21st Annual Rail Stations & Property Summit
Place-based, rail-supported development:
adding local value
Changing travel patterns | Stations as hubs | Transport-led development
What's new for 2024?
The 21st Annual Rail Stations & Property Summit will focus on three key areas led by expert speakers:
Changing travel patterns
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2023 has seen passenger numbers – and revenues – increase. Commuters and business travellers anticipate making more rail journeys over the next three months
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This resurgence has so far been led by leisure travellers
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Rail travel remains attractive, but only if it can meet new customer expectations
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Rail's appeal is rooted in its environmentally-friendly nature, with 82% of current customers considering eco-friendliness as ‘very’ or ‘fairly important
Stations as hubs
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The changing nature of rail travel means that stations need to become activity and amenity centres
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Rail stations need to support as many modes of travel as possible, including the integration of non-car modes around stations in order to reduce car dependency
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By better understanding local, regional and national spatial ambitions, successful models for integrated rail-led regeneration can de developed
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Mobility hubs, for example, can link railway stations with active travel, bus and car share networks, embedding them into local economies
Transport-led development
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Spotlight on the major UK projects setting new standards for placemaking and development
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Rail's unique place in the Levelling Up agenda
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Generating economic, social, and commercial value: maximising local value creation
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Developing new land uses to attract toursists, employers, workers, shoppers and leisure customers
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Boosting accessibility and connectivity, including walking, public transport, cycling and e-mobility
Rail: an integrated transport solution
Rail has a massive role to play in the Levelling Up agenda, with its unique ability to connect places and people to amenities and opportunity – and so supporting both growth and decarbonisation at the same time
The Levelling Up agenda has shone a spotlight on the fact that rail is part of an integrated transport solution that’s about giving access to all.
Devolution and Levelling Up has enabled greater involvement and engagement by local stakeholders who are best able to identify the areas where investment will actually deliver benefits most readily and in the most effective way.
Aligning rail-led mobility with levelling up
In transport planning, a subtle shift towards local regeneration and levelling up is taking place, making towns and cities work better for citizens and visitors alike.
Recent Levelling Up Fund (LUF) awards highlight how transport priorities are a critical part of the regeneration agenda.
Transport-enabled regeneration, doubling down on the idea that existing transport hubs like rail stations must be the focus of wider investment in housing and commercial activity.
Stations should be the natural focus for the densification of suburban towns where town-centre living will help to sustain thriving high streets.
Rail journey trends in numbers:
43%
In autumn 2022, there were on average 1,576,764 daily passenger arrivals into major cities. This represents an increase of 43% compared to autumn 2021, but 15% below the same period in autumn 2019. Of these daily arrivals in autumn 2022, 38% were in the morning peak (07:00 to 09:59).
997,346
London had the highest rail passenger numbers arriving into a city across the day (997,346), over 9 times that of Birmingham (the second highest at 108,165).
19%
Leisure travel grew by a fifth (19%) in the second quarter of this year, with a rise in the use of discount Railcards (21% of revenue was brought in via Railcard use this quarter vs 16% in the same quarter in 2019).
6%
Commuting was up 6%, while business travel was up 8%, as more people went into the office more often and there were fewer strike days.
£295m
Rail revenue was up 13% (£295 million) vs. the previous quarter, but rail still faces a sizeable hole in its finances and GBRTT is calling for the industry to work together to go for growth.
2,570
In Great Britain, 2,570 stations were served by mainline rail services as at 31 March 2022, including one new station which opened during the year, Soham. The most used station in the latest year was London Waterloo with an estimated 41.4 million entries and exits.
158m
Passenger numbers at the top 20 busiest stations exceeded 158 million in the year to the end of March. This compares to just 436 ‘entry and exits’ at the 20 least-used stations.
Sources: Department for Transport and GBRTT
Who's speaking?
Philip Beer
Partner
Burges Salmon
Silka Kennedy-Todd
Head of Integrated Transport
Great British Railways Transition Team
Hannah Donovan
Transport Planner
Transport for London
Simone Bailey
Asset Management Director
Abellio
John Siruat
Senior Director - Economics
Jacobs
James Gagg
Project Lead
England's Economic Heartland
Seb Loyn
Director of Planning and Development
YTL Developments (UK)
David Warner
Senior BusinessAnalyst Transport for London
Russell Curtis
Director
RCKa architects
Ian Bruce
Associate Director,
Transport Planning
SYSTRA
Lorna Pimlott
Managing Director
UK Infrastructure Bank
Sam Uren
Director
SLC Rail
Richard Jones
Partner
Arcadis
Helen Murphy
Head of Rail
Arcadis
James Walker
Consultant
SYSTRA
Simon Taylor
Regional Director
LCR Property
Programme
Please note that the programme is currently under development. To discuss speaking opportunities, please contact Juliana O'Rourke at juliana.orourke@landor.co.uk
09:00
Registration
Tea & coffee served in the exhibition area.
10.00
Introduction & welcome
Morning Chair: Simone Bailey, Asset Management Director, Greater Anglia
10.15
Session 1: Rail to the rescue – stations serving a new mobility
Rail to the rescue?
Philip Beer, Partner, Burges Salmon
Travel trends and directions for 2024
John Siraut, Senior Director, Economics, Jacobs
Levelling Up with rail-led regeneration
Richard Jones, Partner, Arcadis
11.15
Morning networking
Tea & coffee served in the exhibition area
11.45
Session 2: Levelling Up, rail and development
Boosting housing capacity around rural stations
Russell Curtis, Founding Director, RCKa
Integrated rail: supporting future plans for transport, housing, health and economic growth
Silka Kennedy-Todd, Head of Integrated Transport, Great British Railways Transition Team
Improving main lines and hub stations for community benefit
James Gagg, Project Lead, England's Economic Heartland
Tyne and Wear: the social value of Metro
Ian Bruce, Associate Director, Transport Planning, and James Walker, SYSTRA
13.00
Networking lunch
Lunch served in the exhibition area.
14.15
Welcome back
Afternoon Chair: Helen Murphy, Head of Rail, Arcadis
Session 3: Rail – unlocking regeneration and value
Solving infrastructure financing problems: supporting regional and local economic growth through better connectivity
Lorna Pimlott, Managing Director, Local Authority lending and advisory services, UK Infrastructure Bank
The Elizabeth line: transforming the capital
Hannah Donovan, Transport Planner, Public Service Transport Planning, Transport for London and David Warner, Senior Business Analyst, Transport for London
The Weavers Cross development, Belfast
Len McComb, Projects Director, LendLease Consultancy & Des Taggart, Senior Property Development Manager, Translink
Bristol Brabazon: a new rail-led neighbourhood
Seb Loyn, Director of Planning and Development, YTL Developments (UK)
15.45
Afternoon networking
Tea & coffee served in the exhibition area
16.15 - 17.15
Session 4: Rail-led development: how to smooth the way – panel discussion
Chair: Helen Murphy, Head of Rail, Arcadis
Simon Taylor, Regional Director, LCR Property
Sam Uren, Director, SLC Rail
Philip Beer, Partner, Burges Salmon
17.15 -17:45