Category: Project-wide news

  • Our greatest hits

    Our greatest hits

    After three fantastic years, Citizens’ Rail comes to a close at the end of this month. What did we achieve? Find out in our interactive poster.

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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.

  • Masterclasses featured as ELTIS case study

    Masterclasses featured as ELTIS case study

    Citizens’ Rail’s pair of student masterclasses have been featured on the European urban mobility portal ELTIS.

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    The masterclass events brought together students from each of our partner regions for intensive two-day itineraries including site visits, presentations from expert speakers, and workshop sessions. The students, working in transnational groups, then generated new concepts and ideas for improvements to local stations and how to market local rail services. Earlier this year, the first of the students’ ideas was put into practice – a Wi-Fi welcome screen on mainline trains that promotes scenic trips on local branch lines – read more.

    The masterclasses have now been written up as a case study by Nick Davies from the University of Central Lancashire, and published on the European urban mobility portal, ELTIS.

    Read the case study

  • Citizens’ Rail recognised at national Community Rail Awards

    Citizens’ Rail recognised at national Community Rail Awards

    Citizens’ Rail was a triple winner at the UK’s national Community Rail Awards held in Torquay last week.

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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.

  • 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.


  • Conference and rail awards ceremony to draw hundreds to Torquay

    Conference and rail awards ceremony to draw hundreds to Torquay

    One of the UK’s leading rail industry awards evenings will be held in Torquay this week, boosting the town’s hospitality sector with the arrival of more than 300 rail professionals and volunteers.

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    The annual Community Rail Awards will be held at the Riviera International Centre on Thursday 1st October. It will celebrate projects from across the country that involve local communities in their railways. It was last held in the South West in 2008, when it was hosted in Plymouth, home to the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership. The Partnership works to promote the branch lines of the two counties, and several of its projects have been shortlisted for this year’s awards. These include its family-oriented Minibeast Trail on the Riviera Line (Exeter-Paignton) and its revamped Great Scenic Railways website.

    The awards are organised by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships, and will be hosted by Mark Hopwood, Managing Director of train operator Great Western Railway. The evening ceremony will be preceded by a one-day European rail conference, also held in the Riviera International Centre, to celebrate the completion of the EU Citizens’ Rail project, led by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

    Launched in 2012, the project has worked in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands to develop local and regional railways by involving the community. On the Riviera Line, the project has part-funded improvements at stations along the line, additional trains between Newton Abbot and Paignton, marketing campaigns, and community engagement work with volunteers, local residents and schools. This has led to a 15% increase in passengers, despite the huge disruption caused by last year’s closure of the line at Dawlish.

    Richard Burningham, manager of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, said:

    “The local part of our EU Citizens’ Rail project has been all about improving Torbay’s railway, with more trains and better stations, particularly Torre. We are delighted to be holding our final conference for the project in Torquay and for Torquay to be hosting the prestigious National Community Rail Awards, all of which will boost Torbay’s local economy.”

    Local partners in Citizens’ Rail – which is 50% funded by the EU’s Interreg IVB NWE programme – include Devon County Council, Torbay Council, First Great Western, Plymouth University and the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

    Photo courtesy of the English Riviera Tourism Company



  • Special report in Modern Railways magazine

    Special report in Modern Railways magazine

    This month’s edition of the leading UK magazine Modern Railways carries a special report about the Citizens’ Rail project.

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    The magazine’s European editor Keith Fender joined the Citizens’ Rail partners for this summer’s meeting in Pays de la Loire, and has worked with each of them to produce an informative look at the impact of the “community rail” approach in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

    Read a PDF copy of the 16-page supplement (6MB):

  • Citizens’ Rail final conference

    Citizens’ Rail final conference

    We’re excited to welcome expert speakers from across North West Europe who will be presenting at the Citizens’ Rail final conference in Torquay on 1st October.

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    The conference – aimed at rail professionals and policy makers – has been extremely popular and places are now full (we will however be tweeting from the conference throughout the day, and the presentations and a video will be available to view on this website later in October).

    The wide-ranging agenda includes how to market rail services in a compelling way, how to innovate in the design and use of stations, and how to harness the creativity of students. The conference also contains afternoon break-out sessions where participants from the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands will share their own expertise.

    The conference takes place in the same venue as that evening’s national UK Community Rail Awards – with Citizens’ Rail projects shortlisted in three categories.

    Explore the full agenda below, or as a PDF.





  • Projects shortlisted for national awards

    Projects shortlisted for national awards

    Three Citizens’ Rail projects have been shortlisted for the UK’s Community Rail Awards.

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    The winners will be revealed on 1st October 2015 at an awards night in Torquay, organised by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships and hosted by Mark Hopwood, managing director of train operating company First Great Western.

    The event will be attended by senior figures from the rail industry and government, and is an excellent opportunity to showcase what the Citizens’ Rail project has achieved, and to learn from the success of other leading organisations within the “community rail” sector. The shortlisted projects are:

    ‘The Distance Between’ cultural exchange project
    Category: Involving Young People
    Community Rail Lancashire, Aachen City Council, Parkstad Limburg and other partners worked to take pupils from Padiham Green primary school in Lancashire on a once-in-a-lifetime educational trip to Aachen in Germany, where they formed a strong bond with their peers at the city’s prestigious cathedral school. Read more.

