Introduction

Background

Reston Station, located in the village of Reston within the Scottish Borders, entered service on 23 May 2022. The station itself is located on the East Coast Main Line and is served by TransPennine Express and London North Eastern Railway (LNER) services.

Transport Scotland commissioned Stantec to provide baseline data collection which will be used to support future evaluations of the station. The rationale for investment in the new station was to address existing problems and unlock opportunities by improving access from East Berwickshire to employment, education and cultural opportunities in Edinburgh and Newcastle, and create opportunities for tourism and business investment within East Berwickshire. As part of the commission, Transport Scotland required baseline survey data for different user groups including:

  • Residents
  • Visitors
  • Businesses

In addition, Transport Scotland requested counterfactual data to be collected. Establishing a counterfactual is an important step in evaluation as it measures what would have happened in the absence of the intervention. The impact is therefore considered by comparing the outcomes of the intervention against the counterfactual outcomes. In the context of this project, the counterfactual required research targeted at an area similar to Reston, which does not have access to the rail network.

In order for data to be relevant, all fieldwork, with the exception of the counterfactual survey, had to be completed by 20 May 2022 to allow an accurate ‘before’ opening picture.

Methodology

Baseline data collection was undertaken in order to provide pre-implementation travel pattern data. This will facilitate future evaluations to establish the success of the reopening of Reston Station and whether the project has achieved its objectives.

Three primary surveys were undertaken to understand attitudes and opinions on travel behaviour by locals, visitors and businesses, as well as to establish likely use of train services from Reston and potential benefits to the area. In addition to this, a counterfactual survey covering an area similar to Reston but without a new station was carried out. The purpose of the counterfactual is to allow a comparison, as part of future evaluations, of the impacts in the two areas and understand what would have happened if the station had not been opened.

Surveys were undertaken either over the phone through Computer Aided Telephone Interview (CATI) or using online panels. Online panels were used to identify respondents for each survey.

Resident, Visitor and Business surveys were all undertaken between 9 May 2022 and 20 May 2022. The Counterfactual survey ran from 22 May 2022 to 26 May 2022. Due to the Counterfactual survey being unrelated to Reston, the survey was not constrained by Transport Scotland’s timetable for the opening of Reston station.

The key objectives for each survey were:

Residents

  • To understand existing travel behaviour of local residents.
  • To understand residents attitudes towards different transport options, frequency of services and access to services.
  • To gather information on attitudes and intentions in light of the new rail station at Reston.

Visitors

  • To understand current levels of tourism and activity.
  • To understand travel behaviour of visitors to the area.
  • To gather information on attitudes and intentions in light of the new rail station at Reston.

Businesses

  • To understand the broader impacts of the introduction of the new station e.g. improved access for communities, to employment, education etc.
  • The potential impact for freight users and other businesses.
  • Impact of the rail station on other modes of transport e.g. service reduction; increased traffic flow; parking demand.
  • Monitor wider economic benefits such as evidence of impact on local population levels, labour market supply, changes in land use, retail vitality and local housing market.

Counterfactual

  • Collect baseline data to establish a comparator / counterfactual using primary research

Previous Work

Transport Scotland has undertaken significant work to allow the station to be built at Reston. In addition to detailed design work, it was imperative to develop a full business case to understand the scale of benefits which could be achieved by introducing the station. The business case notes key rationale for the scheme which included the following points:

  • There is a lack of access to a wide range of employment, education, social and leisure opportunities for residents in East Berwickshire;
  • There is poor transport connectivity generally, but particularly public transport, between the East Berwickshire area and the dynamic labour markets in Edinburgh and Newcastle with long and unreliable journey times by car and bus;
  • East Berwickshire underperforms on a range of socio-economic measures and is considered by some stakeholders to be ‘lagging behind’ the rest of Scotland;

Given the above, the Business Case notes the delivery of the station will provide the following:

  • The new station at Reston represents a step-change in terms of public transport accessibility for East Berwickshire, reducing the area’s peripherality and bringing it within closer reach of the principal economic centres in Edinburgh and Newcastle. This will enhance access to employment, education and leisure opportunities which will support social inclusion and encourage inward investment and tourism to the area;
  • The scheme will contribute to the vision of the new National Transport Strategy by reducing inequality, encouraging modal shift to more sustainable modes and supporting inclusive economic growth by providing public transport mode choice options to a wider range of employment and education opportunities from East Berwickshire.

The purpose of this piece of work is therefore to set the baseline from which future evaluations can be compared against, allowing Transport Scotland to regularly monitor the impact of the new station at Reston.