HS2 — Future Train Travel
Designing an anxiety-free travel framework to inform the future HS2 passenger experience
Explored passenger behaviours and emotional drivers to guide long-term experience design decisions for the UK's largest infrastructure project — generating actionable insight early enough to influence future design.
Context & Constraints
HS2 is one of the UK's largest infrastructure projects, involving multiple stakeholders, long delivery timelines, and highly diverse passenger needs. The challenge was to generate actionable insight early enough to influence future design — while working within significant uncertainty and continuously evolving system definitions. The risk of acting too late was real: experience decisions baked into infrastructure are expensive to reverse. The work needed to surface what passengers actually felt and needed, translate that into a shared language across all design and supply chain partners, and do so in a way that remained useful long after the initial research was complete.
Key Insights
Anxiety clustered around micro-moments, not whole journeys
Passenger stress was not evenly distributed — it concentrated around specific decision points and transitions where information or control disappeared.
Emotional reassurance mattered as much as efficiency
Passengers needed to feel safe and informed, not just move quickly. Reassurance — through communication, wayfinding, and visible cues — was as operationally important as speed.
Unpredictability amplified stress more than physical constraints
Not knowing what to expect next was consistently more distressing than delays, crowds, or physical discomfort — pointing to information design as a critical lever.
Approach
Multi-method research designed to capture the full passenger experience — live, in-context, and with diverse user groups.
01 Intercept interviews (×40)
Conducted with passengers mid-journey and in stations to capture live emotional state, decision-making, and real-time experience of anxiety triggers.
02 In-context observation (×8 stations)
Observed passenger behaviour across eight major UK train stations to map naturally occurring patterns, bottlenecks, and moments of confusion or distress.
03 Depth interviews — accessibility (×15)
Extended conversations with passengers with accessibility needs to surface experience gaps invisible to standard observation — ensuring the framework served all passengers.
Role & Ownership
Project Manager & Research Lead
- Led delivery across timelines, stakeholders, and research streams — from fieldwork and synthesis through to framework development and executive presentation.
- Designed all research instruments, facilitated fieldwork across the UK, and owned synthesis into the Anxiety-Free Travel Framework.
- Ensured insights were translated into clear, actionable tools usable by HS2 design and engineering teams — and all future supply chain partners working on the project.
System & Capabilities Delivered
Tools built to last — designed to remain useful throughout the full lifecycle of the HS2 project.
01 Anxiety-Free Travel Framework
Defined by cause, anxiety, and aspirational outcome — providing a shared language for passenger-centred decision-making across all HS2 design partners.
View
02 Film
Summarised research findings and interview excerpts to humanise the insight — delivered to the client, stakeholders, and future HS2 suppliers.
03 Passenger Journey Toolkit
Journey maps, intercept interview guides, and micro-moments documentation — tools the HS2 team could continue using independently throughout the project's lifecycle.
"The detailed journey maps, framework and anxiety-free travel tagline is now the foundation for our ongoing design and development work. We are constantly referring to and using the tools."
Martin Philips
Customer Experience Manager, HS2
Outcome & Impact
Research that shaped a national infrastructure programme — not just a report
Framework incorporated into HS2 design handbook
The Anxiety-Free Travel Framework became a foundational reference across HS2's internal design and procurement processes.
Informed HS2 long-term vision for 2030
Research directly shaped the HS2 connected travel experience vision — influencing decisions that will affect millions of future passengers.
Shared language across all suppliers
Provided a common framework for passenger-centred decision-making across every design and engineering partner working on HS2.