Prof. John Preston BA MA PhD MCILT FRGS FCIHT

Professor of Rail Transport

Prof. John Preston is Professor of Rail Transport within Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of Southampton.

Professor Preston has just completed a term of office as Head of the Transportation Research Group. He was previously Head of the Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering and Science Academic Unit (2011-2014), Director of the Transportation Research Group (2008-10) and Head of the School of Civil Engineering and the Environment (2010-11). He has over 30 years of experience in transport teaching and research, having previously held posts at the Universities of Leeds and Oxford. His research in transport covers demand and capacity modelling, regulatory studies, economic appraisal and land-use and environment interactions. His initial work concentrated on rail but subsequent work has covered all the major modes of transport. He has held over 130 research grants and contracts, worth over £10 million, and has published over 300 articles, book chapters, conference and working papers.

His current work at Southampton includes leadership of the DITTO consortium, that is undertaking research to optimise rail operations, and of the University’s contribution to the Centre for Sustainable Travel Choices. He is also providing transport expertise to the Track to the Future and MISTRAL projects. He previously led the iConnect consortium that undertook an evaluation of engineering interventions to promote walking and cycling, and contributed to the Track21 and Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium Programme Grants.

Can we make transport more sustainable? — Can transport be more sustainable?

Links to external websites

"Transport's innovation problem: why haven’t flying cars taken off?"

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Research

Responsibilities

Publications

Teaching

Contact

Research interests

Current research is focussed on two broad areas: demand, capacity and cost modelling for sustainable transport infrastructure (Track 21, Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium, Rail Capacity and Demand), with an emphasis on rail, and on the evaluation of transport interventions designed to promote sustainable choices (Centre for Sustainable Travel Choices, iConnect).

Research group

Transportation Group

Research project(s)

iConnect (Impact of Constructing Non-Motorised Networks and Evaluating Changes in Travel)

Centre for Sustainable Travel Choices

Track 21 - Railway Track for the 21st Century

Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium (ITRC)

Rail Capacity and Demand

Research work in rail capacity at Southampton was initiated with the OCCASION project (2010-2012), followed-up with a Knowledge Transfer Secondment with Arup (2013-14) and continues with the DITTO project (2014-2017). Research work on rail demand forecasting at Southampton was initiated with Rail Research UK (2003-2010) and has continued with a series of grants, contracts and consultancy studies.

Doctoral Research Projects

Professor Preston is interested in supervising Doctoral Students in three broad areas: Transport Economics and Policy Transport, Energy and the Environment Project Economics and Management

OCCASION

OCCASION was funded by the RSSB, EPSRC and DfT and had objectives to identify and investigate innovative methods of increasing the capacity of nodes (i.e. junctions and stations) on the railway network, without substantial investment in additional infrastructure. To this end, a state-of-the-art review of recent and on-going work in this area was conducted, and tools were developed to (i) assess existing and predicted levels of capacity utilisation at nodes, thus filling a gap in the current assessment ‘toolbox’, and (ii) investigate improved options for re-routeing and re-scheduling trains, with a view to reducing capacity utilisation levels and making more use of the capacity potentially available, including consideration of the interactions between timetable changes at adjacent nodes. Using a case study of Peterborough and the East Coast Main Line, these tools provided solutions to deliver reduced levels of capacity utilisation, and thus increases in capacity and/or service reliability. Incremental changes to existing railway technologies (e.g. improved points) and operating practice (e.g. relaxations of the Timetable Planning Rules) were investigated, as were concepts from other modes (e.g. road and air transport) and sectors (e.g. production scheduling). The capacity utilisation analysis tools have since been used in collaboration with Arup in the Capacity Charge Recalibration for Network Rail.

ITRC MISTRAL – Transport Research

Metamorphosis

Member of the Scientific Committee of the World Conference on Transport Research Society (WCTRS).

Co-Chair of WCTRS Special Interest Group A3: Rail (see http://www.wctrs-society.com)

Board Member of the International Association of Rail Operations Research (IAROR) (http://www.iaror.org/board.html)

Steering Committee Member of the International Conference on Competition and Ownership of Land Passenger Transport (and Conference Organiser in 1997 and 2013) (http://thredbo-conference-series.org)

Member of the Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis.

Elected Fellow of the Transport Research Foundation.

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Articles

Books

Pagliara, F., Preston, J., & Simmonds, D. (2010). Residential Location Choice - Models and Applications. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-12788-5
Rajé, F., Grieco, M., & Hine, J. (2004). Transport, demand management and social inclusion: the need for ethnic perspectives. Ashgate.
Hine, J., & Preston, J. (Eds.) (2003). Integrated futures and transport choices: UK transport policy beyond the 1998 white paper and transport acts. Ashgate.
Preston, J., Smith, H. L., & Starkie, D. (Eds.) (2000). Integrated Transport Policy. Implications for Regulation and Competition. (Oxford Studies in Transport). Ashgate.
Mackie, P. J., & Preston, J. (Eds.) (1996). The local bus market: A case study of regulatory change. (Institute of Transport Studies Series). Avebury.
Preston, J., Nash, C., & Hopkinson, P. (1991). Longer term issues in transport: the proceedings of a research conference sponsored by the Department of Transport. Avebury.

Book Chapters

Conferences

Letter/Editorial

Ben-Akiva, M., Bonsall, P., Hayashi, Y., & Preston, J. (2006). Editorial. Transport Policy, 13(1), 1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2005.11.005

Reports

Preston, J. (2018). The UK passenger rail system: how and why is it changing? (Future of Mobility: Evidence Review). Foresight, Government Office for Science. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/761942/Passengerrailtransport.pdf
Tran, M., Hall, J., Hickford, A. J., Nicholls, R. J., Alderson, D., Barr, S., Baruah, P., Beavan, R., Birkin, M., Blainey, S. P., Byers, E., Chaudry, M., Curtis, T., Ebrahimy, R., Eyre, N., Hiteva, R., Jenkins, N., Jones, C., Kilsby, C., ... Zuo, C. (2014). National infrastructure assessment: Analysis of options for infrastructure provision in Great Britain, Interim results. Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford.
Mackett, R., Paulley, N., Preston, J. M., Shires, J., Titheridge, H., Wardman, M., White, P., & Balcombe, R. (Ed.) (2004). The demand for public transport: a practical guide. TRL Limited.
Preston, J. M. (2004). Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford: annual report 2002. Hemming Information Services.

Code	Title	Role
CENV6112	TRANSPORT, ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT	Coordinator
CENV6152	PROJECT ECONOMICS AND MANAGEMENT	Coordinator
CENV6153	TRANSPORT MODELLING	Lecturer
CENV6016	TRANSPORT ECONOMICS	Coordinator
CENV6101	PASSENGER AND FREIGHT TRANSPORT (for 2017/18 AY)	Lecturer
CENV3065	RAILWAY ENGINEERING AND OPERATONS	Lecturer
FEEG6021	SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS	Lecturer
FEEG3003	INDIVIDUAL PROJECT	Lecturer
FEEG6013	GROUP DESIGN PROJECT	Lecturer
FEEG6012	MSc RESEARCH PROJECT	Lecturer
FEEG6030	CDT-SIS GROUP RESEARCH PROJECT	Lecturer
CENV6109	TRANSPORT PLANNING:POLICY AND GOVERNANCE	Lecturer
CENV6169	TRANSPORATION ENGINEERING: TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT (for 2017/18 AY)	Lecturer

Prof. John Preston
Engineering, University of Southampton, Southampton Boldrewood Innovation Campus, Burgess Road, Southampton, SO16 7QF

Room Number: 176/4007

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