Regional rail planning; a study of the importance of ‘steering’ and ‘pragmatism’ in stakeholder networks

This paper investigates the significance of networks in regional rail planning and how these networks can help regional planners meet the needs of local stakeholders. The research question focuses on the identification of the relative importance of three core factors in regional planning – communicative discourse, steering and environment. A case study of the Highlands and Islands region of Scotland was studied, with qualitative data analysed by triangulation through semi-structured interviews and social network analysis (SNA).