RAIL MANAGEMENT
security by 2011, an additional 1,100 car
parking spaces are to be provided as well
as 1,500 additional secure bicycle spaces.
Under the Minimum Standards proposed
even an unstaffed station in Category F
should have real time information and a
help point. The recommended standards rise
through the categories in an incremental
way so that a Category A station would
have flagship facilities including retail and
customer services.
The need for consistency across the country
is emphasised so that for example all stations
would have standardised signage whereas
at present, stations are presented using the
corporate identity of the relevant franchisee.
PASSENGER NEEDS
Many of the stations served by Britain's
railways date from the 19th century and
whilst there are obviously some architectural
masterpieces, many do require substantial
work particularly in terms of meeting
modern standards of accessibility.
The EU Passenger Rights Regulation, which
became law in December 2009, will require
operators to meet the access needs of any
passenger with reduced mobility. Under the
Department for Transport (DfT) Access for
All programme some 50 per cent of stations
now have some form of level access and this
should rise to about 65 per cent by 2014.
The report recommends a deadline of 2020
(analogous to the Rail Vehicle Accessibility
Regulations) should be applied to all DfT
stations (those in England not specified
and funded by Merseytravel and Transport
for London). The target would be full
access at 668 `A � D' stations and some
form of level access at the remainder.
Clearly safety is a major concern of
passengers and as pointed out in the report,
and as pointed out by Passenger Focus
in their report Passenger Perceptions of
Personal Security (March 2009) 13 per cent
more people would travel by train if they felt
more secure. Obviously unstaffed stations
score worse in the Passenger Focus survey
with 39 per cent of passengers at these
stations feeling insecure compared to 68 per
cent at a major national hub station. Clearly
it is not feasible to staff all stations and in
addition to the security measures contained
in the minimum station standard proposals,
measures such as encouraging commercial
tenanted occupancy of station buildings to
facilitate a physical presence are suggested.
STATION FUNDING
Currently station funding amounts to �653m
per annum for the next five years but of this
a relatively small amount is for enhancements
the lions share being for routine maintenance
and renewal as well as flagship projects.
The National Stations Improvement
Programme (NSIP) has been set up by the
DfT to upgrade stations through triggering
third party investment and averages �31m
per annum. The report proposes a rolling
programme for the B � D stations with a
27TRANSPORT BUSINESS INTERNATIONAL ISSUE 12 / www.transportbusiness.net
Many of the stations served by Britain's railways
date from the 19th century and whilst there are
obviously some architectural masterpieces, many
do require substantial work particularly in terms
of meeting modern standards of accessibility
"
"
Paul Martin

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