Project Overview

We’re supporting Warwickshire County Council (WCC) in promoting the development and delivery of the new station, which will serve a number of key sites, including the Rugby Sustainable Urban Extension (SUE) at Houlton that will create 6,200 new homes once fully built out.  The new station will provide sustainable rail travel options for people living in the Houlton development, as well as those working at the Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT), which is predicted to grow the number of jobs provided from the current 8,000 to over 17,000.

In turn, the new station will contribute to the sustainability and environment of Rugby itself, alleviating congestion on the strategic road network and local highways while freeing capacity for more local people to use the existing Rugby station. Rugby Parkway will provide new passenger rail access to frequent, fast, direct services to London, Milton Keynes, Northampton, Coventry and Birmingham. The new station will significantly improve direct business-to-business connectivity to major UK economic centers.

Located at the crossroads of the UK strategic highway network, easily accessible from the M1, M6, M45, A5 and A14, Rugby Parkway will support significant transfer of journeys from road to rail. This project is consistent with WCC’s 2011-26 Local Transport Plan, the Rugby Core Strategy and the emerging CWLEP strategy for enhanced rail services to support Rugby’s 35% growth to 2026.

The new station will comprise two platforms, including a footbridge, ramps, and passenger lifts, as well as the creation of a new highway access, bus stop, and a car park with the capacity to meet the strategic aims of a parkway-type station.  It is intended that this will be a third party funded development, financed through private investment based on a revenue share model, agreed with the Department for Transport.

What we did

As Warwickshire County Council’s Delivery Partner and Framework Rail Advisors for the Rugby Parkway project, we have been working with our client for the last 3+ years to develop the proposals for the new station to improve access to the rail network for thousands of new and existing residents across the area. This has involved all parts of the SLC Group including Rail, Property and Investments.

SLC Investments supported Warwickshire County Council assess various options to fund, deliver and manage the new railway station, which led to the identification of a preferred approach to secure a strategic investment partner once planning consent has been achieved for the project.

This preferred approach builds upon the Council’s past experience and success from partnering with the private sector to fund and deliver new railway stations, such as Warwick Parkway and Coleshill Parkway stations. It is proposed that the ongoing funding, delivery and asset management responsibilities for the station will be transferred to the long term strategic investment partner, which aligns with the Council’s aims and objectives.

Next steps

SLC Investments continues to support Warwickshire County Council develop and implement its preferred funding and delivery strategy. Upon conclusion of ongoing key project development activities, a process will be undertaken to evaluate and select a strategic investor partner with the competence, capability and experience to take the project through PACE (Project Acceleration in a Controlled Environment) Stages 2 – 4 of development and delivery, and the ongoing station operational asset management.