The Commonwealth Bank has been lobbying hard for the upgrade ever since it reached arrangements with Mirvac to move into the ATP, now South Eveleigh. A focus of the Mirvac push was to separate the southern concourse from the broader redevelopment of the station and plans for North Eveleigh.
Design details are yet to be released, but the upgrade will give full access at the southern end of platforms one to 10. The six lifts and sets of stairs will connect to a footbridge from the government-owned building at the bend in Little Eveleigh Street, for access to Sydney University and Carriageworks to the west. To the east the footbridge will exit the station at the top of Cornwallis Street, connecting to the walkway currently under construction to provide at-grade access to both Gibbons Street and South Eveleigh.
At the time of the announcement the SMH reported: “While preliminary surveys and geotechnical work are underway, major construction at Redfern is not expected to begin until late this year and will take about a year to complete.”
There is no mention of lift access or a remedy for evacuation concerns raised in a Sydney Trains Safety Audit for platforms 11 and 12.
Groups involved in the long running Lift Redfern campaign are planning to organise community meetings once Transport for NSW can speak about the upgrade after the bureaucracy comes out of caretaker mode.
