This playbook is informed by the lessons learned from the Station Innovation Zone (SIZ) at Bristol Temple Meads (2023-2028). This is a collaboration between Connected Places Catapult, Bristol Temple Meads station team and Network Rail Western Route. The Catapult received funding from InnovateUK to establish the Innovation Zone at a NR owned station. Bristol Temple Meads was chosen out of total of 6 shortlisted stations.


The playbook is in ongoing development. As we go through the 6 years of the programme, we will reflect on experiences and update the document until the end of the programme, which is scheduled to be in 2028. As such, you may find that the playbook has changed when you choose to use it at different points in time.

We have learned that a station is not ‘one thing’. Instead, a station hosts a myriad of organisational processes, with different roles and responsibilities for individuals. These processes may not always align, especially as different organisations are responsible for them. It is therefore important to get a good understanding of the operational structure of the station. We are still in the process of developing this understanding fully, understanding that it will be different for many stations. (An overview of the different nature of stations can be found in the strategic guide for station innovation, p22-25.)

The Station Innovation Zone provides a space where trials can be undertaken safely and effectively within an operational environment. It is a vehicle in which to experience, understand and mitigate the challenges and barriers that exist to inhibit innovation. It seeks to be ‘positively disruptive’, sitting between NR’s strategic regional visions and procedure-led day-to-day management. In many ways the SIZ is about culture change within the industry and Network Rail.


A Station Innovation Zone is a process in which you may have to change how ‘things normally go’, to investigate the impact of something new. It works at two levels:​

• testing new solutions to existing challenges in a live station environment that will improve customer experience; and​
• identifying and managing barriers that exist when trying to innovate in rail stations. ​

Through the SIZ model, NR and other station operators are given the time, budget and expertise to work through barriers to innovation that otherwise could not be overcome. The SIZ at Bristol Temple Meads is a collaboration between NR and CPC. NR provides access to operational processes and structures, CPC provides time, budget and innovation expertise. Together, through the testing of innovations in a live station environment, NR and CPC are able to run into barriers to station innovation, face and overcome these.

This playbook is set up as one approach to developing a Station Innovation Zone. This is not the only approach to testing and trialling innovation at a station. What we can say, is that this approach has been trialled and tested. The lessons learned during that process have been captured in this playbook as recommendations.


Throughout, this playbook describes the barriers and challenges of running a SIZ, and how they may be overcome. We share our experiences from our case study at Bristol Temple Meads and reflect on how a culture of innovation was nurtured between Network Rail and stakeholders throughout the different stages of the SIZ. 

Accountability and transparency are vital operate a successful SIZ.