STATIONS

Predicting Future Growth at Railway Stations

Research indicates that most people will willingly walk one kilometre to a train station or cycle five kilometres, but beyond that they will drive, David Young, Director at SCP explains how to build on that

Rail passenger growth comes from a number of sources: from those moving home or job, from people who have had enough of using the car and negotiating congested roads and because of reduced numbers of car parking spaces in major centres and the rising cost of parking and most recently especially petrol. But a key element of rail growth comes from new housing estates and large new employment clusters being built around railway station hubs. Travel Plans actively encourage residents and employees in these new larger estates to make use of more sustainable transport modes such as the train.

However, this requires planning: • Predicting the growth along a rail corridor. • Looking at the adequacy of train service capacity. • Making the route to/from the station visible and attractive, safe and convenient.

If the train operating companies are to present these new rail users with an attractive offering, they need to know where the growth hot spots are to ensure the capacity provided on the line is sufficient for the extra users. Similarly, local transport authorities can look at how easy or hard it is for communities to access their local station; they can then plan and even get developers to fund improvements to reduce barriers to train travel. For central visitor attractions, helping people navigate around town and back to the train station is critical. People do not like uncertainty.

New housing and employment sites are predictable, as the land is allocated on Local Plans, although the timescale for delivery is less certain. SCP has undertaken work for a number of regional and local transport bodies to review Local Plans, predict the potential for growth in rail travel using Nomis data, then map this onto train service use and capacity, highlighting where the network will be put under stress in (say) five, ten or more years.

SCP has also undertaken audits of accessibility of and at local stations, looking at walking and cycling routes, wayfinding, route accessibility and safety and the interchange with local bus services. At the station, a lack of car and cycle parking, difficulty in accessing the train on foot or poor visibility of the station access, etc., all influence the ultimate travel mode choice of passengers, and indeed these things influence the decision on whether or not to use the train.

For example, SCP’s auditing of stations in Lincolnshire showed where cycle parking was lacking and where the lack of wayfinding information (or out of date information) made it hard or even impossible for people to find town/city centres without asking or taking a longer walk than was necessary. The audits showed footways that were missing or that could be widened for cyclists, where crossing the road was made difficult by traffic volumes and one case in which using a footway into a large village involved crossing the road twice because the single footway was on the wrong side of the road.

In town and city centres where visitors unfamiliar with the area are expected, we have seen examples of welcome maps positioned behind the passenger alighting from the train and gaps in wayfinding signs that made returning to the station confusing, out-of-date wayfinding information and new routes missing, signs too high to read, signs lost in trees, signs to places that no longer exist and signs lost in the clutter of advertising and other information. These all say the visitor is not really welcomed nor valued and can leave a negative impression.

These examples are all things that can be addressed to make rail travel attractive, convenient and easy to use. Once an audit has been carried out, a bid for funding can be made using highway and rail budgets and improvements funded by developers can be sought as part of planning applications. It does not require a lot of money to plan ahead, but proper planning can mean investment costs are reduced in the longer term and rail capacity is provided in time for when it is needed.

Making rail travel an accessible travel option

david young is Director at SCP, he can be reached at david.young@scptransport.co.uk.

SCP is a transport planning and infrastructure design consultancy and is part of the RSK group. SCP can assist with rail strategy, rail franchising, station accessibility planning, car park and station access design, wayfinding strategy and travel planning for developers and local government, etc.