South East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership (CRP) is offering support to other community rail partnerships and station groups looking to become ‘Stations of Sanctuary’.   

The process of becoming a ‘Station of Sanctuary’ aims to make your railway station a more accessible and welcoming place for refugees and people seeking asylum, striving to foster a culture of inclusivity and belonging for everyone.

For an institution to be able to claim that it is ‘of Sanctuary’, it must meet certain criteria to determine that it makes special efforts to ensure asylum seekers and refugees feel welcome and able to make use of their facilities.

South East Lancashire CRP recently completed a pilot project with Bolton City of Sanctuary to become the first official ‘Station of Sanctuary’, supported by funding from Community Rail Network, Northern and Transport for Greater Manchester.

As a result of the project, Bolton Station now benefits from improvements to information and signposting, a community artwork and a ‘Welcome to Bolton’ mural, as well as the development of a staff training booklet, resource pack and a system of accreditation for other stations to consider the way in which they offer support for service users from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

CRPs and station groups are encouraged to work with their local City of Sanctuary group and use the new resources to achieve their own ‘Station of Sanctuary’ accreditation.

Dr Steph Dermott, community rail development officer for South East Lancashire CRP, is happy to assist with any queries relating to Stations of Sanctuary. Please email steph@boltoncommunityrail.org.uk.

Read more about the Bolton Station of Sanctuary project here.