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Research and Reports

A database of documents and reports released by industry bodies. You can download the document by clicking on its title, and can filter reports by author or subject. If you have a report you would like to submit to the Rail Hub, please email [email protected].

 

  • Transport Infrastructure Efficiency Strategy: One Year On

    01/03/2019
    Department for Transport SearchResearchItems

    In this first annual report since implementing the TIES, progress has been demonstrated in the seven TIES challenge areas which include exploiting digital technology, improving the industry’s understanding of costs and performance, and enabling delivery. In his foreword, Transport Infrastructure Efficiency Taskforce (TIET) chairman and London Transport commissioner Mike Brown MVO writes: “Collaboration is key to the TIES’ success. In our second year, I am keen to work with other infrastructure clients whose participation could offer mutual benefit to our collective endeavour”.

  • Investing in the South West

    01/02/2019
    Department for Transport SearchResearchItems

    For rail users, the highlights of this report are further money going into investigating the best way to protect the railway running through Dawlish from coastal erosion and the effects of bad weather, and investment in Bristol East Junction to allow the city’s MetroWest proposals to proceed. They should bring better rail connection to North Bristol and Portishead, and bring rail services to 80,000 people. DfT money is also going towards buses, cycling and roads within the region.

  • Northern Rail Industry Leaders

    01/02/2019
    Building the North's New Railways SearchResearchItems

    The North’s rail supply base employs 58,000 people across 300 companies, representing about 25% of the UK supply chain. These companies currently contribute £3.3 billion annually to the local economy, which could be increased by £589 million if Transport for the North’s newly published £60-70bn Strategic Transport Plan is adopted in full. The NRIL report argues that it would also create an additional 10,000 jobs in the northern rail supply chain sector, leaving a legacy of high quality employment and opportunities to improve social inclusion.

  • Public attitudes towards train services

    01/02/2019
    Department for Transport SearchResearchItems

    Never the most exciting report, but important for planners who need to know how people use railways. It reveals that in February 2018, almost two-thirds of adults in Great Britain used rail at least once in the previous 12 months, which it said was substantially higher than the 55% recorded in 2015. Rail use was higher among managerial and professional occupations, and higher in households with higher incomes. A quarter lived 11-20 minutes walk from their nearest station and 37% lived more than 30 minutes walk away, although the report doesn’t say whether they walked.

  • Pay as you go on rail

    01/02/2019
    Department for Transport SearchResearchItems

    This consultation examines how London’s successful pay-as-you-go Oyster card system might be expanded across the rail network. It looks at expanding London’s system into the wider South East region (bounded by Reading, Tring, Luton, Stevenage, Stansted Airport, Witham, Rainham, Horsham, Tunbridge Wells, East Grinstead, Guildford and Aldershot), with the DfT exploring how to alter fares and whether to introduce daily capping (as London has). Looking further afield to, for example, Brighton, Cambridge, Milton Keynes and Oxford, it seeks passenger views on how comfortable they would be using pay-as-you-go.

  • Role of the railway in Great Britain

    01/02/2019
    Williams Review SearchResearchItems

    With an introduction by Keith Williams in which he reveals how struck he’s been with the industry and its workers, this report looks at why Britain has a rail network, who uses it, and how it’s funded. It examines its wider benefits to the economy and the environment, as well as its direct benefits in terms of jobs.

  • The future for hydrogen trains in the UK

    01/01/2019
    Institution of Mechanical Engineers SearchResearchItems

    Although the IMechE says that hydrogen power could be part of the solution for decarbonising railways, there is concern that such trains “will be used by funders as a reason to avoid future electrification.” The organisation argues that the “fear should be eliminated at source, by ensuring a universal understanding that fuel cell traction should be viewed as an option only where long-term technical, environmental and/or economic factors make electrification a poor option.” It argues that government should move ahead with electrification, but also that industry should encourage “the development and deployment of hydrogen trains” and that the technology be “developed in industrial areas where hydrogen production already occurs, and can support the wider transport system.”

  • Initial report to the minister for rail

    01/01/2019
    Rail Industry Decarbonisation Taskforce SearchResearchItems

    Eliminating diesel-only passenger trains by 2040 is achievable, this report argues - with the best answer being “a mix of new traction options and efficiency improvements”. It recommends electrification where “cost-effective and appropriate” but also support for research and development into power sources such as bi-mode, hydrogen and battery. These “should be deployed in a targeted manner to achieve the lowest system-wide carbon outcome”. However, the report considers that there are “unique challenges” in removing diesel-powered freight and maintenance trains. It recommends research and development - but also argues that care is needed to avoid unintended consequences such as “creating an artificial imbalance between the costs of rail freight and road haulage.”

