Williams Rail Review
Well, what an exciting week it’s been with the publication on Thursday of the long-awaited Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail. We are delighted to see the government commit so strongly to community rail, and recognise its importance, in its plans for reforming and reinvigorating our railways. This recognition of community rail is testament to the hard work and passion of the thousands of community rail volunteers and scores of community rail partnerships around Britain, putting rail at the heart of communities and delivering positive local change.
We have produced a summary of the Plan, highlighting the implications and opportunities for community rail, which you can read here.
Volunteers Week
It’s Volunteers Week from 1 – 7 June, and an ideal time for all of us to recognise the tremendous contribution that community rail and station volunteers make to their communities, railways and stations. Please keep sharing your examples across social media using the #communityrail and #VolunteersWeek hashtags, and take a look at our twitter feed for examples across the community rail world. Don’t forget to make use of our Community Rail Across Britain reports for facts and stats for media releases you may be sending out during the week to spotlight your activities.
A range of great resources can be found at volunteersweek.org, and you’ll find our advice on station adoption here.
With Covid restrictions easing, now is a great time to think about recruiting volunteers for your upcoming activities. Our team may be able to help, for example through links to our partners’ volunteering schemes, advice on volunteer recruitment, or promoting your campaign though social media. So please get in touch if you need support.
Keep us up to date with your details
Has your group had a change of details (chair, contact details, etc)? Keeping us up to date with your group’s details allows us to provide you with the latest opportunities from ourselves and our partners. Contact our admin team to update your details.
Don’t forget to sign up for our sustainability webinars
There’s still time to book onto our Promoting rail’s green credentials webinar, Tuesday 8 June, part of our summer sustainability-themed webinars. The webinar will feature speakers from Rail Delivery Group, Porterbrook, Greater Anglia, Essex and South Suffolk CRP and Possible. Booking details for this webinar and our encouraging and enabling modal shift webinar are below.
- Promoting rail’s green credentials, 10am–12noon, Tues 8 June, providing the latest facts, figures and insights to help community rail shine a light on the sustainability of rail travel. Book now
- Encouraging and enabling modal shift, 10am–11:30am, Weds 23 June, highlighting how community rail can support modal shift from private car to rail, other public transport, and active travel, through effective, evidence-based community engagement. Book now.
Your next bulletin is on 9 June. Keep up-to-date in between on Twitter and Facebook.
News from our partners
- Campaign for Better Transport launch campaign to encourage public transport use
- Welsh celebrities back new Network Rail safety campaign encouraging children to take rail safety pledge
News from our members
- Recognition in Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail for Leeds – Morecambe CRP
- Fantastic recycled plastic grant success for Blackburn Station
- Hampshire’s Petersfield Station Hub set to reopen
- Active travel DalesRail returns for walkers
- Redevelopment of Haltwhistle Station waiting rooms continues
- Avoseat on display at Cheshire’s Handforth Station
- Community rail development officer – Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership
- Community rail line officer – Southeast Communities Rail Partnership
