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22nd Annual Rail Stations & Property Summit

Rail Stations + Property 2025
Rail Stations + Property 2025
Rail Stations + Property 2025
Rail Stations + Property 2025

Growth, housing and integration

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Regent's Park Conference Centre, London NW1

Sponsored by:

Burges Salmon

Organised by:

Landor LINKS LIVE
Liverpool Baltic

Growth, housing and integration: Themes for 2025

Rail and rail stations have a massive role to play in the delivery of the Government’s key missions for the UK – growth and delivering on net zero commitments. Rail’s unique ability to connect people to places, amenities and opportunity in a sustainable way enables it to support both growth and decarbonisation. 

 

Rail stations are well-placed to be the focus of wider investment in housing, local regeneration and the growth of commercial activity. Stations are the natural focus for densification of housing across grey, brown and greenbelt sites, boosting villages and peri-urban and suburban towns where growing populations can sustain high streets and help local business to thrive.

About the event

Reasons for the event:

To share best practice and insights about the role of rail and rail stations in supporting government missions, with a particular focus on creating sustained growth. The Department for Transport has outlined its strategic priorities, of which four out of five apply to rail:

 

  • improving performance on the railways and driving forward rail reform

  • transforming infrastructure to work for the whole country, promoting social mobility and tackling regional inequality

  • delivering greener transport

  • better integrating transport networks

“The Railway Industry Association (RIA) supports the government’s ambition to create a unified national vision for both the users and providers of transport services in the UK. Rail suppliers will play an important role in helping organisations like Network Rail and Transport for London, and Great British Railways when it is set up, deliver a better performing and more reliable service for customers, whether passengers or freight. A more integrated approach involving all mass transport modes is also an opportunity to set out a clear roadmap for rail investment"

Railway Industry Association (RIA) Chief Executive Darren Caplan

York Central
The Government has promised to “move fast and fix things”. For rail and rail stations, this means bringing rail franchises into public ownership, getting ‘shadow’ Great British Railways up and running, quickly improving the passenger experience and creating new opportunities for large-scale infrastructure investment in towns, cities and regions.

Why attend?
Rail-led development – the potential for growth

whyattend
rail-led

Rail will play a critical part in an integrated transport solution that’s about improving access for all, promoting social mobility and tackling regional inequality. Investment in rail and rail stations will support the government's key missions – to kickstart economic growth and productivity, and to better integrate the country’s transport networks.

 ​

In transport planning, a subtle shift towards vision-led local regeneration is taking place, and transport priorities are a critical part of the regeneration agenda.

 

The value of the railways to the economy, the environment and society:

  •  £26bn in benefits delivered each year

  • The total benefits to passengers are worth £14bn each year

  • The total value of decreased congestion is worth £8bn to people and businesses each year

  • £4bn additional benefits from environmental and social benefits and wider economic impacts

 

Wider economic benefits:

  • The direct employment contribution of the rail sector is over 103,000 jobs

  • Passengers surveyed reported they spend on average £80 per complete journey

  •  Based on the 1.23 billion passenger journeys taken in 2022/23, this means that rail customers could be contributing £98bn annually to local economies

  • 57% would like to see a greater presence of independent businesses in and around stations

  • 73% see their local station as important to helping the local economy and businesses to thrive

 

Data from: Beyond the tracks: Rail’s contribution to the UK A WPI Economics Report for Rail Delivery Group

Leicester Station

Rail journey trends in numbers:

1,610m

A total of 1,610 million journeys (1.61 billion) were made by rail passengers in Great Britain in the latest year (1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024). This is a 16% increase on the 1,380 million journeys (1.38 billion) in the previous year (1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023)

405m

There were 405 million journeys in the latest quarter (1 January to 31 March 2024). This is a 13% increase on the 359 million journeys made in the same quarter in the previous year (1 January to 31 March 2023)

+54%

All but one operator (Heathrow Express) saw an increase in passenger journeys. In the latest year, Govia Thameslink Railway was the largest operator by number of passenger journeys. Elizabeth line had the second most journeys and had the greatest increase in journeys compared with the previous year (up 54%)

60.1bn

From April 2023 to March 2024 there were 60.1 billion passenger kilometres. This is a 13% increase on the 53.0 billion kilometres in the previous year (April 2022 to March 2023). The latest year is 90% of the 66.8 billion travelled four years ago (pre-pandemic). Only Heathrow Express had a reduction in passenger kilometres compared with the previous year (down 4%), while Elizabeth line had the largest increase (up 55%)

£10.3bn

From April 2023 to March 2024, passenger revenue was £10.3 billion. This is a 13% increase on the £9.1 billion in the previous year (April 2022 to March 2023). The latest year is 82% of the £12.7 billion generated four years ago (pre-pandemic) (April 2019 to March 2020)

Sources: ORR

Who's speaking?

