Promoting Integrated Rail Planning: Lessons for Congested Urban Networks Based on Work in West Central Scotland

Encouraging modal shift requires improved rail infrastructure planning. Based on a case study in Scotland, an outline for approaching planning of long term investment is presented linking land use planning with rail investment timescales. This paper describes how Transport Scotland’s strategic planning of West Central Scotland’s railways highlights the challenges of meeting a sustainable transport agenda within the context of land use change, urban renewal, capacity constraints and future funding challenges. The paper also shows how planning system alterations have to take an overall approach of understanding the demands of international, national, regional and local rail operations, for both passenger and freight sectors. The work to complete the Strategic Transport Projects Review identifies critical objectives that affect existing rail infrastructure to encourage modal shift and address Scotland’s climate change targets. This paper looks at the considerations which informed the rail aspects of this Review, from the policy background through to the desire to increase rail opportunities and the technical challenges going forward. Crucially for others planning improvements to rail infrastructure in congested rail and urban networks, the long planning horizons for rail will be examined. The three elements which make up the rail system: infrastructure, rolling stock and demand, each have their own procurement and renewal timescales. Transport Scotland is working with partner authorities to ensure an integrated delivery plan at the national, regional and local level that reflects the opportunities to affect modal shift, taking into account the interaction with other public transport provision such as the deregulated bus market. This paper is also linked with work on land use planning in order to gain an earlier understanding of the consequences and opportunities of integrated land use and transport planning. Using west Central Scotland as a case study, this paper looks at the lessons for addressing the essential interaction of these elements. It considers the drivers for change and considers the causal links between rail infrastructure and future investment planning. On the basis of this work, the paper presents an outline for approaching planning for long term investment in railways in congested urban networks.

• Record URL:
  https://aetransport.org/past-etc-papers/conference-papers-pre-2009/conference-papers-2010
• Corporate Authors:

  Association for European Transport (AET)

  1 Vernon Mews, Vernon Street, West Kensington
  London W14 0RL,    
• Authors:
  • Anderson, D
  • Keggle, C
  • Dodds, G
• Conference:
  • European Transport Conference, 2010
  • Location: Glasgow Scotland, United Kingdom
  • Date: 2010-10-11 to 2010-10-13
• Publication Date: 2010

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Pagination: v.p.
• Monograph Title: European Transport Conference, 2010 Proceedings

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Freight traffic; Infrastructure; Land use planning; Passenger transportation; Railroad traffic; Railroad transportation; Rolling stock; Strategic planning; Traffic congestion; Travel demand
• Geographic Terms: Scotland
• Subject Areas: Planning and Forecasting; Railroads; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01352696
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Sep 27 2011 8:16AM