News & Events

From the CEO's Corner

8 February 2010

Newmarket’s new railway station is getting rave reviews. It’s a great public facility for Newmarket. Potentially the main lobby is a fabulous space for a fashion show or a product launch. I suspect the station will also appear in the likes of television commercials.

Thank you to the 35 Newmarket retailers who put their best foot forward to be part of an ARTA promotion. The promotion sees commuters who present their train tickets eligible for certain offers in Newmarket for the month of February.

Interestingly Auckland’s newest railway station has won high praise from blind and partially-sighted people.

Newmarket is a popular destination for blind people because it is home to the Royal New Zealand Foundation Of The Blind. In fact Newmarket has more blind and partially-sighted people per capita than any other place in New Zealand.

The blind have been a big part of the Newmarket community since the New Zealand Jubilee Institute For The Blind built their fabulous brick headquarters on the corner of Parnell Road and George Street in the 1900s.

Subsequently, in Newmarket we are very conscious about the likes of sandwich board placement, where we install our public art, ensuring tactile indicators were part of the Broadway upgrade, and making sure the likes of our pedestrian crossing signals can be heard over the traffic.

Having the RNZFB’s Community Education and Information Manager Chris Orr around the table was a key part in the planning of the $35m station’s design.

Chris says he is rapt with the final result. He describes the building “as an excellent example of an accessible public transport space. It’s light and airy, under cover and easy to navigate.”

Some of the accessible measures at the station include high visibility yellow tactile indicators, good colour contrast, and excellent lighting.

Due to the rail authorities’ willingness to work with the blind community from the outset, more visually-impaired travellers will have now greater confidence to use Auckland’s rail network. That’s great all round.

To get a big stamp of approval from the blind community certainly confirms this transport facility is a leader.

Pictured: Campaigning for a rail upgrade in 2005.

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