Philip Beer, Partner, Burges Salmon

Philip Beer

Partner
Burges Salmon

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John Siraut

Senior Director, Economics Jacobs

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Billy Parr

Head of Network Development

Essex County Council

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Russell Curtis

Founder and Director

RCKa

Please note that the programme is currently under development. To discuss speaking opportunities, please contact Juliana O'Rourke at juliana.orourke@landor.co.uk

speakers

11 March 2025 Conference Programme

Please note that the programme is currently under development. To discuss speaking opportunities, please contact Juliana O'Rourke at juliana.orourke@landor.co.uk

Programme
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09:00

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Registration

Tea & coffee served in the exhibition area.

10.00

Introduction & welcome

10.15

Session 1: Back on track?  A new age of rail-led growth

Session led by Philip Beer,  Partner, Burges Salmon

This session will focus on the big picture changes taking place in the rail stations and property sector.
 

Four out of five DfT priorities include improving performance on the railways and supporting rail to drive growth an opportunity:

  • improving performance on the railways and driving forward rail reform

  • transforming infrastructure to work for the whole country, promoting social mobility and tackling regional inequality

  • delivering greener transport

  • better integrating transport networks

Developing trends in rail and station use and revenue

Shadow Great British Railways and its mission

Investing in rail / rail appraisal as part of an integrated transport system

11.15

Morning networking

Tea & coffee served in the exhibition area

11.45

Session 2: Enabling densification around rail

Session led by Russell Curtis, Founding Director, RCKa

This session will take a deep dive into how transport operators – especially rail – and property development professionals are working together to deliver the Government's missions
 

  • Rail stations are well-placed to be the focus of wider investment in housing, local regeneration and the growth of commercial activity

  • Stations are the natural focus for densification of housing across grey, brown and greenbelt sites, boosting villages and peri-urban and suburban towns where growing populations can sustain high streets and help local business to thrive

13.00

Networking lunch

Lunch served in the exhibition area.

14.00

Welcome back
Session 3: Local growth and adding value 

This session will outline how rail stations are delivering social and community value, and getting better value from existing infrastructure  by smart planning

Rail's contribution to social value is already very high. Data from: Beyond the tracks: Rail’s contribution to the UK: A WPI Economics Report for Rail Delivery Group suggests that the value of the railways to the economy, the environment and society is £26bn in benefits delivered each year, derived from:

  • The total benefits to passengers are worth £14bn each year

  • The total value of decreased congestion is worth £8bn to people and businesses each year

  • £4bn additional benefits from environmental and social benefits and wider economic impacts

 

Wider economic benefits include:

  • The direct employment contribution of the rail sector is over 103,000 jobs

  • Passengers surveyed reported they spend on average £80 per complete journey

  • Based on the 1.23 billion passenger journeys taken in 2022/23, this means that rail customers could be contributing £98bn annually to local economies

  • 57% would like to see a greater presence of independent businesses in and around stations

  • 73% see their local station as important to helping the local economy and businesses to thrive

15.30

Afternoon networking

Tea & coffee served in the exhibition area

16.00 - 17.15

Session 4: Key case studies and panel

Session led by Philip Beer,  Partner, Burges Salmon

This session will showcase four of the exemplar rail-led regeneration projects in the UK, followed by an expert panel discussion and Q and A

Case studies include: 

Beaulieu Park Station, Essex

The new station is part of a wider regeneration of the Beaulieu Park estate in Chelmsford with new road infrastructure and up to 14,000 homes.

Bow Goods Yard, London

A regeneration scheme led by a community brief to make industrial uses a better neighbour and create better community connections and a vast increase in local employment – up to 5,000 jobs. The optimised rail freight component will support London’s transformation into a greener and less polluted city, removing up to 54,000 HGV each year from London’s roads

York Station Gateway and York Central (tbc)

 

Liverpool Baltic (tbc) 

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17.15 -17:45

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Networking drinks

Published programme under development

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Who you will meet...

Developers and real estate professionals

Government & regulatory bodies

Fund managers and banks

Local authorities

Consultants

Rail companies

Property companies and retailers

Property agents

Regeneration agencies

Lawyers and other professionals

Who you will meet
Book now

Delegate rates and booking

Private sector 1st delegate
 

£345 + VAT

 

Book via TransportXtra.com

Each additional
private sector delegate

£195 + VAT

 

Book via TransportXtra.com

Public 1st sector delegate
 

Generously subsidised by our sponsor

One place  per local authority.
Additional delegates should book additional tickets

Each additional
public sector delegate

£195 + VAT

 

Book via TransportXtra.com

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