Citizens' Rail

Category: Nouvelles CR

  • Nos plus belles réussites

    Nos plus belles réussites

    Après trois années fantastiques, le projet Citizens’ Rail se termine à la fin du mois. Qu’avons-nous réalisé ? Découvrez-le avec notre poster interactif.

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    Merci encore à toutes celles et ceux qui ont participé à ce projet inspirant et passionnant. Citizens’ Rail continue à vivre par l’intermédiaire de son kit d’outils et de notre réseau en ligne, nous vous invitons à venir participer à ce travail commun visant à développer nos chemins de fer régionaux.

  • 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 récompensé à la remise des prix nationaux du rail pour la communauté

    Citizens’ Rail récompensé à la remise des prix nationaux du rail pour la communauté

    Au Royaume-Uni, Citizens’ Rail a été honoré trois fois aux Récompenses nationales du rail pour la communauté, à Torquay la semaine passée.

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    Devant un public de plus de 330 personnes, composé de personnel du secteur ferroviaire et de bénévoles, le projet Citizens’ Rail dans son ensemble a été reconnu dans la catégorie Travail d’équipe exceptionnel. Nos partenaires britanniques, français, allemands et hollandais ont remporté la troisième place grâce à leur implication dans un travail transnational et leur apport en projets collaboratifs imaginatifs, qui allaient au-delà de la portée originale du projet. Parmi ces projets, il y a eu un beau voyage des élèves d’une école du Lancashire pour visiter l’école de la cathédrale de la ville allemande d’Aix-la-Chapelle, des masterclass étudiants qui ont aidé à appliquer les idées des jeunes dans le monde réel du rail, et même la donation de tulipes hollandaises pour fleurir les jardins des gares dans le Devon.

    Deux projets participants à Citizens’ Rail ont également été récompensés lors de la cérémonie :

    L’amusante “piste des petites bêtes” (Minibeast Trail en anglais), sur la ligne de la Riviera entre Exeter et Torbay, réalisée grâce au Partenariat ferroviaire de Devon & Cornouailles, s’est vue octroyé le troisième prix dans la catégorie des petites initiatives artistiques pour la communauté. Accompagnés par l’artiste Melissa Muldoon, des enfants de l’école primaire Gatehouse à Dawlish et du club “Stay and Play” (Sure Start Dad) à Teignmouth ont fabriqué des papillons, libellules, abeilles, coccinelles et escargots à partir de plastique recyclé. Les petites bêtes ont ensuite été installées dans les bacs à fleurs des gares de Teignmouth, Dawlish, Newton Abbot, Torquay et Paignton.

    Le projet “Distance Between” par nos partenaires du Lancashire et d’Aix-la-Chapelle a également remporté le troisième prix dans la catégorie Impliquer les jeunes. Une classe d’enfants des écoles primaires d’une ancienne ville ouvrière du Lancashire a été invitée à participer à l’ouverture de la gare de Burnley Manchester Road dans le cadre du projet Citizens’ Rail. Ils l’ont fait d’excellente manière. En conséquence, la classe a participé à un échange culturel qui les as amené à Aix-la-Chapelle et Heerlen. Pour beaucoup d’enfants, c’était leur premier déplacement hors du Lancashire. Ils ont passé du temps à travailler avec une classe d’écoliers allemands, produisant des créations qui sont maintenant visibles dans les gares du Lancashire, à Aix-la-Chapelle et à Herleen.

    La cérémonie des Récompenses du rail pour la communauté (Community Rail Awards) est organisée chaque année par l’Association des partenariats du rail pour la communauté, pour saluer le travail accompli vers la promotion et l’amélioration des chemins de fer régionaux et ruraux de Grande-Bretagne. La remise des prix s’est déroulée après la conférence de clôture de Citizens’ Rail, qui l’a précédée le même jour – lire la suite.

  • 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.





  • 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.

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    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

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    Noise reduction wall

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    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.



  • Celebrating Burnley Manchester Road

    Celebrating Burnley Manchester Road

    A celebratory event was held today to mark the investment of £2.3m investment in Burnley’s Manchester Road railway station and launch a new campaign to market East Lancashire’s attractions to rail visitors.

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    As part of the Citizens’ Rail project, work took place over the last 18 months to provide the station with an iconic station building with improved car and cycle parking, CCTV, real time information and improved signage, before services began running on the direct Blackburn to Manchester service via the newly restored Todmorden Curve.

    The Explore East Lancashire marketing campaign will highlight the faster connection as an opportunity to visit the area’s attractions. Posters and leaflets (download a copy, 0.4MB) supporting the campaign will be displayed at stations between Blackburn and Manchester along with artwork previously produce by pupils from Padiham Green primary school.

    Representatives of Burnley Borough Council, Lancashire County Council, Northern Rail, Community Rail Lancashire and Citizens’ Rail gathered to unveil a plaque marking the station investment and enjoy presentations by pupils from Padiham Green Primary School. The first was about the history of the station, and the second told the story of a stickleback called ‘small fry’ that was sucked into the water tank of an engine at Rose Grove and then went on a journey to Manchester and back via the Todmorden Curve. Read the full story in the children’s excellent hand-made book, Operation Stickleback (5MB PDF).

    Councillor Mark Townsend, leader of Burnley Council, said: ‘‘Visitors to Burnley Manchester Road Station are predicted to double now the direct service to Manchester has been established. We’re delighted to have a direct service to Manchester from Burnley once again. It will bring clear benefits to our economy in terms of access to the job market and establishing Burnley as a commuter town. It’s a real milestone in our continuing success story and one we wish to celebrate.”

    Alex Hynes, managing director for Northern Rail comments: “What a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all that has been achieved from a solid partnership approach. Working together with Lancashire County Council, we have promoted a brand new, direct service into Manchester to the communities, towns and villages across Lancashire, which we hope will bring more opportunities than ever to this growing part of our network.”

    Citizens’ Rail project manager, Richard Burningham of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership said: “The Citizens’ Rail partners, from France, Germany and the Netherlands as well as here in the UK, are delighted to have helped make this brilliant transformation of Burnley Manchester Road station a reality.”

    County Councillor John Fillis, Lancashire County Council cabinet member for highways and transport, said: “Improving transport connections is vital to our ambitions to create the conditions for future economic growth in East Lancashire.

    “We’re working hard to develop the case for the government and the rail industry to invest in the infrastructure to improve journey times and frequency, as well as modern rolling stock and station facilities.

    “The restored Todmorden Curve and improved stations in Burnley represent a real step forward but this is just the start of what we need in future.”

    Funding for the station improvements was provided by Burnley Council, Lancashire County Council and the Citizens’ Rail Interreg IVB project. A further £100,000 was secured from the National Station Improvement Programme (NSIP) by Northern Rail/Network Rail to support the platform works including the new passenger shelters.