We’re proud to present this fantastic post-project video from our French partners showing Citizens’ Rail’s impact in transforming Penhoët station.
The concept for the revamped station was created by local students from Nantes Design School and voted on by local people – a great example of how the community can help shape their railway. Read more about the transformation of the station.
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Thanks to all who have contributed to such an inspirational and enjoyable project. Citizens’ Rail will live on through our toolkit and in our online network – we welcome you to join as we work together to develop our local and regional railways.
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In front of an audience of more than 330 rail industry staff and volunteers, the Citizens’ Rail project as a whole was recognised in the Outstanding Teamwork category. Our UK, French, Dutch and German partners were awarded third place thanks to their dedication to transnational working and delivering imaginative, collaborative projects that went beyond the original scope of the project. These included a once-in-a-life-time trip for Lancashire school children to visit the cathedral school in the German city of Aachen, student masterclasses that helped young people’s ideas to be implemented by the rail industry, and even the donation of Dutch tulips to brighten station gardens in Devon.
Two projects within Citizens’ Rail were also recognised at the awards:
The Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership’s family-friendly Minibeast Trail on the Riviera Line between Exeter and Torbay was awarded third place in the Small Community Art Schemes category. Working with artist Melissa Muldoon, pupils from Gatehouse Primary School in Dawlish and the Sure Start Dad’s Club Stay and Play in Teignmouth made sculptures of butterflies, dragonflies, bees, ladybirds and snails from recycled plastic. They were displayed on planters at Teignmouth, Dawlish, Newton Abbot, Torquay and Paignton stations.
The “Distance Between” project by our Lancashire and Aachen partners also won third prize in the Involving Young People category. A class of primary school children from a former Lancashire mill town were asked to get involved in the opening of Burnley Manchester Road station as part of Citizens’ Rail. They did so in great style. As a result, the class took part in a cultural exchange taking them to Aachen and Heerlen. Many of the children had never been out of Lancashire before. They spent time working with a class of German school children producing artwork now displayed at stations in Lancashire, Aachen and Heerlen.
The Community Rail Awards is an annual event organised by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships which celebrates the work being done to promote and enhance Britain’s local and rural railways. The awards ceremony followed Citizens’ Rail’s final conference held earlier the same day – read more.
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The 70 delegates from the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands met the night before the conference for a special pre-conference networking event kindly funded by local rail operator Great Western Railway (GWR). The attendees took a trip from Torquay to Kingswear, taking advantage of a beautiful warm evening. This is normally a heritage railway route, but thanks to GWR and the Dartmouth Steam Railway and River Boat Company, guests were instead able to travel on the pair of Class 153 units decked out in Citizens’ Rail and Visit South Devon liveries.
Upon arrival, the delegates were welcomed by staff from sustainable local restaurant group Rockfish with a fish and chip dinner. The evening provided the perfect way for people to make new connections and get to know each other – especially important given that the group spanned four countries and a wide range of organisations – including rail operators, rail infrastructure bodies, Community Rail Partnerships and local, regional and national government.
The conference itself – held at the Riviera International Centre – featured a range of great speakers from the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands. Each presentation spurred a lively question and answer session, and the afternoon featured group workshop sessions to make the day as interactive as possible. Explore the presentation slides below and see the full agenda at the foot of this post, or as a PDF.
Slides from the main presentations:
Workshops:
We wanted to share the great points made in the interactive workshop sessions at the conference, so we’ve posted a forum thread for each workshop in our new online network the Community Rail Cafe. This allows participants to post their ideas or notes from the sessions. Even if you weren’t there on the day, we’d invite further ideas too – all are welcome. The aim is to create a lasting set of top tips for each topic that people can draw upon and build up over time.
Read/contribute to each topic:
The conference agenda:
Following the conference, the UK’s national Community Rail Awards were held in the same venue that evening, with Citizens’ Rail projects recognised in three categories – read more.
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The transnational partner meeting was attended by German, UK and French representatives on Wednesday 8th and Thursday 9th July. We began by visiting the coastal town of Batz-sur-Mer for an informative question and answer session, hearing first hand about projects at Batz-sur-Mer, Boussay and Ingrandes to find new uses for disused station buildings. This was followed by a site visit to explore the building at Batz-sur-Mer, which will be revamped and re-opened as a base for two charities.
From Batz-sur-Mer we took the train to Saint-Nazaire, where we held a Citizens’ Rail partner meeting. This included updates about community engagement and station improvements at nearby Penhoët station, and about the successful launch of Burnley Manchester Road station. We then received a tour looking at intermodality in Saint-Nazaire:
The following day, the partners were excited to travel on the hugely successful Beach Train, a package of additional services and eye-catching marketing that has helped to revitalise a previously struggling line between Bressuire and Les Sables D’Olonne. We were joined by Gilles Bontemps, Pays de la Loire’s Vice-President for Transport (pictured below, right). The trip was accompanied by a commentary about the history of the area, organised by Région Pays de la Loire.
Upon arrival in Les Sables D’Olonne, we held a meeting in a room with a fantastic view of the beach. Partners from each country gave updates on their projects, and the group discussed research by Région Pays de la Loire about how to encourage more schools to undertake class trips by train.
