main concrete pour for the building.

‘They are pumping the concrete (from outside through a long-arm crane), all the way into the stairwell,’ Mr Amrom said. They pour it into the formwork, then (once it sets) take away the formwork.’

Leading down to the eastern platform, the second staircase has already hardened, allowing easier access between that and the concourse, and eventually both staircases will be tiled.

Mr Amrom said they had installed both escalators, but were yet to unwrap them, and they looked low because the balustrades would be added later.

Walls demarcating six bus stops are now in place and will eventually have a canopy and benches.

Mr Amrom said they would soon start surfacing two of the car parks, and last week they were laying the drainage pipes in the third.

However, the project manager said when the train line extended farther north in the future, there would not be as many people boarding trains at Butler and two of the car parks, leased from a developer, would be removed.

‘When it is the end of the line, everybody comes to it so it needs additional car parks,’ he said.

While the structure is taking shape, much of the work to come will be in the detail, including electrical work, plumbing, cladding, tiling, painting and glazing.

‘There is still so much to do, and only six months left to do it,’ Mr Amrom said.

Currently the train tracks end under a road bridge for the future Butler Boulevard, a few hundred metres south of the station, but Mr Amrom said they would start to lay the last bit of track about September.

Passengers will be able to start boarding trains at Butler at the end of 2014.