What's the Deal With the New Sunderland Station?

After the best part of a decade languishing in the railway version of development hell, at the end of 2023 the first phase of the redevelopment of Sunderland's much-maligned rail station opened to the public, in the form of a spacious new south entrance to the station.
But as pretty much everyone has been quick to point out, the new building serving both mainline trains and the Tyne & Wear Metro hasn't quite arrived exactly as promised... so I paid a visit to take a look for myself.

[@iman2341]

Painting the roof supports black was a big miss. It’s depresses the impact of what is actually quite an impressive roof span. Red or even metro yellow would have made a huge difference!

[@PhilBrown-ik1dk]

Over the last 30 years or so, big rail stations have become much more attractive for travellers with the addition of coffee shops & misc retailers. In the distant past a station would have had just a WH Smith and a kiosk or two selling BR sandwiches. Since then, station revamps have usually seen the introduction of food stores, gift shops, chemists, card shops, etc. Here in Oxford's rather small station there's WH Smith, Upper Crust, Greggs, Costa and a mini M&S - along with tables & seats in the open central space

[@tooleyheadbang4239]

All of these could have been incorporated in a rational design for Sunderland.
Opening-up the platforms to daylight, under a raised glass canopy would have been a good start.

[@roderickjoyce6716]

Sunderland is on the Durham coast line and the Metro, Newcastle Central is on the ECML and so the railway through Newcastle is busier and more important (the Metro has its own separate station underneath the main line). But Sunderland city is the same size as Newcastle, and even if traffic wouldn't justify a station as big as Newcastle Central (12 platforms plus two for the Metro, plus Boots, WH Smith, Greggs, Pumpkin, Costa, etc)), the city deserves a much better gateway than a the hole in the ground with a bare shed for an entrance. At the moment it hasn't even got a proper taxi rank.

[@danielnesbitt9565]

I hope the re-opening of the other bay platform goes ahead still, it would be a massive benefit, especially when the new Metro fleet eventually comes into service as it could give scope for a more intensive service.

[@kennethmcintyre2847]

Enjoyed your presentation. Last visited the station 16th October '21 and certainly an improvement. But still very bland. Like Glasgow Queen Street station, The conception for the redevelopment was very encouraging. Plenty of retail shopping and we ended up with ONE shop which took months to open.

[@chloeerose004]

I lived in Sunderland for the first 18 years of my life, and yeah whilst the station needed an update, i would hsve tried to start over with a new station rather than expanding on the same one.
Like the downstairs part of the station should have been a focus but it looks like thats gonna remain for time.
The new building is grand, its a much needed improvement, but having went there myself in March, it just feels empty and soulless, quite fitting for Sunderland tbf as someone from there, but still, not that good and honestly it needs more, its just an empty space

[@officialmcdeath]

Decorating could be as simple as mounting a projector on one of the ceiling trusses \m/

[@weAreNotAloneHere]

It’s Sunderland, it backs onto hendon..

[@CM_Railways]

I am a representative for Sunderland Station community wise - ive been told that its empty because there is a weight limit as the station is over the track, hence they cannot put much in.

[@AntonyShannon]

The placing of a 'pop-up' tea/coffee botths would never be of such a weight to cause an issue.

[@CM_Railways]

@@AntonyShannon They do have plans for that!!

[@krisirk]

@@CM_Railways That'll be great once they've setup. The station does need some colour. A artistic feature wall would help.

[@CM_Railways]

@@krisirk Coming soon 😉🤭

[@danielnesbitt9565]

@@CM_Railways Some plants would help too (and perhaps be a good indirect ad for the Winter gardens too!).

[@Mary-qw4to]

Nothing will ever make the building inviting it's just a big glass warehouse, a colossal waste of money in a city where money could have been better spent.

[@ChaoDee]

more plants will look nice.

[@cybertenchi82]

The platforms had glass canopies and were open to the elements until the metro was extended. I used to use the staton daily as my parents had a business in park lane.

[@stevehegan3609]

One thing that I noticed, it didn’t have a clock anywhere in the station concourse !

[@mdhazeldine]

Classic case of "value engineering" going on here. "We don't need all of that stuff, let's save some money"

[@roderickmain9697]

The 60s concrete box was rather underwhelming if not to say, ugly. (What was it with 60s designers????). I think red would have added some pizzazz to it and the black seating seems a let down. Time will tell if things get vamped up a bit.

[@MetroMark]

It just looks like a big empty warehouse. Why remove Burger King and Mulligan's to replace them with a load of empty space?

[@jmp8678]

It's visually impressive but it's almost like it's too big for the intended use. Did they do anything at platform level?

[@stevedonoghue1868]

a little disappointed? looks a remarkably cold, depressing place to wait for a train.

[@caramelldansen2204]

what a confusing waste of space...

[@Channel567-7]

Horrible waste of money.

[@TheUntypicals]

Constant train strikes have caused immense damage to Sunderland train and Metro station 😢

[@serendripity2498]

thank the underpaying railway conpanies

[@Dowager666]

@@serendripity2498who pay PENSIONER share holders money Go figure

[@davidwayman2954]

Really? How?