Tag: bestpracticeDE

  • German academic enjoys trip to research UK community rail

    German academic enjoys trip to research UK community rail

    One of the German members of Citizens’ Rail’s academic team enjoyed an action-packed visit last week to research the UK’s community rail sector.

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

    Fresh from his presentation to the International Geographers’ Union in Krakow, Dominik Elsmann from RWTH Aachen University (pictured left above, with Richard Burningham of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership) visited the UK to interview a range of experienced figures from the country’s long-standing community rail sector.

    The research will help to inform his PhD on “Regional railway governance”, with a specific focus on participatory approaches. In this context he will compare two case study regions in Germany and Great Britain.

    Also as part of the trip, Dominik joined the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership at their local conference – giving the opportunity to hear from speakers from the rail industry, local authorities and the community rail sector. The conference was preceded by a social evening for early attendees. This included a “music train” on the Tamar Valley line (pictured), enjoyed by delegates and local passengers alike.

    band-on-tamar-valley-line-small

    As the final part of the visit, a productive planning meeting with the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership was held. This focused on the relationship and links between Citizens’ Rail’s academic evaluation, and the project’s practitioner toolkit – a free resource being developed to help rail professionals and others to get local communities more involved in their local and regional railways.


  • Presenting at an international geographers’ conference

    Presenting at an international geographers’ conference

    Dominik Elsmann from RWTH Aachen University presented on the topic of “Citizens’ Rail – Using citizens‘ participation for rail revitalization” at the International Geographical Union conference in Krakow this month.

    [divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]
    The presentation formed part of the session on “Geography of Governance – Geography, governance and citizens’ participation“. It was a great opportunity to promote the Citizens’ Rail project to a dedicated audience and to exchange knowledge on this important topic. Geographers from all over the world joined the conference, which takes place annually.


    View the slides from Dominik’s presentation:




  • Citizens’ Rail at the International Geographical Union

    Citizens’ Rail at the International Geographical Union

    Dominik Elsmann from RWTH Aachen University has been accepted to speak at the International Geographical Union’s 2014 conference on “Citizens’ Rail – Using citizens‘ participation for rail revitalization”.

    [divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]
    The conference takes place next month in Krakow, and the presentation will form part of the session on “Geography of Governance – Geography, governance and citizens’ participation“. It is a great opportunity to promote the Citizens’ Rail project to a dedicated audience and to exchange knowledge on this important topic. Geographers from all over the world will join the conference, which takes place annually.


    igu2


  • First Great Western Community Rail Conference 2014

    First Great Western Community Rail Conference 2014

    Representatives from our lead partner, the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, gave an update on our Riviera Line project at the First Great Western Community Rail Conference 2014 this week.

    [divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]
    Other speakers were from the UK government’s Department for Transport, Devon County Council, First Great Western (the train operating company for our project area in Devon), and four fellow community rail organisations, introduced by Chris Austin: the Tarka Rail Association, TransWilts, Severnside and Heart of Wessex.

    John Burch from the Tarka Rail Association gave a lowdown on how to create a line strategy. Graham Ellis from TransWilts, England’s newest Community Rail Partnership (CRP), told the story of how they have smashed their growth targets within their first year – including anecdotes about how local people are now selling their cars because they no longer need them, and the benefits that improved services are bringing to local businesses and their staff.

    Heather Cullimore from Severnside CRP described their fantastic City to Seaside Rail Arts project, with the fruits of the project on display in a free photography exhibition until the end of 2014. First Great Western’s Nick Reid reported on behalf of Heart of Wessex CRP, telling of their huge army of volunteers who contributed 13,500 hours in 2013 alone.

    The conference was held at the excellent Seale Hayne.

  • Photos: Partner meeting in Devon

    Photos: Partner meeting in Devon

    Our latest transnational partner meeting took place in Devon this week. It included site visits to a thriving Community Station in Crediton, as well as several stations on the Riviera Line (Exeter to Paignton). Here is a snapshot in pictures…

    [divider type=”default” vspace=”20px” hspace=”0%” /]
    IMG_4846

    Mark Langdon from Network Rail shares his ideas in one of our interactive workshop sessions. Topics discussed by our partners from the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands included our upcoming “how to” manual on the Citizens’ Rail approach, methods of surveying rail users and non-users, and updates from each of our local projects.

    IMG_4831

    IMG_4834

    Crediton

    IMG_4836

    IMG_4836

    IMG_4842

    At Crediton station (on the Tarka Line between Exeter and Barnstaple), our partners heard from The Friends of Crediton Station and the owner of the station’s tea rooms, who explained how community involvement can transform the appearance of a station, reduce vandalism and sustain a successful local business. The use of the old station house as the tea rooms is especially relevant for our work looking at how to revive disused station buildings in rural areas of Pays de la Loire.

    Exeter St Thomas 2

    IMG_4852

    On our site visits to stations on the Riviera Line, we were joined by representatives from First Great Western, Devon County Council and Torbay Council, who discussed local aspirations and challenges with the visiting partners.

    IMG_4878

    Our visit to Torre station coincided with the busy end-of-school rush. The station will be one of the targets of our station improvement programme – more news to follow soon.

