Feasibility Studies
New Line and Station
Over the last 20 years or so, many local authorities have been interested in developing new stations, in order to achieve local targets for reducing road congestion and pollution. Amongst housing planners, the idea of ‘Garden Villages/Towns’ has stimulated property developers to consider whether new settlements should be constructed with a new station as an integral part of their plan. More recently, there have been two spurs towards greater activity in this sector. Increased awareness of environmental issues has led some councils to declare a ‘climate emergency’, and seek more actively to transfer traffic from road to rail. Following the announcement in November 2019 by Prime Minister Boris Johnson of a £500m fund to “Restore Your Railway” (RYR), local users groups and other stakeholders have also joined the clamour to understand what a re-opened line or station might do for their area. Sometimes, this re-invigorated historic campaigns, for instance leading to our initial work for local parishes around Pontrilas in 1997 to be updated (with support from WSP, Cadenza & Unify Projects) in a project for Herefordshire County Council in 2020. In all cases, a comprehensive approach is needed for analysis, including not only commercial and operational issues, but also the linkages between them, and the political and promotional activities required to achieve implementation.
The Railway Consultancy is active in many RYR and other schemes all around the country, undertaking cost-effective work to Strategic Outline Business Case and Outline Business Case stages (roughly equivalent to Network Rail’s GRIP 3 project stage). Whilst some of our very earliest work led to station openings such as Liverpool South Parkway (2006), others are at earlier stages of consideration, although some are the ‘Advanced Proposals’ stage, hoping to enter the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline for scheme implementation.
Examples
- Feasibility Study for a New Station at Stanway, Essex, for Equity Estates
- Admaston Station Feasibility Study
- Route Review in Ireland
- Sandbach – Northwich Re-opening Feasibility
- Shotton Chord Study
- Littleworth New Station Feasibility Audit
- Ollerton Branch Re-opening Appraisal
Last updated: Tuesday, 2nd February 2021
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