Citizens' Rail

Category: Pays de la Loire

  • Unsere größten Erfolge

    Unsere größten Erfolge

    Nach drei fantastischen Jahren wird Citizens’ Rail Ende diesen Monats abgeschlossen. Was haben wir erreicht? Das können Sie in unserem unten folgenden interaktiven Poster herausfinden.

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    Noch einmal vielen Dank an alle, die zu einem so inspirierenden und positiven Projekt beigetragen haben. Citizens’ Rail wird durch unser Toolkit und in unserem Online-Netzwerk weiterleben – wir freuen uns, wenn Sie mitmachen, um gemeinsam unseren lokalen und regionalen Bahnverkehr weiterzuentwickeln.

  • Citizens’ Rail bei den nationalen Community Rail Awards ausgezeichnet

    Citizens’ Rail bei den nationalen Community Rail Awards ausgezeichnet

    Citizens’ Rail war dreifacher Gewinner bei den nationalen Community Rail Awards in Großbritannien, die letzte Woche in Torquay veranstaltet wurden.

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    Vor einem Publikum mit mehr als 330 Mitarbeitern und Freiwilligen aus dem Bahnsektor wurde das Citizens’ Rail Projekt insgesamt in der Kategorie Outstanding Teamwork prämiert. Unsere britischen, französischen, holländischen und deutschen Partner erreichten den dritten Platz dank ihres Engagements für länderübergreifende Zusammenarbeit und ihrer ideenreichen Gemeinschaftsprojekte, die über den ursprünglichen Rahmen des Projekts hinausgingen. Dazu gehörten die unvergessliche Reise für Schulkinder aus Lancashire, die die Aachener Domsingschule in Deutschland besuchten, Masterclasses für Studenten, damit Ideen von jungen Leuten von der Bahnindustrie umgesetzt wurden, und sogar die Spende mit holländischen Tulpen, um die Bahnhofsgrünanlagen in Devon zu verschönern.

    Zwei einzelne Projekte von Citizens’ Rail wurden bei der Preisverleihung ebenfalls ausgezeichnet:

    Der familienfreundliche Minibeast Trail der Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership auf der Riviera Line zwischen Exeter und Torbay erreichte den dritten Platz in der Kategorie Small Community Art Schemes (Kunstprojekte in kleinen Gemeinden). In Zusammenarbeit mit der Künstlerin Melissa Muldoon gestalteten Schulkinder von der Gatehouse Primary School in Dawlish und Mitglieder des Sure Start Dad’s Club Stay and Play in Teignmouth Skulpturen mit Schmetterlingen, Libellen, Bienen, Marienkäfern und Schnecken aus recyceltem Kunststoff. Sie wurden auf Pflanzgefäßen an den Bahnhöfen Teignmouth, Dawlish, Newton Abbot, Torquay und Paignton präsentiert.

    Das Projekt „Distance between“ von unseren Partnern in Lancashire und Aachen gewann ebenfalls den dritten Preis in der Kategorie Involving Young People (Junge Menschen einbeziehen). Eine Grundschulklasse aus einer ehemaligen Mühlenstadt in Lancashire wurde gefragt, ob sie sich im Rahmen von Citizens’ Rail bei der Eröffnung des Bahnhofs Burnley Manchester Road engagieren möchte. Das haben sie auf großartige Weise gemacht. Als Belohnung nahm die Klasse an einer Kulturaustausch-Fahrt teil, die sie nach Aachen und Heerlen führte. Viele der Kinder waren noch nie zuvor aus Lancashire herausgekommen. Sie verbrachten die Zeit gemeinsam mit Kindern einer deutschen Schulklasse und kreierten Kunstwerke, die jetzt an Bahnhöfen in Lancashire, Aachen und Heerlen ausgestellt werden.

    Die Community Rail Awards sind eine jährlich stattfindende Veranstaltung, die von der Association of Community Rail Partnerships organisiert wird. Die Auszeichnungen würdigen die Arbeit zur Förderung und zum Ausbau der lokalen und ländlichen Bahnstrecken in Großbritannien. Die Preisverleihung fand nach der Abschlusskonferenz von Citizens’ Rail statt, die schon früher am gleichen Tag durchgeführt wurde – mehr erfahren.

