Stratford-upon-Avon Parkway
Supporting Warwickshire County Council with a new parkway station, securing funding, tendering for contractors and project managing its delivery. The project was delivered on budget and opened to passengers seven months earlier than the original target date.
Project Overview
Stratford-upon-Avon is a very popular tourist destination and a town with a substantial commuter population. At peak times the town centre, including the roads leading to the existing train station, becomes very congested.
To increase patronage on the Stratford to Birmingham railway, reduce road traffic congestion on the local and strategic road networks, boost tourism and assist the local economy, Warwickshire County Council launched the Stratford-upon-Avon Local Sustainable Transport Project.
A key part of this was to build a new parkway station alongside the existing park and ride facility to the north of the town and to secure more train services between Stratford-upon-Avon and Birmingham.
Opened
Cost
Securing funding
Working on this project, one of our first priorities was to assist county planners in developing a viable scheme, including the business case, projections of passenger numbers and proposed train timetables, all of which had to be aligned with local, regional and national transport objectives. This was instrumental in the bid that we helped prepare to Centro and to the DfT’s Local Sustainable Transport Fund. Both were ultimately successful, providing the majority of the funding for the project.
Tendering and managing the project
We provided experienced people to manage the tendering process, firstly for the designer and then for the engineering contractors. We identified and instigated opportunities to accelerate the Design and Build contract procurement, a key factor in delivering the station seven months early.
Negotiating with the railway
We led negotiations with the rail industry to secure all the agreements necessary to open the new station. Approaching the train operating company, London Midland, with our passenger projections, we successfully negotiated a significant increase in services to both the new station and the existing station in the town centre. We also opened discussions with London Midland and Centro, resulting in new services which re-joined Stratford-upon-Avon and Solihull.
Results
The station opened seven months early in May 2013 with passenger numbers almost doubling between 2014 and 2015. In 2023 we celebrated the 10 year anniversary of the station and despite the challenges of Covid, more than 700,000 passengers have used the station since it opened.
