Better Transport

You might wish to do some or all of the following to improve access to your local train station.

Contact your train operator
It is essential to get your train operator on side supporting your objectives. Contact it as soon as possible and find out how it stands. Your train operator is also a potential funding source.

Find out what your train operator has planned. If plans to improve your station have been made but implementation is delayed, then persuading your train operator or local authority to secure alternative funding should be your priority (our case studies offer some good examples of innovative funding partnerships). If there are no plans for the improvements you want, you need to concentrate on gathering support and making the case for the improvements before looking for funding sources.

Ask your train operator to join the Secure Stations Scheme, if it hasn’t already. Secure Stations Scheme, an initiative of the Department for Transport and the British Transport Police, is an accreditation scheme that requires standards to be met in crime management, station design and station management.

Use the plans and processes already in place
No matter how good an idea is, it won’t become reality in a vacuum; it needs to be argued for within, and become part of, the processes that your targets already follow.

• The route utilisation strategy

Find out if Network Rail has created a route utilisation strategy for your area. If it has, give it a read. If one is still being developed, try to influence its content. A route utilisation strategy puts forward plans for future rail development. For example, it might outline timetable changes and new services that should be developed. You could argue the strategy for your area needs to include specific plans for better public transport links to the station. In the South West Main Line strategy:

• The 8:02 Woking to Waterloo line has been identified as a priority line when trains should be lengthened from eight carriages to 12
• It’s recommended Winchfield station car park gain 28 new car spaces in the parking lot

The South West strategy

When developing a route utilisation strategy, Network Rail will consult your local and county council. So pressure your council to include your proposals in the strategy.

The schedule for preparing route utilisation strategies

More about route utilisation strategies, on the Network Rail website

• The local transport plan

See if there’s an objective in your local transport plan which your proposals could help to meet. This will make it much more likely to be funded and happen.

Local transport plans are five-year plans (2006-2011), setting out transport policies and programmes. The plans are prepared by the local highways authority – the county council or unitary authority. They contain strategies for specific areas, which are developed with the help of district councils and should complement polices in the local development frameworks. These plans are given Government funding. The local highways authority puts out an annual progress report on the local transport plan by 31 August. The Government uses this report to decide whether funding for the next year needs to be altered.

You can find the local transport plan on the website of your unitary authority or county council.

Find your council websites, on theDirectGov website

Gather evidence
Conduct some research in order to be able to show:

• Demand for what you are asking for
• Examples of good practice and results achieved elsewhere
• How your station compares to others. A recent survey we conducted found many stations were failing some basic standards. Fill in the survey for your station, see how it does. National Rail’s website tells you whether a station has cycle parking, step-free access and other basic facilities.
• Passengers want access to the station to be improved