Community Rail Conference Shines a Spotlight on Local Rail Services
Improving rail services in line with community needs was the subject of Greater Anglia’s community rail conference held 15 November in Ipswich.
The annual event brings together the area’s Community Rail Partnerships, volunteer station adopters, local authorities and other groups and organisations from across East Anglia to meet with representative from Greater Anglia to talk about ways to make further improvements to local rail lines.
Discussions this year included improving rail services for the benefit of local communities, a presentation by Gary Shipp, the Sustainable Transport Projects Co-ordinator for Community Rail Network.
David Harrison, the Senior Portfolio Manager for Commercial Property at Transport UK Advance Ventures talked about bringing rail station buildings into community use; the presentation highlighted several stations including Halesworth which houses the town museum and local community transport service.
A presentation also made note of the contribution of the more than 330 volunteer station adopters who help to improve their local stations under Greater Anglia’s Station Adoption scheme.
Jonathan Denby, Greater Anglia’s Head of Corporate Affairs, said, “Community rail initiatives help to bring railways closer to the communities they serve, encouraging more people to take the train and supporting local communities by making it easier for residents to travel, for work, learning, shopping or leisure, and for visitors or tourists to get around, with benefits for the local economy.
“We’ll continue to build on our strong track record of partnership working, which has seen community rail lines become more and more popular with customers, whilst train services and stations have become more integrated with local communities’ needs, with more frequent services, all year round, in place on most routes than used to be the case.
“Over the last year, we have continued to put funding and resources into working with our community rail partnerships, as well as providing a high level of support for our station adoption programme which continues to have tremendous success, with over 330 adopters and 125 stations now adopted throughout Greater Anglia.
“During the year our station enhancements have also continued apace, with improvements to our station buildings, car parks and cycle facilities, while train performance continues to at record levels, with GA the most punctual operator in the UK over the last 18 months.”
He added: “A huge thanks to all involved for making the conference such a positive, effective event with clear goals and a shared desire to ensure our local lines continue to thrive and maximise the ongoing impact of the exciting transformation delivered by the introduction of our new trains.”
Partnership working in Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Hertfordshire has helped to raise the profile of local rail services; the efforts have helped boost tourism and local economies. Initiatives have also had positive a effect on improving health and well-being through the production of local area guides, station-to-station guided walks, special event trains, community art projects, wildlife initiatives, and partnerships to deliver service improvements and station upgrades.