    IMG_4862

    IMG_4862

    At Dawlish our partners got a glimpse of the serious damage sustained in recent storms which means this crucial section of the main line into Cornwall continues to be closed (read the latest on the Network Rail website). The smaller photos show a bus being used as a temporary waiting room outside the station. Citizens’ Rail will be helping the line to bounce back when it re-opens, through a major marketing campaign, station improvements and community engagement work.

    [box close=”false” color=”#d42053″ icon=”” ]If you’d like to get involved in our Devon projects, or to participate in a future Citizens’ Rail workshop, get in touch.[/box]

  • Follow us on Twitter

    Follow us on Twitter

    To coincide with the launch of the Citizens’ Rail website, you can now also follow us on Twitter (@citizensrail). Connect with us for the latest news and findings from our projects as well as interesting sustainable transport and community engagement links from around the web.

  • Transnationaler Masterclass Workshop

    Transnationaler Masterclass Workshop

    Im Oktober 2013 sind Studierende aus allen Citizens’ Rail Projektpartnerregionen zu einem zweitägigen Workshop in Aachen sowie im niederländischen Heerlen zusammengekommen. Im Rahmen des Workshops haben die Studierenden wesentliche Projektinhalte kennengelernt, gemeinsam diskutiert und in Zusammenarbeit neue Ideen für das Projekt entwickelt.

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

    Während der zweitägigen Veranstaltung wurden die Bahnhöfe bzw. Haltepunkte Nuth auf niederländischer Seite sowie Aachen Eilendorf und Aachen West auf deutscher Seite besichtigt. Insgesamt haben 48 Studenten (von der Plymouth University, der University of Central Lancashire, der L’Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique, der Hogeschool Zuyd und der RWTH Aachen University)) unterschiedlicher Disziplinen an dem Workshop teilgenommen. Demenstprechend setzte sich die Gruppe aus Studierenden der Fachrichtungen Geographie, Tourismus, Design sowie Bauingenieurwesen zusammen. Letztlich wurden vier transnationale und interdisziplinäre Kleingruppen gebildet, welche sich jeweils mit der Entwicklung einer Vision zur Verbesserung der Haltepunkte Nuth oder Eilendorf beschäftigten:

    Professor Martina Fromhold-Eisebith (RWTH Aachen University), der Mitbegründer der britischen Community Rail Bewegung Paul Salveson und Künstler Michel Huisman, verantwortlich für die spektakuläre Neugestaltung des “Maankwartier” um den Heerlener Bahnhof, hielten im Rahmen der Veranstaltung inspirierende Vorträge.

    Der Masterclass Workshop wurde von den Citizens’ Rail Partnern RWTH Aachen University, Stadt Aachen, Aachener Verkehrsverbund (AVV) und Parkstad Limburg organisiert.




  • 8 von 10 Bürgern wollen in der Planung ihres Haltepunktes beteiligt werden

    8 von 10 Bürgern wollen in der Planung ihres Haltepunktes beteiligt werden

    Studenten der RWTH Aachen haben im Rahmen einer Befragung eine starke öffentliche Unterstützung für einen neuen Haltepunkt in Richterich aufgedeckt . 80% der Befragten sprachen sich in diesem Zusammenhang für eine stärkere Beteiligung im Rahmen der Projektplanung aus.

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

    Insgesamt wurden im Juli 2013 660 Anwohner durch face-to -face- Interviews und einen Online-Fragebogenkonsultiert. Die Studenten stellten Fragen zum gewünschten Grad der Einbindung in das Projekt sowie zur Präferenz hinsichtlich der geplanten Nord- und Südvariante.

    Ergebnisse

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] 71 % gaben an die Bahn zu benutzen ( denn es wäre schneller und bequemer als der Bus).

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] 21 % sagten, sie würden den Haltepunkt nicht nutzen( aufgrund erwarteter Verspätungen im Bahnverkehr und Zufriedenheit mit der aktuellen Busanbindung).

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] 80% möchten in der Planung desneuen Haltepunktes beteiligt werden.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Die Studentenfanden heraus, dass sich die jüngsten und ältesten Bewohner besonders stark auf bestehende öffentliche Verkehrsmittelund somit auf die Busanbindung verlassen.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Schätzungen besagen, dass der neue Haltepunkt täglich von 1000 Passagieren frequentiert würde.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Die höchsten Prioritäten hinsichtlich der Gestaltung des Haltepunktes geben die Befragten mit Fahrgastunterständen, guter Anbindung an das Bussystem sowie Aspekten der sozialen Sicherheit an.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Weitere Prioritäten umfassen Begrünung und Lärmschutz für die Anwohner.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Hinsichtlich der konkreten Ausgestaltung des Haltepunktes herrscht keine Einigkeit. Während 50% der Befragten einen schneller zu verwirklichenden Haltepunkt mit rudimentärer Ausstattung bevorzugen, spricht sich die andere Hälfte für einen besonders gut ausgestatteten Haltepunkt aus, dessen Umsetzung jedoch mehr Zeit in Anspruch nehmen würde.

    Erfahren Sie mehr über das Vorhabeneines neuen Haltepunktes in Richterich.