Invest in stations to offer passengers crucial first impression.

The rail industry must look beyond “the tracks and the trains” and invest in stations to make them attractive, easy to use, clean and safe, and integrated with other modes of transport.

Andrew McNaughton, professorial fellow at the University of Southampton, told RAIL’s National Rail Recovery Conference: “It’s incredibly important that we consider our stations before we consider anything else.”

“They are our front door and our exit. If we don’t get that right, I don’t think the rest matters very much.”

McNaughton (pictured) said he was “absolutely obsessed” with the Swiss transport system - as it is not simply a rail system, it is integrated with other modes of transport.

He said the Swiss have taken away “high-maintenance, difficult and inappropriate infrastructure” and replaced them with “simple, sleek, low-cost stations” that are weather-proof, have essential areas for storage, and have CCTV.

Increasingly, the Swiss are building low-cost, small convenience stores at their stations. “This brings a new focus back to the station for the community at large and makes the station the heart of the community again,” McNaughton said.

“That just reminds people when they go for their convenience shopping that there is a train service. There is the connection to the big city that is an alternative to road transport.”

He also highlighted the importance of considering where stations are located, as they may have been built more than 120 years ago for different reasons and “the world has moved on”.

For example, a station in New Zealand which used to serve as a prison in Victorian times was moved 500 metres to “where it became useful” and turned into a “thriving interchange” where buses were able to stop.

“That’s the sort of thinking we need if we’re going to make our stations relevant for the 21st century,” McNaughton said.

Laura Shoaf, managing director at Transport for West Midlands, said that the region was investing in its stations.

A £60 million investment is being made to rebuild Birmingham University station - originally designed to accommodate around 500,000 people per year but which now serves more than four million people.

Birmingham’s Perry Barr station is also being redeveloped as part of a £500m regeneration of the area, ahead of the city hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2022. Shoaf said this will lead to “a complete transformation of the place”.

“That’s something we wholeheartedly believe - that we have a role in transport in general to help transform places,” she said.