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Following the success of April’s “The Imaginary Journey“, a community train trip from Saint-Nazaire’s Penhoët station to Nantes with a focus on fantastical train narratives from around the world, this week’s event focused on exploring the station via the distinctive alleys of Penhoët’s local neighbourhood.
The area’s network of “Chemins de brouettes” (“Wheelbarrow alleys” – so called because they are just wide enough to accommodate one!) date from the 1950s. Each resident relinquished a small part of their land to allow the creation of pedestrian pathways linking key locations.
Local theatre troupe la Caravane Compagnie took a group of 25 local residents on a fun-filled walk through these passageways, regaling their audience with tales from the neighbourhood’s past. Their final destination was the station, which some of the participants were discovering for the first time thanks to the event. Drinks and nibbles were had under the passenger bridge above, giving a chance for further discussion about the upcoming improvement works at the station and more conversations about the area’s past and traditions.
This intimate style of event, organised in partnership with Saint-Nazaire town council, allowed residents to plot their own routes to the station for the future, and helped put the station back on the map within the local neighbourhood.
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20 people – young and old – from Penhoët (the area around Saint-Nazaire’s docks) joined a pair of actors from local theatre troupe la Caravane Compagnie for a trip entitled “The Imaginary Journey”. The experience began on foot, exploring iconic spots in the local neighbourhood, including the market hall shown below, and recounting tales of the shipyard workers, for whom Penhoët station was originally built.
The next part of the journey was by train to Nantes. None of the children on the walk had ever taken a regional train before, and only two had ever been on a high speed train. Asked about their first impressions, the children’s answers were striking: “comfortable”, “quick”, “convenient” – all showing that the day had sparked a desire to explore the regional rail network more in future.
Upon arrival in Nantes, SNCF’s Marco Martinelli gave a tour of the station, answering the many questions from the families about the workings of the station and the logistics of travelling by train.
Children and parents were then invited to design their own “Imaginary Journey” in the comfort of a dedicated room provided by SNCF. After the real-life train journey earlier in the day, the imagination took hold – with some of the ideas generated including trains on the moon, and even trains that can cross oceans. The artwork produced will be put on public display this summer and throughout the improvement works scheduled at Penhoët station.
To say thank you, the Région and SNCF presented the children with a “passport”, giving them free travel on the Pays de la Loire network for two months. Inspired by a similar scheme by their fellow Citizens’ Rail partners Community Rail Lancashire, the passport is more than a souvenir of the day. It acts as an educational tool and makes commercial sense in terms of encouraging whole families to travel by rail more frequently.
On the return journey, the actors told stories on the train using children’s books about dramatic railways around the world, from the Flying Scotsman to the Orient Express.
The project was organised in partnership with the events team of housing association la Maison de Quartier Méan-Penhoët. They emphasised that the key to making the event work was to have in depth discussions in advance, and to gradually build the content of the journey by working together.
The project succeeded in its goal of linking the past and the future, by directly appealing to local residents and organisations, and by making full use of the regional network. The storytellers’ theatrical narrative meant that the event was immersed in the cultural identity of the Penhoët neighbourhood’s history and identity.
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The event built upon Citizens’ Rail’s “European breakfast” mornings on The Riviera Line in the UK and on the La Roche Bressuire line, also in Pays de la Loire. However this time there was a new twist, with the food prepared by college students from the nearby Lycée des métiers Sainte-Anne.
The afternoon stall allowed station users and local residents to find out more and ask questions about the big improvements that will happen at the station later in the year.
The event will be followed with a pair of storytelling sessions at the station in April and June, as the next stage in Région des Pays de la Loire’s community engagement programme.
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The “Station facilities on regional lines” workshop was hosted by Cerema (The centre for the study of risks, environment, mobility and planning). It was attended by representatives from France’s regions, cities and rail sector.
Our partner, Région Pays de la Loire, gave a presentation about the Citizens’ Rail project and the region’s work to revitalise disused station buildings in rural areas. This includes its work to revive buildings at stations such as Le Pallet, which now includes a creche – shown here before and after:
As part of the Citizens’ Rail project, the region has carried out an in depth study of seven station buildings (see map below). The work has included a technical assessment of each building, community engagement with local residents, businesses and organisations to brainstorm new uses for the buildings, and finally a detailed analysis of likely costs, timescales and benefits of implementation of the schemes.
The process has led to innovative ideas for station buildings including as a community grocery and a speech therapist’s clinic. These types of projects can improve stations in several ways, including:
> Providing a human presence at stations, helping passengers feel safe
> Safeguarding heritage and architecture by saving buildings from demolition
> Avoiding the potential crime and health and safety issues created by disused buildings
The region is now hoping to take forward two of the projects in 2015, while supporting the others to proceed the following year. Crucially, the results and lessons learned will also be shared with stakeholders including SNCF and RFF (France’s rail infrastructure operator), and internationally through the Citizens’ Rail project and its practitioner toolkit (to be launched in summer/autumn 2015). The Cerema workshop will be followed by three more in 2015, and will include the creation of a “good practice guide”, to help mayors and regions to develop their own projects at stations.
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The additional services on the La Roche Bressuire line in Pays de la Loire have helped to revitalise a previously little-used railway. By giving people the chance to visit the coast for a very reasonable price, the Beach Train has captured the imagination of many in the region, and helped to change their perception of rail travel. Read more about the project.