The first Community Rail Week took place in October (18-24). The campaign is organised by Community Rail Network (CRN) and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group and involved hundreds of Community Rail Partnerships (CRP) and volunteers running a ‘Go Green by Train’ campaign to promote their local railways and give communities and young people a voice on using public transport.
We supported by attending some of the events taking place up and down the network. Jody Ball and Alex Bray, CrossCountry Stakeholder Liaison Managers caught up with a couple of activities in their regions:
- Jody was joined by Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, Community Rail Network (CRN), West Midlands Trains, Network Rail, local authorities and local mayors at Coventry station to support Heart of England CRP. Passengers were asked to sign a pledge to ‘Go greener by train’. There was also an opportunity to learn more about community rail and sustainability
- The Community Rail Education Network met in Newcastle. Alex was joined by Northern, Nexus, Network Rail and various CRPs. To mark the occasion, Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of Community Rail Network, spoke to the group about what they can do to encourage more young people to use the railway and to champion the message 'Go Green by Train'. The group also had the opportunity to check out the facilities at Safety Works which provides local young people and community groups an interactive safety scenarios experience in true-to-life settings, including a railway track