Community Rail Network’s corporate partners offer a variety of different skill sets, knowledge and opportunities to aid our members’ work and support the growth of community rail across Britain.

One fantastic example comes from our corporate partners Porterbrook, who worked with Heart of England Community Rail Partnership (CRP) on a STEM experience for young people.

On 10 April 2025, Heart of England CRP took a group of Year 10 pupils from Stratford-upon-Avon School to the Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre for an inspiring, educational day centred on all things STEM (science, technology, education and mathematics).

Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre in Warwickshire is Porterbrook’s 135-acre state-of-the-art facility for testing, maintenance, training and asset storage.  The organisation has invested £75m in the site in recent years, working with local suppliers while also establishing strong partnerships with local schools, communities and charities.

The students had the opportunity to experience the HydroFLEX train, the first hydrogen-powered passenger train to operate on the UK’s network. HydroFLEX has been developed and extensively tested by Porterbrook’s talented engineers at Long Marston, and it is a first-of-its-kind pioneering technology that can travel at speeds of up to 100mph whilst only emitting water. An earlier prototype of the train was showcased at the COP26 Climate Summit in Glasgow in 2021.

Sarah Davison, community rail education officer with Heart of England CRP, said: “This was an amazing opportunity for the students. They got to see behind-the-scenes, groundbreaking technology, talk with engineers, project managers and operational staff, and find out how apprenticeships and graduate schemes can provide a route into such careers.

“Heart of England CRP is extremely grateful to our corporate partners who help us facilitate these interactive ‘hands on’ trips, to help broaden students’ awareness of local engineering and rail opportunities.

“We think there is a lot to shout about in this great industry, especially with Railway 200 celebrations of 200 years of the railway!”

Kevin Eley, general manager at Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre, said: “It was a pleasure to welcome Stratford-upon-Avon School to our site. With exciting technology like HydroFLEX being developed, we’re confident that the railway’s most exciting days are ahead of us.

“We hope that by experiencing this pioneering train up close, some of the students will have been inspired to consider a career within the rail industry and drive future innovative developments.”

Learn more about Heart of England CRP by visiting their website.

Discover how your community rail partnership or station group can work with Porterbrook here.