  • Current rail models in Great Britain and overseas

    01/01/2019
    Williams Review SearchResearchItems

    This short report explains the structure of Britain’s railway today, and what the different bodies within it do, before going on to look at how other countries arrange their tracks and trains. It considers how many people live in other European countries and in Japan, how intensively they use their tracks, and the split between passenger and freight services. It compares their passenger growth since 1997 and their investment spending. The report is factual and draws no conclusions, leaving those for the Rail Review that Keith Williams is to write.

  • Transport Statistics Great Britain 2018

    01/12/2018
    Department for Transport SearchResearchItems

    Rail accounted for 3% of trips but 11% of distance travelled in 2017, according to the latest annual statistics released by the Department for Transport. Cars were used for 62% of trips (78% of distance), while more than a quarter of trips were on foot - but only 1% of distance. 4.9 billion journeys were made on local bus services (62% lower than in 1950), while commuting and business purposes accounted for more than half (51%) of trips made by surface rail. Total number of passenger kilometres in 2017 was 808 billion - the highest volume ever recorded.

  • Joint rail data action plan: Addressing barriers to make better use of rail data

    08/08/2018
    Department for Transport SearchResearchItems

    This paper focuses on five themes: data transparency; data use and access; data standards and quality; data value and principles; and rail culture and information/data skills. “Unlocking the value of data is crucial”, it argues, to delivering the Department for Transport objectives that include what it describes as cementing the country’s place at the forefront of the transport technological revolution. Publication of the ‘action plan’ is set against the background of the National Infrastructure Commission’s report Data for the Public Good.

  • Off-site manufacture for construction: building for change

    19/07/2018
    House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee SearchResearchItems

    This report argues that the combined effect of various problems means “the construction sector as it is currently constituted cannot efficiently meet the need for housing, and may struggle to meet the need for infrastructure”. However, it says that off-site manufacture “could help the sector to meet these needs” and provides “clear and tangible benefits which make a compelling case for its widespread use”. These include better quality, increased productivity, improved safety and sustainability, and reduced disruption to communities. An example given is Witham station, where a “new booking hall structure was created within one week on-site, compared to the eight weeks required for traditional techniques.”

  • HS2: Realising the potential

    19/07/2018
    HS2 Ltd SearchResearchItems

    High Speed 2 “can be a catalyst for a fundamental change in Britain”, HS2 Ltd chairman Sir David Higgins says in his foreword to this report. However, he says “there remains a series of fairly fundamental challenges which need to be addressed… if the project is to fulfil its real potential for Britain and truly be a railway for everyone.” Examples include future-proofing the transport network against changes in the way people live, realising the potential for HS2 to become the network’s backbone, and designing services that deliver the broader strategy.

  • Implementing the UK’s exit from the European Union

    19/07/2018
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    Just one of the Department for Transport’s 18 work streams to prepare for leaving the EU involves rail, covering “ongoing recognition of documentation of operators and drivers to support continuation of cross-border rail services.” However, although it has no direct correlation to a work stream, further work is to “Develop and deliver domestic interoperability and safety regime for Day One.” As of March 2018 the DfT reported to the Department for Exiting the European Union that 14 out of its 18 work streams were on track for delivery of the contingency solution by March 2019; the NAO says that one work stream was not reported on. By the end of March the DfT had spent £6.6m on the work (£3.5m from existing budgets and £3.1m from contingency funds - the latter less than planned). By March 2022 it is expected that the DfT and its arms-length bodies will have spent £180m.

  • Transport infrastructure skills strategy two years on

    19/07/2018
    Strategic Transport Apprenticeship Taskforce SearchResearchItems

    Some 50,000 people are due to retire from the railway by 2033, and the UK suffers from shortages in areas such as mechanical and electrical, and civil, engineering, as well as railway systems engineering. However, there are encouraging signs. In his introduction, STAT chairman and Transport for London Commissioner Mike Brown describes the apprenticeship levy introduced in 2017 as a “powerful tool”. Ahead of CP6, Network Rail has introduced a measure to require suppliers to provide one apprenticeship per £3m-£5m of spend, or 2.5% contract workforce per annum. Also, over the last year there has been a 22% increase in apprenticeships in highways and rail.

  • National Infrastructure Assessment

    10/07/2018
    National Infrastructure Commission SearchResearchItems

    Providing long term funding “for major capacity upgrades in selected growth priority cities”, creating devolved infrastructure budgets for cities, and giving city leaders powers to deliver integrated transport strategies are among recommendations in the first National Infrastructure Assessment. The report’s recommendations also include the roll-out of nationwide full fibre broadband by 2033 together with others covering, among other things, renewable power, drought and flood resilience.

  • Rail infrastructure investment

    28/06/2018
    House of Commons SearchResearchItems

    The transport committee says it supports emerging traction technologies, but that the Department for Transport “has not yet made the long-term case for bi-mode operation with a view to conversion to alternative train traction power-sources at some point in the future.” Despite the failure of the 2012 electrification plans, it also argues that “there is strong evidence” that electrification “remains the current optimal solution on heavily-used parts of the railway.” It recommends re-categorising the cancelled Midland Main Line, Great Western Main Line and Lakes Line projects as “pending” and that if battery and hydrogen technology is proven, that the DfT and Network Rail “should make a comparative cost/benefit analysis” against outstanding electrification schemes.

