Background

Improving the accessibility of the railway requires investment decisions to reflect the value that passengers and potential passengers place on facilities that make journeys easier, safer and more practicable. However, the benefits of accessibility improvements are not always fully represented by conventional transport appraisal evidence.

The Great British Railways Transition Team commissioned Accent and PJM Economics to develop a stronger empirical basis for assessing these benefits. The study investigated willingness to pay for accessibility improvements among both rail users and people who might use rail if it were more accessible. It combined stated preference research with advanced behavioural analysis and a practical benefits-calculation tool.

The resulting work provided a consistent framework for examining how accessibility improvements may affect traveller welfare and rail demand. Rather than producing research findings in isolation, Accent and PJM Economics translated the valuation evidence into a spreadsheet-based tool designed to support the appraisal of individual improvements and packages of measures.

Approach

The sampling method included a general-public research panel of rail users and potential rail users, station-based recruitment of rail users, direct sampling of holders of Disabled Persons Railcards and recruitment through a disabled motorists’ channel.

The final sample was 3,889 participants.

In the first stated preference exercise rail alternatives were described using accessibility features and journey time.

The second stated preference exercise used a contingent valuation approach to examine the value of a package providing the best service levels across the accessibility features.

The questionnaire was tested before the main fieldwork through cognitive depth interviews and a quantitative pilot. The design was refined after each stage.

Independent peer review was provided during the study by academic specialists from the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds. This external scrutiny strengthened the methodological development and interpretation of the valuation evidence.

Outcomes

A defining feature of the project was the translation of the research into a usable accessibility benefits calculator.

The calculator embedded the valuation evidence within a behavioural framework linking accessibility improvements to benefits experienced by existing rail users, potential changes in rail demand including journeys that might become feasible because accessibility barriers had been removed or reduced.

The study gave the client a more consistent and transparent foundation for incorporating accessibility benefits into investment appraisal.

It provided a strong empirical basis for recognising accessibility within railway investment decisions. Its relevance extends beyond individual schemes: it offers a common framework through which different improvements can be considered more consistently across the network.

Accent also translated the resulting valuation evidence into Roadmap Actions Delivery Pipeline dashboard, using PowerBI. The audience for the dashboard was board-level members.