Gladys Berejiklian med rel: New lifts for customers at Circular Quay in time for New Year’s Eve

Minister for Transport Gladys Berejiklian announced new lifts at Circular Quay Station will open for train customers over the weekend – in time for the busy holiday season.

The NSW Government has installed two new lifts at the station to provide easy access for the elderly, customers with disability, parents with prams and thousands of tourists with suitcases who use the station every day.

Ms Berejiklian said the new lifts were part of a network-wide blitz to upgrade and refresh train stations to make them modem, clean and accessible for customers.

“I am pleased Sydney Trains has been able to install the new lifts ahead of the holiday season and make sure they’re ready for the 100,000-strong crowd expected to use the station on New Year’s Eve,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“The two new lifts are in addition to two existing lifts and four escalators already in use, making the station even more accessible for customers and big crowds during significant events.

“Almost 40,000 customers move through the station on a typical day and on New Year’s Eve this jumps to 100,000. Improving access to and from trains helps to manage crowds during major events.

“The rollout of Opal means that customers also don’t have to queue for a train ticket on New Year’s Eve, they can just tap on or tap off and continue on their way. New Year’s Eve 2014 will be the first year when customers can tap onto all Sydney Ferries, trains, buses and light rail services with Opal.”

Circular Quay is one of Sydney’s busiest stations and the only location where customers can change between ferries, trains and buses. In future, it will also be an interchange for the light rail network.

Work to install the lifts began in April this year and followed an upgrade last year that included extra ticket gates and new water bubblers and information boards, a deep clean of facilities and retiling of the concourse.

Elsewhere in the city, lifts are being installed at Museum and Redfern stations, Central and Town Hall stations are undergoing major station refreshes and Wynyard Station is receiving an upgrade worth more than $100 million.