Parsons Brinckerhoff, one of the world’s leading planning, engineering, and program and construction management organisations, has appointed design and ergonomics consultancy CCD to provide human factors expertise to HS2 Ltd. CCD is using its expertise to provide a rationale for the design of elements of the HS2 high speed rail network as the enabling legislation is prepared for Parliamentary approval.
The consultancy has been tasked with researching and describing the door-to-door passenger experience that HS2 should deliver and providing insight into the human issues around operations and maintenance. The work will feed into design work being developed on stations, trains, passenger information, maintenance facilities and signalling control.
David Watts, CCD’s Managing Director says, “It’s great to see human requirements being captured at such an early stage in this project. Putting people at the centre of the new high speed rail network will ultimately mean a better, more satisfying experience for passengers and staff. It is important to understand who the customers will be, what are their needs, and expectations and how this should be reflected in the stations and trains which will be operating in 2026. Our work will help the engineers who are creating HS2 to think more about passengers in delivering the railway they need and want – this will be critical in delivering a service which is fit for the twenty-first century.”
CCD is working under Parsons Brinckerhoff’s remit for HS2 – the design of the high speed rail systems for Phase 1 of the project, from London to West Midlands and the design of modifications to the existing Network Rail systems at key interface points such as Euston, Old Oak Common and the connection to the West Coast mainline, to enable the construction of HS2 and ensure minimal disruption to existing rail services. Parsons Brinckerhoff will prepare the preliminary designs for high speed and conventional railway systems, to support the Hybrid Bill submission, incorporating the appropriate balance of functionality, safety, sustainability, cost and value.
CCD’s consultancy work will provide a firm foundation for emerging designs for stations, trains, control centres and depots so they can be taken forward after the bill into the next stages of design.
In more detail, CCD is conducting ethnographic-based research to understand the passenger of the future and what experience they want when using HS2. This includes looking at demographic and sociological trends, identifying how inclusive design can be at the heart of the design, how technology might influence the experience passengers have and what kind of passenger behaviours are seen on trains and how the design needs to meet them. CCD will describe the door-to-door journey experience for passengers including arriving at stations, using stations, getting on to trains, interchange at stations, passenger information, booking tickets, finding information, etc.
CCD is undertaking service design work to capture the elements of the operating organisation that have to function to deliver the passenger experience. The operations and maintenance of HS2 will deliver a highly reliable and fast service ad CCD is working on some of the details of this that will deliver an outstanding customer service and enable the passengers to have the positive experience that is wanted. They are providing human-centred research so that the passenger and staff needs are described in a visually accessible and compelling way by the design team, the public and the media. They are also using this to look at all aspects of the system to make sure the design and service is joined up.
For more details about CCD, visit the CCD website.
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