On 07 October we attended the national Community Rail Conference in Nottingham. Organised by Community Rail Network (CRN), the annual event brings together representatives from Britain’s Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs), CRN and the rail industry to exchange news and ideas and to collaborate through workshops to find ways to ensure Community Rail makes an even bigger impact to people’s lives in the communities we serve.
Some of the themes discussed included the need for CRPs to identify Integrated Transport opportunities, as an enabler of economic growth, to ensure that Community Rail aligns with emerging Devolved Transport Strategies and Local Transport Plans. CRN, in partnership with the Sustainable Transport Alliance, has formally contributed to the DfT’s Integrated National Transport Strategy consultation and to Network Rail’s Greener Railway Strategy.
CRN is also starting a major piece of work to look closely at how we better assess the impact and value of Community Rail through an Evidenced Impact Value strategy.
CRP Rail Officers ran several informative inter-active themed workshops throughout the day to which delegates were invited to collaborate in. CrossCountry participated in workshops facilitated by Derwent Valley Line CRP’s Dave Clasby, “Community Rail in a changing political landscape”, Bishop Line CRP’s Felicity Machniki, “Council hosted CRPs – how to organise steering groups and stakeholders” and Gloucestershire CRP’s Faatimah Bham, “Influencing the wider rail industry using a co-production method”.
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