News Desk

Action Stations – at last

24th August 2009

Rail travel inescapably involves travel by train but passengers just see that element of the journey as one of many hurdles to be overcome. For commuters the journeys to and from the station, and the waiting at the station itself, can take as long as or longer than the actual train journey. For long distance commuters the quality of the whole railway journey (which can be quite expensive) is coloured by their experiences at stations. For rural journeys, facilities have been cut back to bare minimum, both on train and on stations where the latter often comprises a mere platform and modest sheltering. Such journeys are often unedifying and border on distress purchases. In all, station facilities existing today are a combination of partly random but certainly enthusiastic withdrawal from the rural railway business, a haphazard system of investment at more important places, but often insufficient and designed to meet yesterday’s problems, and work done to a variable standard by more recent train operators who are just ‘passing through’, or by Network Rail, for whom station facilities have not necessarily been a priority. Could all this be about to change?

There are a number of initiatives currently in hand. The first of these is the National Travel Plans initiative (this is a good thing but the word ‘initiative’ has worrying overtones). 31 stations are involved in this initiative, involving construction of 24 pilot travel plans. What exactly is a Travel Plan, and why is it a good thing? We don’t yet have a clear definition of a transport-operator Travel Plan but over the last few years Travel Plans have been encouraged from large businesses to encourage their staff to switch to use of more sustainable modes of transport, sometimes with incentives being provided by employers. For example, provision of better cycle parking, car sharing options, season ticket loans and so on. The difference now is that transport stakeholders (those having an interest in getting more people to use public transport) are being encouraged to develop their own Travel Plans, which in a sense deal with the station end of the journey.

The stated need is to focus on the immediate area around the affected stations to improve the facilities and the environment. Using Ashford as an example, the following elements are to be included in the pilot:
• Personalized travel planning initiated by operators to encourage modal shift;
• Vastly improved cycle parking;
• Improvements to pedestrian and cycle access including better signage from town centre and dedicated cycle way into the station;
• A range of bus service improvements including enhanced services to the station, improved reliability, improved mapping and onsite timetable information and better marketing.

The Travel Plans initiative has been developed by an alliance of organizations including ATOC, Rail Safety and Standards Board, and the DfT, supported by Passenger Focus, the passenger 'watchdog'.

The 24 pilot schemes are:

• Accrington
• Ashford (Kent)
• Bristol Parkway
• Chapeltown
• Colchester North
• Darlington
• Derby
• Digby and Sowton
• Durham
• Hazel Grove
• Hebden Bridge
• King’s Norton
• Leamington Spa
• Leeds
• Leighton Buzzard
• Loughborough
• Middlesbrough and Thornaby
• Milton Keynes (Central)
• Shotton
• Southend stations
• St Albans and Hatfield
• Stoke on Trent
• Three Rivers Community Rail Partnership
• Truro