IT WON’T win any awards for creativity, but the Baird government has settled on the “Newcastle Interchange” as the name for the city’s new transport hub.
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NSW Transport announced on Thursday that the Geographical Names Board had recommended the title, which UrbanGrowth’s Michael Cassel said “reflects the primacy of this facility as the new major public transport hub serving the Newcastle urban centre”.
Though hardly a case of thinking outside of the box, perhaps the government can be forgiven for wanting to play it safe.
After all, in its short, pre-completion life, the site has already had plenty of monikers, dubbed “an electrical substation’’, a ‘‘tin shed without a roof’’, the Wycombe Interchange, and the New Cattle Transport Interchange, to name just a few.
The new name means those travelling to the city by heavy rail will again travel to a station called Newcastle, rather than Wickham or Hamilton.
“It is important that the name of this key multi-modal transport hub meets the needs of locals and visitors,” Mr Cassel said.
NSW Transport said people would be able to use the interchange from late 2017.
“Customers will also be able to connect with light rail at the interchange when services start in 2019,” its statement read.
