On 8 Dec, 01:11, "Richard J." wrote:
*It just needs some canopies over
the open platforms to keep the rain off. *It beggars belief that a new urban
station has been built to the standards of a 19th century rural halt, with
no protection from the weather apart from the small area at the foot of the
stairs.

It was originally designed with canopies, but that assumed they'd be
allowed to move the signals. When they were told it would cost £20-30m
as the changes they wanted to make required resignalling the whole
area, they hastily deleted the planned canopies (which would be in the
way) and came up with the waiting room at the bottom of the stairs
idea, which provided the minimum amount of coverage required.

(Interestingly the planning document only discusses minimum allowable
amounts of canopy, not providing an adequate amount for likely
predicted usage, which is why they didn't design a new canopy in the
area north of the stairs on the southbound platform, where surely one
will appear in years to come)

U