Citizens' Rail

Category: Aachen

  • Transnational school visit – the build-up continues

    Transnational school visit – the build-up continues

    Excitement is mounting for next week’s epic school trip from Lancashire to Aachen and Heerlen. Children from Padiham Green CE Primary School have been making their final preparations, from creating luggage labels (above) to writing to the queen to let her know about their adventure!

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    The trip is the children’s well-earned reward for delivering a fantastic presentation and warm welcome to Citizens’ Rail’s European partners during their meeting in Lancashire in July (read the full story so far).

    The school will set off at 6am on Monday morning for their five-day trip. The visit days, will see the children travel by coach, ferry and rail. Colleagues from the Citizens’ Rail project in both the Netherlands and Germany have arranged educational visits in their respective countries to ensure that the children have an interesting and fulfilling time. The highlight for the children is to spend time in a German school with children of their own age group. During this time the children will work together to produce artwork named “The Distance Between” which can be displayed at railway stations both in Germany, the Netherlands and England. It is hoped that more permanent links will be forged between the two schools after this ground-breaking visit.

    The children have been busy raising funds through various events at school to contribute towards the visit. Additional funding for the trip is being provided by Citizens’ Rail, the DCRDF Fund, UK German Connection and Abellio.


    [button size=”large” color=”#ffffff” background=”#d42053″ radius=”0px” type=”flat” link=”http://aachen2014.blogspot.co.uk/” newwindow=”false” icon=”” ]Follow the children’s trip on their fantastic blog[/button]




    Newspapers produced by the children:

    Letters to the BBC and the Queen:

  • Solving the problem of the Invisible Station

    Solving the problem of the Invisible Station

    When a station is “invisible” to the public – due to its tucked away location, poor signage or inadequate promotion – bad things happen. Passenger numbers are held back, rail users can feel isolated and unsafe, and the station’s potential is squandered. To crack this conundrum, Citizens’ Rail has been working with local communities on solutions at four stations in the UK, France and Germany.

  • Lancashire school children prepare to visit Aachen

    Lancashire school children prepare to visit Aachen

    School pupils who welcomed Citizens’ Rail partners to Burnley during the summer are soon to make the return trip – embarking on an adventure to the German city of Aachen.

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    The story so far
    In July, the Year 5 class from Padiham Green CE Primary School greeted Citizens’ Rail partners from France, Germany and the Netherlands at Burnley Manchester Road station. They performed a play about the history of the area’s railway (complete with historical top hats and moustaches – see photos), followed by presentations about what they had learned about each of the partner regions. The children also created a wide range of railway-related artwork, which adorned the station’s new community room.

    The partners were hugely impressed and touched by the effort and imagination that the children had clearly invested in learning about the culture, economy, food and history of each local area. The pupils in turn were excited to meet representatives from each of the countries they had been studying – providing a chance to find out more, and to try out their language skills. Uwe Müller from Stadt Aachen said:

    “The children’s work and enthusiasm was really outstanding! I was very impressed by what they had learned and presented about Aachen. I hope that one day we might be able to arrange for the children to visit our cities in person.”

    The next chapter
    Now Uwe’s invitation has become reality. Next month, the class of 30 pupils and 8 adults will be travelling to and staying in Aachen. They will spend one day in a German school, working alongside similar aged children, forging new links and friendships. Exploring Aachen will be high on the itinerary in order that the children can visit the many places of interest previously researched at school in Padiham. A visit to the Netherlands is also planned – travelling by train from Aachen to Heerlen. Teacher Janet Ennis said:

    “This exceptional transnational project is about expanding the learning horizons of the Year 5 pupils of Padiham Green CE Primary School, many of whom will be travelling abroad for the first time. The children are very proud to represent their school and also appreciate the task of becoming ambassadors for their town, county and country!”

    To prepare for the trip, the children have been taking after school German lessons (see photos below), and their adventure has captured the interest of the town.

    The Lancashire Telegraph newspaper recently paid a visit to the school to find out more, and Burnley Football Club invited the children to the stadium to collect a large selection of goodies. The class are now fully equipped with pencil cases and stationery, key rings, door plaques, back packs and beanie hats for the upcoming trip, and even have enough to present to their European school friends too.

    The children have been busy raising funds through various events at school to contribute towards the visit. Additional funding for the trip is being provided by Citizens’ Rail, the DCRDF Fund, UK German Connection and Abellio.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Follow the children’s preparations for their trip on their fantastic blog.

    The children at their after school German lessons

    Picking up goodies at Burnley FC

  • German academic enjoys trip to research UK community rail

    German academic enjoys trip to research UK community rail

    One of the German members of Citizens’ Rail’s academic team enjoyed an action-packed visit last week to research the UK’s community rail sector.

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    Fresh from his presentation to the International Geographers’ Union in Krakow, Dominik Elsmann from RWTH Aachen University (pictured left above, with Richard Burningham of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership) visited the UK to interview a range of experienced figures from the country’s long-standing community rail sector.

    The research will help to inform his PhD on “Regional railway governance”, with a specific focus on participatory approaches. In this context he will compare two case study regions in Germany and Great Britain.

