ABSTRACT
For the first time in the history of mankind there will be more people living in cities than in rural areas worldwide. This combined with climate change impacts reinforces the need to design urban railway stations to fit with the future way of life. It is (the) time to look at not just the environment of the stations but to look at the entire journey from home to work and back again.
How can we in the future design transport and stations to deliver a service for the new
generation of passengers? Behaviour and technology has changed our life radically,
even over the past 5 to 10 years and the predictions are this trend will continue.
The existing cities and urban fabric has been designed for cars and will now need to
change into being largely serviced by public transport modes. How do we design future
stations to cope with the new demands from passengers and how do we fit stations in to
the very different urban fabrics of the world?
Can we continue our technical first – passenger second approach to locating and
planning stations and rolling stock, or should we start designing the parts that make up
the railway, when we know what our passengers are looking for from the railway.
How can we design a very personal journey matching the individual car transport as we
are travelling together and how do we design our stations in a way that is sustainable
and gives the passengers a very positive public transport experience.
For most passengers the train journey is just a part of their journey. They might arrive or
leave the station by bus or bike. In the future it is not enough just to be faster in getting
from A to B but it is also about how you turn your commuting time into a positive part of
your journey and day.
The next generation of passengers is the first generation that will be “connected digitally”
24/7 and this means totally new design criteria for station, rolling stock and
communications design.
These issues can only be addressed with a holistic design response where specialists
from a wide range of skills and knowledge bases are part of the design teams. It is much
more than just engineering; it is urban planning, architecture, people factors etc.
The Author will elaborate and give ideas on these issues through images and drawings
and draw upon his own experiences designing stations over the last decade, particularly
in Copenhagen and Sweden.
[Full Paper doesn’t given at Production Time]
