The evaluation of new local rail stations in West Yorkshire

Between 1982 and 1984 six new stations were opened on passenger
railways in West Yorkshire whilst additional sites were being considered. The aim
of this thesis is to assess and evaluate demand at the six existing and up to 28
potential new stations in West Yorkshire. This involved three inter-related
strands of research. Firstly, market research was carried out at the six new
stations opened and was particularly useful in determining the proportions of
travellers generated and abstracted. Secondly, statistical models, based on
aggregate simultaneous and disaggregate mode split structures, were developed
and their forecasting abilities assessed. In this part of our work a subsidiary aim
emerged; namely to assess the trade-off between complexity and accuracy in
modelling new station demand. Thirdly, an evaluation framework, using one set
of demand forecasts, was developed, taking into account the costs and benefits
to Public Transport operators, new station users and society as a whole.
It was found that the six new stations opened in West Yorkshire may be
judged a success in both financial and social terms, whilst up to 10 sites were
identified as representing good social investments. In terms of our subsidiary
aim it was found that, given limited resources, simple modelling approaches, such
as provided by an aggregate simultaneous model, may be preferable to more
complex approaches when evaluating small-scale new station programmes. Our
findings are shown to have implications beyond West Yorkshire as simple guide
lines for new station site identification and evaluation have been determined.