News

North Star Consultancy has just released its annual review of the global air-rail market share for air-rail operators. The report shows a continuation in the surge seen in last year’s air-rail market share, which is driven by targeted investment by participating operators in marketing, the customer experience and customer perception as well as competitive awareness. The graph below demonstrates the trend.

Read more: Global air-rail market share report 2016: Air-rail market share still on the rise

London Luton Airport is calling on the Government to include a requirement to introduce four fast trains per hour from central London to Luton Airport Parkway (LAP) as part of the upcoming East Midlands rail refranchising process.

According to an independent economic analysis by North Star Consultancy, increasing the number of hourly fast trains to LAP from one to four through timetable change could significantly increase rail revenue up to £110 million at no cost to the rail operator or DfT, and could almost double the number of passengers travelling by train to the airport; reducing traffic congestion by 70,000 journeys and saving 500 tonnes of CO2.

Read more: London Luton Airport and partners call on Government for express style train services

We are delighted to announce that Light Rail specialist Micheala Keating has joined North Star. 

Michaela is a passenger transport operations professional with 25 years’ experience in the procurement, planning, implementation and delivery of public transport services, both as ultimate operator and as consultant to client/Local Authority organisations. 

Her career has evolved from front-line operational roles (including driving LRVs, revenue protection, customer service and control centre operations) to director level and consultancy positions. 

Whilst her specialism is in light rail, Michaela has also gained significant experience of other transport modes ranging from bus, BRT and metro to patient transport and transport on demand through her involvement in bid teams and work streams on a diverse range of UK and international projects.

Read more: North Star welcomes Light Rail specialist Michaela Keating

In March, Richard Brown presented a paper at the annual Passenger Terminal Conference in Cologne focusing on strategic partnership agreements between airports and railway operators and highlighting both revenue and mode share benefits. A case study focussed on London Luton Airport. During 18 months of cooperation every touch point in the customer journey has been targeted for improvement showing consistent year on year growth of in excess of 40%

Following a well-received presentation on Middle East Rail Projects at the UK Light Rail Conference 2015, Mariana Kajen will be providing a progress update overview on the Dubai Metro extension, Riyadh and Qatar systems at the UK Light Rail Conference 2016 in Birmingham on July 27-28.

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