When a station is “invisible” to the public – due to its tucked away location, poor signage or inadequate promotion – bad things happen. Passenger numbers are held back, rail users can feel isolated and unsafe, and the station’s potential is squandered. To crack this conundrum, Citizens’ Rail has been working with local communities on solutions at four stations in the UK, France and Germany.
Tag: communitystations-NL
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Lancashire school children prepare to visit Aachen
School pupils who welcomed Citizens’ Rail partners to Burnley during the summer are soon to make the return trip – embarking on an adventure to the German city of Aachen.
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The story so far
In July, the Year 5 class from Padiham Green CE Primary School greeted Citizens’ Rail partners from France, Germany and the Netherlands at Burnley Manchester Road station. They performed a play about the history of the area’s railway (complete with historical top hats and moustaches – see photos), followed by presentations about what they had learned about each of the partner regions. The children also created a wide range of railway-related artwork, which adorned the station’s new community room.The partners were hugely impressed and touched by the effort and imagination that the children had clearly invested in learning about the culture, economy, food and history of each local area. The pupils in turn were excited to meet representatives from each of the countries they had been studying – providing a chance to find out more, and to try out their language skills. Uwe Müller from Stadt Aachen said:
“The children’s work and enthusiasm was really outstanding! I was very impressed by what they had learned and presented about Aachen. I hope that one day we might be able to arrange for the children to visit our cities in person.”
The next chapter
Now Uwe’s invitation has become reality. Next month, the class of 30 pupils and 8 adults will be travelling to and staying in Aachen. They will spend one day in a German school, working alongside similar aged children, forging new links and friendships. Exploring Aachen will be high on the itinerary in order that the children can visit the many places of interest previously researched at school in Padiham. A visit to the Netherlands is also planned – travelling by train from Aachen to Heerlen. Teacher Janet Ennis said:“This exceptional transnational project is about expanding the learning horizons of the Year 5 pupils of Padiham Green CE Primary School, many of whom will be travelling abroad for the first time. The children are very proud to represent their school and also appreciate the task of becoming ambassadors for their town, county and country!”
To prepare for the trip, the children have been taking after school German lessons (see photos below), and their adventure has captured the interest of the town.
The Lancashire Telegraph newspaper recently paid a visit to the school to find out more, and Burnley Football Club invited the children to the stadium to collect a large selection of goodies. The class are now fully equipped with pencil cases and stationery, key rings, door plaques, back packs and beanie hats for the upcoming trip, and even have enough to present to their European school friends too.
The children have been busy raising funds through various events at school to contribute towards the visit. Additional funding for the trip is being provided by Citizens’ Rail, the DCRDF Fund, UK German Connection and Abellio.
[icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Follow the children’s preparations for their trip on their fantastic blog.
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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
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Burnley school children welcome European partners in style
Children from Padiham Green Primary School gave Citizens’ Rail partners a fantastic welcome to Lancashire for the project’s latest partner meeting.
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At Burnley Manchester Road‘s new station building (to be opened later this year), the pupils presented an educational play about the local railway (complete with historical hats and moustaches!), followed by presentations about each of Citizens’ Rail’s partner regions. The children also created a wide range of railway-related artwork, adorning the station’s community room.The partners were hugely impressed and touched by the effort and imagination that the children had clearly invested in learning about the culture, economy, food and history of each local area. The children in turn were excited to meet representatives from each of the countries they had been studying – providing a chance to find out more, and to try out their language skills.
Uwe Müller from Stadt Aachen said: “The children’s work and enthusiasm was really outstanding! I was very impressed by what they had learned and presented about Aachen. I hope that one day we might be able to arrange for the children to visit our cities in person.”
Erwan Terrillon from Pays de la Loire said: “I was extremely impressed by the quality of work that the children produced, and the way they explained the history of their railway line and the geography of the different Citizens’ Rail partners. I also very much enjoyed their words in French!”
Our warm thanks go to the staff and pupils of Padiham Green Primary School who made it such a terrific occasion and to Community Rail Lancashire for facilitating the project – made possible thanks to their years of engagement and relationship-building with local schools.
Enjoy some photos from the day below…
The children present what they have learned about Aachen:
The children had great costumes to bring to life the story of their local railway:
Poster about Nantes – see a larger version:
Poster about Heerlen – see a larger version:
Poster about Burnley – see a larger version:
A chance to meet Uwe from Stadt Aachen:
Saying “bonjour” to Erwan from Pays de la Loire:
Trying to tempt Andreas from Aachener Verkehrsverbund with some local delicacies:
Carrying on the discussion in the station’s community room:
Eye-catching artwork by the pupils:
Dominic from Torbay Council and Erwan from Pays de la Loire wave off their new friends:
All in all a great day – well done Class 4!
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New station building at Burnley Manchester Road nears completion
The new, locally-owned Community Station building at Burnley Manchester Road is nearing completion. See below for the latest photos.
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The station building will provide a booking and information office, a ‘coffee cart’ as well as providing a community room (see final photo below to see the room taking shape) which will act as a base for the East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership. The station has been designed to provide an attractive and iconic gateway to the town.
It replaces the former station building, used for many years as a dairy after the station closed in the 1960s, which was purchased by Burnley Borough Council in 2011. With additional funding from Citizens’ Rail and Lancashire County Council this has been replaced by the new building, which will soon be open to passengers.
[icon size=”14px” color=”#d42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-circle-arrow-right” spacing=”0px” /] Read more about Citizens’ Rail in Lancashire and our work on Community Stations and line improvements.
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Burnley Manchester Road: latest photos
The new Community Station building at Burnley Manchester Road is rapidly taking shape, set to be completed in spring 2014 as part of Citizens’ Rail.
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The station will provide a booking and information office, a ‘coffee cart’ as well as providing a base for the Community Ambassadors and the East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership. The station has been designed to provide an attractive and iconic gateway to the town.
[icon size=”14px” color=”#d42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-circle-arrow-right” spacing=”0px” /] Read more about Citizens’ Rail in Lancashire and our work on Community Stations and line improvements.
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Burnley: Work begins on community station building
Construction has begun on the state-of-the-art redevelopment of Burnley Manchester Road station, part funded by Citizens’ Rail.
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The new station building is scheduled to be completed in May 2014, and will provide improved facilities for passengers and a hub for the area’s Community Ambassadors, employed by Northern Rail with support from Citizens’ Rail, who engage hard-to-reach groups with their local rail services.
The revamp is planned to coincide with the start of a new direct service to Manchester later in 2014, anticipated to significantly increase use of the station.
Burnley Council Leader, Councillor Julie Cooper, said:
“For some passengers, the train station can be the first impression they get of a town, and with the transformations underway in Burnley, with new schools, college and universities, it is important that visitors arriving, or passing through see the ‘new’ modern, changing Burnley.
This is a vitally important project for Burnley’s future economic growth.”
[icon size=”14px” color=”#d42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-circle-arrow-right” spacing=”0px” /] Visit our Lancashire project page or read the Burnley Council press release (PDF) to find out more.
(Photo: Andy Ford)