    Also as part of the trip, Dominik joined the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership at their local conference – giving the opportunity to hear from speakers from the rail industry, local authorities and the community rail sector. The conference was preceded by a social evening for early attendees. This included a “music train” on the Tamar Valley line (pictured), enjoyed by delegates and local passengers alike.

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    As the final part of the visit, a productive planning meeting with the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership was held. This focused on the relationship and links between Citizens’ Rail’s academic evaluation, and the project’s practitioner toolkit – a free resource being developed to help rail professionals and others to get local communities more involved in their local and regional railways.


  • Presenting at an international geographers’ conference

    Presenting at an international geographers’ conference

    Dominik Elsmann from RWTH Aachen University presented on the topic of “Citizens’ Rail – Using citizens‘ participation for rail revitalization” at the International Geographical Union conference in Krakow this month.

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    The presentation formed part of the session on “Geography of Governance – Geography, governance and citizens’ participation“. It was a great opportunity to promote the Citizens’ Rail project to a dedicated audience and to exchange knowledge on this important topic. Geographers from all over the world joined the conference, which takes place annually.


    View the slides from Dominik’s presentation:




  • Citizens’ Rail at the International Geographical Union

    Citizens’ Rail at the International Geographical Union

    Dominik Elsmann from RWTH Aachen University has been accepted to speak at the International Geographical Union’s 2014 conference on “Citizens’ Rail – Using citizens‘ participation for rail revitalization”.

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    The conference takes place next month in Krakow, and the presentation will form part of the session on “Geography of Governance – Geography, governance and citizens’ participation“. It is a great opportunity to promote the Citizens’ Rail project to a dedicated audience and to exchange knowledge on this important topic. Geographers from all over the world will join the conference, which takes place annually.


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  • Travel survey underway across four countries

    Travel survey underway across four countries

    Local residents in each of Citizens’ Rail’s partner areas are being surveyed about their day-to-day travel to help inform future transport planning.

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    Thousands of flyers are being distributed in each partner language encouraging people to take the short survey, which can also be accessed at these links:

    Image Map

    UK (Devon) | UK (Lancashire) | Nederlands | Deutsch | Français

    The survey investigates the forms of transport that people use in their most frequent journeys, their awareness of rail services, factors that would encourage them to take the train more often, and their level of interest in getting involved in future improvements to stations and services.

    The exercise forms part of an academic evaluation of the Citizens’ Rail project, led by RWTH Aachen University and UCLAN.







  • Transnational masterclass

    Transnational masterclass

    Students from all four of the Citizens’ Rail partner countries came together in Heerlen in the Netherlands and Aachen in Germany for a two-day masterclass to learn, collaborate and generate radical new visions for local stations.

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    The masterclass on Monday 7th and Tuesday 8th October 2013 included site visits to stations including Nuth, Aachen Eilendorf and Aachen West. The 48 students (from Plymouth University, the University of Central Lancashire, L’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, Hogeschool Zuyd and RWTH Aachen University) came from a range of disciplines including geography, tourism, design and civil engineering. They formed four international multi-disciplinary teams to create impressive visions for improvements to Nuth and Eilendorf stations (PDFs):

    [box close=”false” color=”#36A9E1″ icon=”” ]Eilendorf
    Blue team[/box]
    [box close=”false” color=”#93c01f” icon=”” ]Eilendorf
    Green team[/box]
    [box close=”false” color=”#d42053″ icon=”” ]Nuth
    Red team[/box]
    [box close=”false” color=”#F29100″ icon=”” ]Nuth
    Yellow team[/box]

    The students also benefited from thought-provoking presentations from Prof Martina Fromhold-Eisebith (RWTH Aachen University), UK-based community rail champion Paul Salveson and artist Michel Huisman, the man behind the spectacular “Maankwartier” redevelopment of the nearby Heerlen station.

    The masterclass was organised by Citizens’ Rail partners RWTH Aachen University, the City of Aachen, Aachen Transport Authority (AVV) and Parkstad Limburg.


  • 8 out of 10 want to be involved in planning their local station

    8 out of 10 want to be involved in planning their local station

    Students from RWTH Aachen University have uncovered strong public support for a new station at Richterich, with 80% of those surveyed eager to be involved in the project’s planning.

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    660 local residents were consulted through face-to-face interviews and online surveys during July 2013. The 10 students asked what level of participation people wanted to have in the new station project, as well as their preferences regarding destinations and the choice between the North and South variants of the plan.

    Findings

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] 71% said would use the train (because it would be quicker than the bus and more convenient).

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] 21% said they would not use the station (due to anticipated delays and being satisfied with the existing bus service).

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] 80% wanted to be involved in planning the new station.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] The students found that it is the youngest and oldest residents who rely most heavily on existing public transport in the form of the bus service.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] It is estimated that 1000 passengers would use the new station per day.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] People’s highest priorities for the station’s design are shelter, good bus connections and personal safety.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Other priorities include greening and noise protection for local residents.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] There is an even split between those wanting a station with modest features but that is quick to realise, and those wanting a more comprehensive station that may take longer to build.

    Find out more about the project to develop a new station in Richterich.