Ideas — For small and medium stations

The station and station approach are combined in a green pedestrian bridge that crosses the railway line creating a community garden close to the town. The bridge will serve three functions: it will link the station to the towns’ centre (many stations in small towns are outside of the centre). It makes crossing the railway line safe for pedestrians and it allows wildlife and flowers to cross.

The station will be placed underneath the bridge and the remaining space underneath the bridge will be used as offices and community services: just like the space underneath the traditional railway arches has been the home to small businesses and start-ups and a place of urban regeneration. The ends of both sides of the bridge will be used as bicycle storage. In the station hub there is space for amazon pick up points and cash machines together with the ticket selling machines.

The bridge can come in different widths, depending on the size of the town and can have stairs at one or both ends if there is no space for the full bridge at the specific station.

On top of the bridge we propose a series of ​‘pavilions’. These can be designed as part of the station, but also by local artists and architects to make the station recognisable for travellers. The pavilions can house community cafés, food distribution centres/​offices or consultancy rooms. 

The proposal uses the traditional function of the railway arches as places of regeneration while making them as a link between the station and the towns. The proposed structure is a series of timber arches that will support a CLT slab. The CLT would be dimensioned in such a way that it will be easy to expand the bridge and add pavilions to it. Rain water will be collected and reused to water the plants on the bridge which will also use hydroponic technology.