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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.
2015/10/05
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

2015/09/30
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.

[divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]

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

2015/09/30
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.

[divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]

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

2015/09/30
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):

2015/09/24
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.

[divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]

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):

2015/09/24
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.

[divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]

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):

2015/09/24
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.

2015/09/18
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.

[divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]

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.

2015/09/18
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.

[divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]

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.

2015/09/18