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The UK rail and road system supports 61 billion journeys every year.
Anything that speeds up journeys boosts business productivity. The Eddington report estimates this impact - a 5% reduction in travel time should deliver £2.5bn in savings.
Zoom chartThis is needed. UK cities are amongst the slowest in Europe (see box).
Prioritise
Transport studies aiming to unclog routes generally only analyse a particular project. Little thought is given to alternatives. This makes it difficult to prioritise.
The Eddington report recommended there is a need to focus more on getting people and freight from A to B. And then comparing different options.
Investment compared
With Credo’s help, Invensys sought to compare transport options based on how much capacity could be delivered for a £1m investment.
We looked at adding capacity in two ways: by building new road and rail infrastructure; and by adding capacity through train lengthening and signalling.
An extract from the results is presented in the chart below.
Our findings
UK cities are amongst the slowest in Europe
UK cities are amongst the slowest in EuropeAdding capacity to existing routes through non-infrastructure improvements is much more cost effective than building stuff new, where possible
Eddington was right. But the 2007 DfT white paper focused on commuter train lengthening and potentially missed signalling opportunities
Building new road or rail creates more capacity per £ than widening on existing routes
Next generation signalling can further improve capacity, though the rollout of this technology will not start until 2014, well behind EU countries.
What next
The study is likely to stir up the long-running road vs. rail debate. This time there’s a compelling case in favour of rail. The evidence is there but is the political will?
Network Rail is not planning to upgrade its signalling systems until 2014. If they were to do so sooner, there are potential marked improvements to performance available. There’s also money on the table, let’s hope the regulator and management listen.
Anna Wilson is an Associate Consultant at Credo.
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