Hello everyone. With schools and parliaments back in session, and party conference season soon to be underway, September is a season of fresh starts – and we hope you are all enjoying the first few days of autumn.
Community Rail Awards 2026
Entries are now open for the 2026 Community Rail Awards, headline partnered by East Midlands Railway. To assist the planning of your entry, explore our Entry Hub and take advantage of our drop-in support sessions. We can’t wait to receive all your fantastic submissions! If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Events team.
AGM – save the date
Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Wednesday 5 November, 2-3.30pm, via Zoom. Please save this date in your diaries, and further information will follow, including details of the agenda and registration process. All details will be available on our AGM webpage.
Members’ survey
Our annual members’ survey opens next week. We’re keen to hear the views and ideas of all members, to shape our work and help us to respond to the needs of the growing community rail movement. This is especially important this year as the Board and team start the process of renewing our organisational strategy for the coming years.
We warmly encourage you to respond, which should take no more than 15-20 minutes. Once again, there are different versions of the survey for CRPs and station groups, although many of the same questions appear in both. If you’ve not received a link by the end of Monday 8 September or have any queries, please contact Rob.
Travelling with Confidence – project update and grant funds
The Travelling with Confidence project, grant-funded by the Motability Foundation, is now well into its journey and achieving significant progress in empowering hundreds of disabled people across the UK to develop their confidence, skills and resilience when planning and making trips by rail. Read about recent project developments here, and we will share more voices and stories from the project over the coming months.
As part of the programme, we will be providing a small number of grants (and support) to accredited CRPs to set up similar, smaller-scale initiatives in their local areas, and contribute to the wider project between now and December 2026. We’re holding an online information session on Tuesday 16 September, 12-1pm. If you are interested in attending, or would like more information, please contact Sally.
Send your stories to news@communityrail.org.uk and see our guidance on submitting stories.
Your next bulletin is on 17 September. Keep up-to-date in between on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, Bluesky and X.
Best wishes,
Jeremy and Bill
- Cutting-edge rail ticket technology to be trialled across the Midlands and North
- Poet Laureate marks railway bicentenary with commemorative poem
- Department for Transport releases results of 2024 National Travel Survey
- Submit your nominations for Chiltern Railways’ Community Awards
- ScotRail: end of the line for peak fares
- Enter photos of your station’s Amberol self-watering planters for competition
- Register for Mencap’s ‘No Journey Left Behind’ research webinar
- Severnside CRP hosts special activity train for ‘Gromit Unleashed 3’ trail
- Abbey Line CRP marks 20 years with craft brew honouring the Abbey Flyer
- Intergenerational collaboration sees new artwork at Shotton Station
- Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership celebrates Crediton Station projects
- TransWilts CRP teams up with Barnardo’s to take youngsters to the seaside by rail
- SCRP coordinates railway-themed literary extravaganza for Railway 200
- Lowestoft Station shop and tourist information office celebrates 5th birthday
- Annual bumblebee safari another success for Hadfield and Glossop stations
- Brochure supports makers and traders along the Heart of Wales Line
- Community Rail Lancashire features on the Carbon Copy Podcast
- Celebrate Railway 200 with the Friends of Goostrey Station on 27 September
