Placement of railway stations in urban settings and the impact of location on performance of the station

Abstract

This research focused on the impact of the city has on the functioning of an urban railway station. Methodology for this study has derived from Node / Place categorization for railway stations introduced by Bertolini, and it has modified to suit the local context. Ten consecutive railway stations along Keleni Valley Line have been selected as case studies after careful consideration. Direct observation, mapping and informal interviews become the main data collection method. Two main performative parameters for railway stations can be derived through incorporating the passenger volume as criteria indicative of a successful achievement. Accordingly the station ability to function as an efficient transport node is considered as a performative parameter and it has been calculated by multiplying the values of ‘node index’ and number of passenger volume. The second performative parameter is the station’s ability in generating diverse urban place. It has been calculated by multiplying the values of ‘place diversity index’ and the number of passenger volume. From the selected case studies, Nugegoda railway station preformed as the best in both categories followed by Maharagama railway station. Pangiriwaththa station performed as the weakest as a transport node. Considering the perfomative parameter in generating diverse urban place, Udahamulla railway station ranked the last'