    Minibeast Trail
    Category: Community Art Schemes
    The Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and artist Melissa Muldoon worked with local school children as part of the Citizens’ Rail project to develop a Minibeast Trail (pictured above) on The Riviera Line (Exeter-Paignton). The trail consisted of sculptures of butterflies, snails and other creatures made by the children from recycled materials, installed at stations along the line. Read more.

    Citizens’ Rail partnership
    Category: Outstanding Teamwork Award
    Perhaps most excitingly of all, the Citizens’ Rail partnership as a whole has been shortlisted for the outstanding teamwork it has displayed. The partnership brings together organisations from the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands, who have worked closely since 2012 to involve people in their local and regional railways.

    Read the full shortlist.

  • Students’ innovative Wi-Fi idea becomes a reality

    Students’ innovative Wi-Fi idea becomes a reality

    A ground-breaking idea conceived at our recent Citizens’ Rail student masterclass has been implemented by the UK rail industry within just three months.

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    The two-day workshop, hosted in Preston (UK) by the University of Central Lancashire in March 2015, brought together students from German, Dutch and UK universities to develop fresh ideas for how to promote local and regional railways.

    Citizens’ Rail partners chose marketing as the focus for the masterclass because marketing campaigns are often simpler and quicker to implement than other rail projects. Students were therefore motivated by the knowledge that their proposals could soon be put into practice.

    The Wi-Fi idea
    The first idea to be realised came from the transnational group of students that was developing marketing campaigns targeted at tourists and leisure travellers.

    The students saw an opportunity to promote leisure trips on local and regional lines using the Wi-Fi connection screens on mainline trains.

    Implementing the concept
    The idea was swiftly pursued by Citizens’ Rail’s lead partner, the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

    Alongside its work within the European project, the Partnership was in the middle of planning a separate campaign to promote Cornwall’s scenic branch lines and destinations. The campaign harnessed the popularity of the BBC series Poldark. In spring 2015 the hit British television programme had prominently featured Cornwall’s beautiful coast, countryside and mining heritage. The Partnership therefore developed a theme of “Visit Poldark country by train”.

    As well as a flagship event at London Paddington, leaflets and other materials, the Partnership created a mini-website showing how to visit filming locations from the programme by train.

    Thanks to the masterclass, train operator First Great Western agreed to promote the campaign on the onboard Wi-Fi of their fleet of High Speed Trains. Now, when users connect to Wi-Fi aboard the train, they are greeted with the “Visit Poldark country by train” message.

    When they click “Continue”, they are taken to the First Great Western homepage, which prominently features a link to the Partnership’s campaign website. The Wi-Fi promotion will continue to run until the later in the summer, helping to promote First Great Western’s branch lines to users of other parts of its network.

    The results
    The campaign has already led to a 40% increase in the Partnership’s web traffic compared to the same period the previous year – attracting 10,000 visitors in just five weeks. The Partnership has also put the project forward for a national Community Rail Award (winners to be announced in October 2015).

    The project shows the power of involving young people in their railway, and the difference that their fresh perspectives and innovative ideas can bring.


    Participating universities
    Citizens’ Rail would like to thank all the students and universities that took part. The event, which was the follow-up to our first masterclass in Aachen and Parkstad Limburg in 2013, was a great example of the transnational working that is at the heart of the EU Interreg IVB NWE programme, through which Citizens’ Rail is funded.

    University of Central Lancashire
    Plymouth University
    RWTH Aachen University
    Zuyd Hogeschool

    Read more about the masterclass and see the students’ PowerPoint presentations.




  • Pupils brighten up Eilendorf station

    Pupils brighten up Eilendorf station

    Local children have given Aachen’s Eilendorf station a whole new look – and grabbed the media spotlight in the process.

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    In a great example of community participation and the Citizens’ Rail approach, pupils from Maria Montessori Gesamtschule Aachen have been painting the station’s shelter and noise reduction wall based on their own vivid artwork.

    Aachen City Council ran a competition with the school to produce designs to brighten up the station’s shelters, noise reduction wall, entrance and signage. The children visited the station to take a look for themselves and get inspired. They then produced a wide range of concepts, from which the winners were picked by a panel of judges from the City Council, the school, Deutsche Bahn and other project partners.

    Now the students have returned to make their designs a reality – and have attracted plenty of media attention. They were featured on local TV news (watch here at 16min 30 – available for the next seven days), and were saluted on the front page of free local newspaper “Super Mittwoch”, distributed to every household in the city. Further press articles are expected in the coming days.

    Waiting shelter

    Noise reduction wall

    The project has also been praised by partners and elected officials. District Mayor Elke Eschweiler said: “I think it’s great, the wealth of ideas which the students have brought to their designs is fantastic.” She announced that Aachen-Eilendorf District Council will soon be looking at further children’s projects, which could lead to a re-design of the neighbouring playground into a “station playground”. Deutsche Bahn’s Abdelhafid Tahri was also full of praise for the students’ work, as well as thanking Aachen City Council and the EU Citizens’ Rail project – which has helped to involve citizens in planning significant improvements at the station.

    For more information, visit www.aachen.de/bahnhof.