Citizens' Rail

Tag: station improvements

  • Progress in Parkstad Limburg

    Progress in Parkstad Limburg

    The Citizens’ Rail project will have a lasting legacy at Nuth station, with the completion of a bus-train interchange that will integrate transport in the neighbourhood by bringing more bus routes into the railway station.

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    The new interchange (shown above) will be in use from 2016, and received € 130 000 funding from the Citizens’ Rail project. Further plans for the station include a crossing to connect people to tourism opportunities, leisure activities and neighbouring communities to the east, and measures to enhance the station’s facilities and attractiveness. It will incorporate creative suggestions from international students who came together to discuss the station at a Citizens’ Rail masterclass in 2013.

    In 2014, the plans were discussed with local government for the Nuth area and with the province, which is responsible for regional rail. The province welcomed the initiative and regards the work as a very good example of an interchange in line with their vision on public transport interchanges.

    Meanwhile in news from one of Citizens’ Rail’s other projects in Parkstad Limburg, Kerkrade-Centrum station has received a boost with the opening of the neighbouring Creative City complex and a new Park & Ride at the station – shown below.

  • Access improved at Exeter St Thomas station

    Access improved at Exeter St Thomas station

    Complementing the new shelters recently installed at Exeter St Thomas station as part of Citizens’ Rail, the station has now also been fitted with a “Harrington Hump” (pictured above) to improve the station’s accessibility.

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    The hump, provided by Network Rail as part of a major roll-out separate from the Citizens’ Rail project, is a simple and cost effective way to reduce the height difference between the platform and the train. Previously, passengers had to take a big step up or down to board or alight the train – causing particular difficulties for people with reduced mobility and families with buggies.

    Also known as an “Easy access area”, the nickname for the technology derives from Harrington station in Cumbria, the first place where the hump was introduced back in 2008.

    The Exeter St Thomas hump will be followed by further Citizens’ Rail involvement at the station. New ticket machines are on the way, and the recently formed Friends of Exeter St Thomas group are working with our lead partner the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership on a range of exciting potential ideas for the station, including murals, photographic displays and more greenery – all designed to create a welcoming environment and boost usage of the station.

    Local partners in Citizens’ Rail – which is 50% funded by the EU’s Interreg IVB programme – include Devon County Council, Torbay Council, First Great Western, Plymouth University and the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

  • Station improvements – good news from Aachen

    Station improvements – good news from Aachen

    Citizens’ Rail’s station improvement projects have taken another step forward thanks to a pair of positive council verdicts about Eilendorf station.

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    This month the city’s mobility committee and Aachen-Eilendorf district council both agreed that the transformation of the station should move to the next stage of planning.

    The current station has very poor access for people wishing to get from one platform to the other, involving a long walk via the bridge to the west or tunnel to the east. Passengers have been known to illegally cross the tracks.

    The centre piece of the proposed design is a bridge with barrier-free access. This emerged as the best solution through close engagement with the local community as part of the Citizens’ Rail project. This included consultation events attended by approximately 50 people held in the local neighbourhood.

    Read more about the project on Aachen City Council’s Eilendorf page (in German).

  • National workshop learns about Citizens’ Rail rural station buildings project

    National workshop learns about Citizens’ Rail rural station buildings project

    Our work to find new uses for disused station buildings was discussed at a national workshop held in France last week.

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    The “Station facilities on regional lines” workshop was hosted by Cerema (The centre for the study of risks, environment, mobility and planning). It was attended by representatives from France’s regions, cities and rail sector.

    Our partner, Région Pays de la Loire, gave a presentation about the Citizens’ Rail project and the region’s work to revitalise disused station buildings in rural areas. This includes its work to revive buildings at stations such as Le Pallet, which now includes a creche – shown here before and after:

    le-pallet-before-after




    As part of the Citizens’ Rail project, the region has carried out an in depth study of seven station buildings (see map below). The work has included a technical assessment of each building, community engagement with local residents, businesses and organisations to brainstorm new uses for the buildings, and finally a detailed analysis of likely costs, timescales and benefits of implementation of the schemes.


    The process has led to innovative ideas for station buildings including as a community grocery and a speech therapist’s clinic. These types of projects can improve stations in several ways, including:

    > Providing a human presence at stations, helping passengers feel safe
    > Safeguarding heritage and architecture by saving buildings from demolition
    > Avoiding the potential crime and health and safety issues created by disused buildings

    The region is now hoping to take forward two of the projects in 2015, while supporting the others to proceed the following year. Crucially, the results and lessons learned will also be shared with stakeholders including SNCF and RFF (France’s rail infrastructure operator), and internationally through the Citizens’ Rail project and its practitioner toolkit (to be launched in summer/autumn 2015). The Cerema workshop will be followed by three more in 2015, and will include the creation of a “good practice guide”, to help mayors and regions to develop their own projects at stations.


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  • Solving the problem of the Invisible Station

    Solving the problem of the Invisible Station

    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.

  • Reviving local stations in Pays de la Loire

    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



  • Cycle parking installed at rural French stations

    Cycle parking installed at rural French stations

    Region Pays de la Loire is working to revitalise rural stations and enhance the La Roche – Bressuire line as part of Citizens’ Rail. The latest step is the installation of bicycle parking at a number of stations.