  • Final conference – a big success

    Final conference – a big success

    The Citizens’ Rail final conference held in Torquay last week was a big success. We would like to thank all our speakers and attendees for making it such an informative and engaging day.

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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.

    Photo courtesy of Antony Christie

    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.

    Keith Walton (Severnside Community Rail Partnership) asks Erwan Terrillon (Conseil régional des Pays de la Loire) about the Train Des Plages project

    Michel Huisman of the Maankwartier project in the Netherlands delivered a thought-provoking tour-de-force

    Continuing the discussions on the balcony

    Mark Hopwood, Managing Director of Great Western Railway, addresses the conference

    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.


  • Partner meeting in Pays de la Loire

    Partner meeting in Pays de la Loire

    A huge thank you to our French partners at Région Pays de la Loire for organising an action-packed two-day schedule of Citizens’ Rail site visits and meetings last week.

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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.

  • The power of storytelling – Part Two

    The power of storytelling – Part Two

    Our French partner, Région Pays de la Loire, has held a second storytelling event to capture the imagination of local residents and help them to re-discover their railway station.

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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.

  • Storytelling as a way to engage the community

    Storytelling as a way to engage the community

    Our French partner, Région Pays de la Loire, has helped local residents to (re)discover their local station through the timeless appeal of storytelling.

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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.

  • Food and information stall helps to inform Penhoët station users

    Food and information stall helps to inform Penhoët station users

    Our French partner, Région des Pays de la Loire, has once again proved the power of using food to engage people. Their snacks and information event at Penhoët station in Saint-Nazaire enabled staff from SNCF TER and the Région to consult 150 people and let them know about upcoming station improvements.

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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.

  • Beach Train: The Movie

    Beach Train: The Movie

    See our hugely popular Beach Train project in action:

    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.

  • Problemlösungen für unsichtbare Bahnhöfe

    Problemlösungen für unsichtbare Bahnhöfe

    Wenn ein Bahnhof für die Öffentlichkeit “unsichtbar” ist – aufgrund seiner versteckten Lage, einer schlechten Beschilderung oder ungenügender Werbung – hat das negative Folgen. Die Zahl der Fahrgäste ist rückläufig, Bahnnutzer fühlen sich eventuell isoliert und nicht sicher und das Potential des Bahnhofs wird verschwendet.

    Um dieses knifflige Problem in den Griff zu bekommen, hat Citizens’ Rail mit den Gemeinden vor Ort an Lösungen für vier Bahnhöfe im Vereinigten Königreich, Frankreich und Deutschland zusammengearbeitet.

  • Reviving local stations in Pays de la Loire

    Reviving local stations in Pays de la Loire

    What brings a speech therapist, a parents’ association representative, a Deputy Mayor and numerous others together in their town hall? Their station of course!

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    As part of Citizens’ Rail, consultation has been in full swing this summer in seven villages and towns in the Pays de la Loire who want to safeguard the heritage of their unused railway buildings by transforming them into lively, thriving community hubs.

    Région Pays de la Loire and consultants Erea led workshops at the start of July in each local area. Mayors and councillors invited local stakeholders along to discuss possible uses for station buildings left vacant after the closure of ticket offices. Attendees included elected officials, business figures, local residents and many more – all taking part in productive brainstorming sessions.

    Around the table, ideas swiftly took shape for possible uses of the stations: as a cycle hire facility, exhibition space, sales point for local businesses (selling organic vegetables, pastries and other farm produce), library book exchange, tourism installation, extension of a speech therapy clinic, local museum, extra space for a youth club, a medical centre, and more.

    The sessions led to the emergence of ideas that would not have been generated in any other way. Each locality is now developing its own way forward to progress the project. At Voivres-lès-le-Mans, a municipal steering committee has been created, and staged a large public meeting in September with the villagers.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Update – Between now and spring 2015, as the first part of their rejuvenation, Région Pays de la Loire is installing secure bicycle parking at several of the rural stations. Read more