Hi everybody, we hope this e-bulletin finds you all safe and well. It’s been a busy couple of weeks with the continuation of our Days Out by Rail Campaign and planning for our upcoming Community Rail Week in two months’ time. We also have an update on our Impact recording app, which now provides a useful survey feature.
 
As always, if you have any feedback, or to contribute stories to future editions, contact nikolas@communityrail.org.uk.

Community Rail Week – Go Green by Rail

As you’ll be aware, we are hosting our first Community Rail Week, sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, 18-24 October. With last week’s IPCC report and the run up to COP26 focusing attentions on the climate emergency, we’ll be focussing on stimulating sustainable travel, under the banner ‘Go Green by Rail’, alongside raising wider awareness about the community rail movement.

We’re encouraging members and partners to plan now on how you can get involved, whether it’s bringing green travel messaging into existing work, or delivering one-off activities and communications to get the word out to wider audiences. Get in touch with your usual support team contact to let us know what you are planning or to discuss ideas. Our head of communications & policy Sarah Chilton will also be sending out a communication within the next week with specific ideas and advice on how you might get involved and support we can offer.

Impact recording tool

With more and more Community Rail Network members using this platform to record and evidence a growing range of projects, we’ve updated Impact to allow users to create surveys to gather feedback on projects too. Find out more

If you’d like to find out more about Impact you’ll find an introduction here and you can email our training team with any questions. To remind, the tool is free to use for our members and specifically designed for those working and volunteering in community rail.

Days Out by Rail update

Our Days Out by Rail campaign continues, with this week’s theme, purse friendly days out, encouraging people to take advantage of railcards and advance offers. Don’t forget to use the #DaysOutByRail hashtag on social media to highlight destinations along your lines, and make use of our digital resources here.

Upcoming webinars

We’re now open for booking for the first of our autumn webinars: Biodiversity and connecting with nature at stations, 10-12, Tues 14 Sept. See further details and book. Our following webinar, Engaging communities through storytelling and creative projects, will be 10-12 on 12 Oct, and opens for booking in two weeks’ time. View the draft programme here.

Partner news and external events

• Train companies launch campaign to get leisure travellers back on track
• East Midlands Railway celebrates 175th anniversary of Castle Line
• Text 61016: how to quickly report unwanted sexual behaviour on the train
• Transport Focus Covid-19 return to rail – latest research summary

News from our members

• New discount scheme launched for Bittern Line passengers in Norfolk
• Community art project brightens up Nottinghamshire’s Netherton Station bridge
• Memories of wartime evacuation unveiled at Lowestoft Station
• Bentham Line year in industry students want to tell you a story
• Railway workers’ art arrives at Bolton’s Platform 5
• West Lancashire Line proves a hidden gem
• Sussex’s Eridge Station celebrates 153 years of local service
• Cheshire’s Friends of Goostrey Station look to future success with new members
• Free cycle hoops available to community rail groups