  • Number Crunch: transport trends in the city regions

    02/04/2018
    Urban Transport Group SearchResearchItems

    Rail use in city regions “has been growing at a remarkable rate” and there has also been growth on trams and in light rail, says this Urban Transport Group report. However, it says there is “clear evidence” of a shift away from private cars in cities, and that nationally people are travelling less overall. The paper covers London as well as the metropolitan areas of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Tyne and Wear, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and the West Midlands; all have growing populations and economies.

  • Investigation into the Department for Transport’s decision to cancel three rail electrification projects

    29/03/2018
    National Audit Office SearchResearchItems

    The National Audit Office says it “is too early to tell the extent to which the Department [for Transport] will be able to deliver the benefits of electrification” without completing three projects cancelled last year. Electrification from Kettering to Nottingham/Sheffield, Cardiff to Swansea, and the Windermere branch were all dropped following cost overruns and Network Rail’s constrained ability to borrow since reclassification as a public body.

  • Community rail and social inclusion

    26/03/2018
    ACoRP SearchResearchItems

    The Association of Community Rail Partnerships reports here on how, in the words of chief executive Jools Townend, community rail volunteering is “about far more than flower beds and fences: it brings people together, enhancing health, wellbeing and cohesion.” Different ways in which community rail helps social inclusion, it reports, include volunteering, accessible journeys, connecting people to opportunities and services, and engaging communities in art and heritage. ACoRP says there are now 60 community rail partnerships (a figure that is growing), and hundreds of station friends/adoption groups.

  • Measuring circular economy performance - suggestions for infrastructure organisations

    21/03/2018
    MI-ROG SearchResearchItems

    According to MI-ROG (the Major Infrastructure - Resource Optimisation Group), the circular economy aims to “keep resources in use for as long as possible; extract the maximum value from resources while in use; recover and regenerate products and materials at the end of life; keep products, components and materials at their highest utility and value at all times.” This paper explores the metrics used to measure circular outcomes - and makes various recommendations on their use.

  • Mobility as a Service: Putting Transit Front and Centre of the Conversation

    19/03/2018
    Cubic Transportation Systems SearchResearchItems

    Among other things, this paper “aims to demystify” the concept of ‘mobility as a service’ (or MaaS) - and proposes ten “key objectives” for future initiatives. They include limiting congestion, reducing car usage, using existing infrastructure more effectively, creating a model than supports the finding of infrastructure, and lessening transport’s environmental impact. The paper argues that the “easiest and most logical way” to fulfil the objectives it outlines “is to place public transit at the heart of the MaaS effort.”

  • Brexit: Helping Britain’s railways understand Brexit’s impact on standards and regulation

    16/03/2018
    RSSB SearchResearchItems

    RSSB says it is advising members “to continue planning for a range of possible outcomes from Brexit.” Outlines three scenarios from being very similar to very different to today, and lists six challenges. These include mutual recognition of certifications and authorisations; sharing data, knowledge ad information; and mechanisms to align with or diverge from EU requirements.

  • Community rail and social inclusion

    16/03/2018
    ACoRP SearchResearchItems

    The Association of Community Rail Partnerships reports here on how, in the words of chief executive Jools Townend, community rail volunteering is “about far more than flower beds and fences: it brings people together, enhancing health, wellbeing and cohesion.” Different ways in which community rail helps social inclusion, it reports, include volunteering, accessible journeys, connecting people to opportunities and services, and engaging communities in art and heritage. ACoRP says there are now 60 community rail partnerships (a figure that is growing), and hundreds of station friends/adoption groups. Investigation into the Department for Transport’s decision to cancel three rail electrification projects National Audit Office March 2018 The National Audit Office says it “is too early to tell the extent to which the Department [for Transport] will be able to deliver the benefits of electrification” without completing three projects cancelled last year. Electrification from Kettering to Nottingham/Sheffield, Cardiff to Swansea, and the Windermere branch were all dropped following cost overruns and Network Rail’s constrained ability to borrow since reclassification as a public body.

  • Interurban Bus: Time to raise the profile

    01/03/2018
    Greengauge 21 SearchResearchItems

    This paper describes a transport mode it says is “is little understood and often overlooked” - and one that offers a “marked exception” to the general decline of rural bus services. It describes interurban services as those connecting two or more urban areas, and with intermediate stops, typically to serve villages. Rail-related recommendations include that when considering improvements to rail fares/ticketing, the Department for Transport “should consider how best to incorporate add-ons” for partner services of interurban bus operators. The DfT should also “obligate rail franchisees to provide information on qualifying interurban bus services that connect with rail.”