Railway stations are a key element of railway networks and offer a unique potential to develop into sustainable urban centres. They are a stable industrial infrastructure through which materials, energy, water, and people flow. However, their redevelopment has rarely been considered from the perspective of their contribution to city economy and public life. In this article, the authors propose a set of measures for improving resource utilization at station level and suggest a new role for stations as stable infrastructures in cities.
The concept of a railway station is very complex and has evolved over time with the evolution of the railway systems itself. Early stations often had both passenger and goods facilities. Later on, a station would usually be dedicated to passengers (or goods) only. This was due to the fact that some lines were exclusively passenger and others were mixed passenger and freight. Nowadays, only a few of the old dual-purpose stations remain.
Most stations today are owned by railway companies and managed by them. They are characterized by a formalized entrance with ticket offices, a waiting area and platforms for passengers to board/alight the train. A number of other facilities are also available depending on the size of the station. For example, there may be shops, information enquiry points, toilets, luggage carts or even food vendors. The design of these spaces is usually based on codes that define the location and arrangement of services at each station. In addition, most stations offer interchange with other modes of transport. This can range from a bus stop across the street to underground rapid transit rail stations.
Some of the participants at the workshop highlighted that despite their central role in urban transport, most stations have lost their identity and social value. Especially since the rise of the automobile, railway stations have been gradually viewed as non-places, isolated from their urban surroundings. In some cases this was due to an urban exodus causing the loss of demand for local lines and consequently their closure, in other cases it was because the paved roads facilitated the access to private cars.
The participants at the workshop also stressed that it is important for the redevelopment of railway stations to consider their role as stable infrastructures in cities and that they can play an important role in city development. The repositioning of the station as a public space that links urban tissues and allows social interaction, would enable cities to rethink their policies towards the urban use of this infrastructure and create value in its surrounding areas.
Finally, the workshop participants stressed that there is a need to explore how to make better use of the energy and other resources available at the station. A unique opportunity lies in the exploitation of the stations’ energy infrastructure to generate energy and reduce energy consumption. A new approach of reusing the energy infrastructure at the station could help to overcome some of the challenges that have been encountered in the past with the management of railway stations.