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    Bicycle parking bays have now been installed at Boussay (part of the rural stations project), and at La Mothe-Achard and Olonne-sur-Mer on the La Roche – Bressuire line.

    A further seven stations will soon also be equipped with the new facilities. Watch them in action:




  • Plan for Nuth station praised as a great example of public transport interchange

    Plan for Nuth station praised as a great example of public transport interchange

    Plans to turn a Dutch railway station into a vibrant public transport interchange have been welcomed by regional officials, as the scheme moves closer to implementation.

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    As part of the Citizens’ Rail project, the Parkstad Limburg city region in the south of the Netherlands has made improvement plans for three regional train stations. From the very beginning, the plans have been created in partnership with inhabitants and local businesses.

    One of the stations is in Nuth, a small community of 16,000 inhabitants along the intercity line between Eindhoven and Heerlen. The station is served by regional trains only. The Nuth plan includes creating an interchange between bus and train, bringing the bus route to the railway station.

    It also includes a crossing to connect people to tourism opportunities, leisure activities and neighbouring communities to the east, and measures to enhance the station’s facilities and attractiveness. It will incorporate creative suggestions from international students who came together to discuss the station at a Citizens’ Rail masterclass in 2013.

    The plan has now been discussed with local government for the Nuth area and with the province, which is responsible for regional rail. The province has welcomed the initiative and regards the plan as a very good example of an interchange in line with their vision on public transport interchanges. Together the three parties have decided to take the next step forward. This will involve creating a more detailed plan and mapping out phases for implementation. The first measures, which will form part of Parkstad Limburg’s work within Citizens’ Rail, will be realised in 2015.

    [icon size=”14px” color=”#D42053″ background=”#ffffff” radius=”0px” type=”icon-chevron-sign-right” spacing=”0px” /] Read more about Parkstad Limburg’s work as part of Citizens’ Rail.


  • Teignmouth Station gets green revamp thanks to local volunteers

    Teignmouth Station gets green revamp thanks to local volunteers

    Teignmouth Station is looking blooming lovely thanks to the efforts of the Friends of Teignmouth Station – all as part of Citizens’ Rail.

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    Volunteers from the new Friends of Teignmouth Station group joined the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and First Great Western to brighten up the station platforms and entrance with new planters and hanging baskets. Red, white and pink geraniums and petunias now give the station a pretty, summery feel.

    Five members of the Friends of Teignmouth Station group volunteered as part of the EU Citizens’ Rail project led by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership which aims to get more people involved at stations on the Riviera Line between Exeter and Torbay.

    Two of the volunteers came to help from local supermarket Waitrose, who are neighbours to the station. Charlotte Barnaby from Waitrose said: “Waitrose Teignmouth were delighted to be able to support the project at Teignmouth railway station. Two of our Partners, Alexis Reed and Sharon Bearham, volunteered to help through our Partner Volunteering scheme. The scheme runs alongside our Community Matters programme. It allows Partners to take time out of their day-to-day job roles to support local organisations and give back to the local community.”


    Sharon and Alexis from Waitrose


    First Great Western Station Manager Ian Mundy said: “The newly formed Friends of Teignmouth station is a great way of linking the local community into the local rail network. It’s wonderful to see people who are willing to give their time freely to improve the local environment.”

    The Friends of Teignmouth Station are keen to recruit more members. More information is available from Celia Minoughan, Citizens’ Rail Riviera Line Officer at the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, on 01752 584777, at celia@citizensrail.org or by visiting Citizens’ Rail’s Devon page.

    Local partners in Citizens’ Rail – which is 50% funded by the EU’s Interreg IVB programme – include Devon County Council, Torbay Council, First Great Western, Plymouth University and the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

  • Seaside station garden competition sparks the imagination

    Seaside station garden competition sparks the imagination

    We asked visitors to Toby Buckland’s Garden Festival for their top tips for a seaside railway station garden, and received dozens of imaginative and charming suggestions.

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    Citizens’ Rail and Travel Devon set out to discover what makes the perfect seaside railway station garden at our stand at Toby Buckland’s Garden Festival, held earlier this month at Powderham Castle.

    We were overwhelmed by the response, with more than 90 top tips put forward by visitors to the festival. They ranged from the spectacular to the practical, and everything in between.

    Two prizes were up for grabs, a First Great Western rose and a pair of train tickets to London (generously donated by First Great Western). The rose was awarded to Erika Gooding for her vision of an “edible seaside garden” featuring sea beet, Alexanders, fennel, wild edible flowers including pansies, marigolds and violets, and herbs including thyme, sage and rosemary.

    First prize went to Catherine Pollitt for her plan to capture children’s imagination by installing sculptures of small garden creatures among the plants for youngsters to spot and learn about. The models could include snails, ladybirds, worms and centipedes, and would be placed among the specific plants upon which each animal thrives.

    As part of the Citizens’ Rail project, the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership is now working with First Great Western and other partners to explore making both concepts a reality at local stations.

    Update:
    Catherine’s idea has now been put into practice in the form of the Riviera Line Minibeast Trail.