We’re proud to present this fantastic post-project video from our French partners showing Citizens’ Rail’s impact in transforming Penhoët station.
The concept for the revamped station was created by local students from Nantes Design School and voted on by local people – a great example of how the community can help shape their railway. Read more about the transformation of the station.
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Following the success of April’s “The Imaginary Journey“, a community train trip from Saint-Nazaire’s Penhoët station to Nantes with a focus on fantastical train narratives from around the world, this week’s event focused on exploring the station via the distinctive alleys of Penhoët’s local neighbourhood.
The area’s network of “Chemins de brouettes” (“Wheelbarrow alleys” – so called because they are just wide enough to accommodate one!) date from the 1950s. Each resident relinquished a small part of their land to allow the creation of pedestrian pathways linking key locations.
Local theatre troupe la Caravane Compagnie took a group of 25 local residents on a fun-filled walk through these passageways, regaling their audience with tales from the neighbourhood’s past. Their final destination was the station, which some of the participants were discovering for the first time thanks to the event. Drinks and nibbles were had under the passenger bridge above, giving a chance for further discussion about the upcoming improvement works at the station and more conversations about the area’s past and traditions.
This intimate style of event, organised in partnership with Saint-Nazaire town council, allowed residents to plot their own routes to the station for the future, and helped put the station back on the map within the local neighbourhood.
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20 people – young and old – from Penhoët (the area around Saint-Nazaire’s docks) joined a pair of actors from local theatre troupe la Caravane Compagnie for a trip entitled “The Imaginary Journey”. The experience began on foot, exploring iconic spots in the local neighbourhood, including the market hall shown below, and recounting tales of the shipyard workers, for whom Penhoët station was originally built.
The next part of the journey was by train to Nantes. None of the children on the walk had ever taken a regional train before, and only two had ever been on a high speed train. Asked about their first impressions, the children’s answers were striking: “comfortable”, “quick”, “convenient” – all showing that the day had sparked a desire to explore the regional rail network more in future.
Upon arrival in Nantes, SNCF’s Marco Martinelli gave a tour of the station, answering the many questions from the families about the workings of the station and the logistics of travelling by train.
Children and parents were then invited to design their own “Imaginary Journey” in the comfort of a dedicated room provided by SNCF. After the real-life train journey earlier in the day, the imagination took hold – with some of the ideas generated including trains on the moon, and even trains that can cross oceans. The artwork produced will be put on public display this summer and throughout the improvement works scheduled at Penhoët station.
To say thank you, the Région and SNCF presented the children with a “passport”, giving them free travel on the Pays de la Loire network for two months. Inspired by a similar scheme by their fellow Citizens’ Rail partners Community Rail Lancashire, the passport is more than a souvenir of the day. It acts as an educational tool and makes commercial sense in terms of encouraging whole families to travel by rail more frequently.
On the return journey, the actors told stories on the train using children’s books about dramatic railways around the world, from the Flying Scotsman to the Orient Express.
The project was organised in partnership with the events team of housing association la Maison de Quartier Méan-Penhoët. They emphasised that the key to making the event work was to have in depth discussions in advance, and to gradually build the content of the journey by working together.
The project succeeded in its goal of linking the past and the future, by directly appealing to local residents and organisations, and by making full use of the regional network. The storytellers’ theatrical narrative meant that the event was immersed in the cultural identity of the Penhoët neighbourhood’s history and identity.
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The event built upon Citizens’ Rail’s “European breakfast” mornings on The Riviera Line in the UK and on the La Roche Bressuire line, also in Pays de la Loire. However this time there was a new twist, with the food prepared by college students from the nearby Lycée des métiers Sainte-Anne.
The afternoon stall allowed station users and local residents to find out more and ask questions about the big improvements that will happen at the station later in the year.
The event will be followed with a pair of storytelling sessions at the station in April and June, as the next stage in Région des Pays de la Loire’s community engagement programme.