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E-Rail has been crowned ‘Transport Funding Company of the Year’ after being recognised by Corporate LiveWire’s 2020/2021 Scottish Prestige Awards.

The awards recognise small and medium-sized businesses that have proven to be the best in their market over the past 12 months.

The judging criteria covered areas such as service excellence, quality of the product/ service provided, innovative practices, value, ethical and sustainable methods of working, as well as consistency in performance.

Dr George Hazel, Director of E-Rail said: “We work hard to improve people’s lives by improving connectivity.

“We’re proud to receive this award, which recognises over a decade’s hard work in this pioneering area, that involves using land value capture to fund infrastructure projects.”

E-Rail – working with Northumberland County Council – has recently secured the first true land value capture in the UK, generating up to 30% of the cost of reopening the Northumberland Line

E-Rail has been commissioned by Transport North East to bring its ground-breaking Land Value Capture (LVC) methodology to transport schemes in the region.

This comes after E-Rail successfully worked with Northumberland County Council to secure the first true LVC in the UK, generating up to 30% of the cost of reopening the Northumberland Line.

George Hazel, Director of E-Rail said: “Transport North East shares our aspirations to improve the lives of people by improving connectivity through investment in enhancing the UK rail network.

“We’re extremely excited to be working more widely in the North East, following the success in Northumberland. It is becoming clear that LVC is increasingly being taken seriously as one of the key strategic funding components for new fixed transport infrastructure projects.”

E-Rail Director, Dr George Hazel, has been appointed as a board member of Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT).

SPT is the largest of Scotland’s seven regional transport partnerships. SPT run the Glasgow Subway, a host of specialist bus services and are responsible for delivering better public transport for all.

Dr Hazel is committed to supporting organisations in improving transport and is also a non-executive director for the Board of Transport for Edinburgh and Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Scotland.

George Hazel said: “I’m delighted to be appointed to this position on the SPT.  These positions enable me to support the excellent work going on across Scotland and the UK, especially in relation to Mobility as a Service (MaaS) and in Land Value Capture.”

SPT chair Councillor Dr Martin Bartos said:

“I’d like to welcome George Hazel to the SPT Partnership. This is a challenging time for SPT and for transport generally, so the work of the partnership is more important than ever.  I’m confident that the expertise we are gaining with the appointment of, not only George, but all our new members will be an invaluable addition to the partnership and of great benefit to the organisation.”

• Land Value Capture contributions will generate up to 30% of the cost of reopening of the Northumberland Line.
• First true Land Value Capture that works in the UK.
• This approach can be used to deliver most fixed transport infrastructure projects, including contributing to proposals currently shortlisted for “Restoring Your Railways” funding.

A new and unique funding model developed by E-Rail Limited could revolutionise future rail and tram investment, following the successful delivery of Land Value Capture contribution agreements for the proposed Northumberland Line re-opening.

The line – which Beeching closed for passengers in the 1960s – was allocated £34m to commence early works by the Department for Transport (DfT) this week and will see 18 miles of track upgraded and six new stations.

The approval has been helped through E-Rail securing contribution agreements with landowners along the route on behalf of Northumberland County Council (NCC), which are based on the principle that improved connectivity will lead to development and increased land values.

The line is considered essential to help stimulate economic and social improvement across the region. The social and environmental impact on this area will be substantial as currently the road network is congested, and the public transport network is sparse.

Whilst initial funding for the line will come from the public sector, the contribution from landowners – which will be a share of the uplift in land values along the route created by the new line reopening – will come back to the Council, lowering the long-term burden on the taxpayer. The approach taken by NCC, if adopted by other local authorities and transport executives, could help to unlock business cases for projects across the country.

George Hazel OBE, Director of E-Rail explains:

“This has been an excellent example of what is possible by working together for the benefit of the economic prosperity of the community through enhancing the transport system in the region.

“Our approach is a win-win for everyone and helps to create new sources of investment that could be available for infrastructure in the UK. Through harnessing the power of land value capture contributions, we can, in partnership with the private sector, get these projects funded.”

Councillor Richard Wearmouth, Cabinet member for Economic Development at Northumberland County Council said:

“We were keen to explore innovative ways to fund the re-opening of the Northumberland Line to passenger traffic.

“As the method was new to us, every aspect needed to be internally checked and validated in terms of planning, transport, estates, legal, procurement, finance rules and regulations. These detailed discussions satisfied all our requirements and cleared the way to applying this method to capture the land value uplift potential along the line.

“In our view, this method is a significant new way to raise funds for public transport projects, especially heavy and light rail. The partnership with ERail has worked well and their unique expertise has been invaluable.

“In these times of financial restraint this would seem like the ideal tool for Regional and Local Authorities to use to supplement funding for their major transport infrastructure schemes.”

If you would like to find out more about E-Rail, visit e-rail.co.uk or contact comms@e-rail.co.uk