{"id":939,"date":"2021-11-15T20:12:14","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T20:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/?p=939"},"modified":"2021-11-15T20:12:48","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T20:12:48","slug":"building-on-success-future-directions-for-community-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/building-on-success-future-directions-for-community-rail","title":{"rendered":"Building on success: future directions for Community Rail"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUILDING ON SUCCESS:<\/strong><\/h4>\n

future directions for\u00a0 \u2018Community Rail\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Prof. Paul Salveson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Chair, South-East Lancashire Community Rail Partnership, Co-ordinator Rail Reform Group, Visiting Professor Universities of Huddersfield and Bolton, founder member of Community Rail Network\u00a0 (all in a personal capacity!)<\/p>\n

Preface<\/strong><\/p>\n

This paper is aimed at a range of people active in the rail and transport industry as well as in the wider public sector \u2013 local government, combined authorities \u2013 and the \u2018third sector\u2019. I\u2019m grateful to many friends and colleagues for their input to the paper, though I bear responsibility for what\u2019s in it. I was involved in setting up the movement that became \u2018Community Rail\u2019 in the early 1990s, through a report called New Futures for Rural Rail<\/em>. We launched it at the National Railway Museum in 1992. This paper is my own personal revision of \u2018New Futures\u2019, throwing up ideas and suggestions for Community Rail that can go forward over the next ten years.<\/p>\n

Today, with over 70 community rail partnerships and hundreds of station groups, \u2018community rail\u2019 is no longer a purely \u2018rural\u2019 initiative, it includes inner urban areas as much as rural branch lines. It is active across a wide range of activities which back then we\u2019d have thought way beyond the scope of what railways should be about. Mental health, loneliness, hate crime, addressing climate change, and lots more.<\/p>\n

What they add up to is making rail more people-friendly and encouraging more people to use the train and value their local station as a community hub. That feeds back into the really big one of the Climate Emergency.<\/p>\n

Who was it who once said \u2018Think Global \u2013 Act Local\u2019?<\/p>\n

I see this paper as very much \u2018work in progress\u2019 and welcome feedback.<\/p>\n

Paul.salveson@myphone.coop<\/a><\/p>\n

Thanks!<\/p>\n

Paul Salveson, Bolton, November 2021<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Summary<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A unique opportunity<\/li>\n
  2. Are we getting short of steam?<\/li>\n
  3. Will TOCs still have a role in Community Rail?<\/li>\n
  4. The continuing importance of Local Government<\/li>\n
  5. Community Rail has grown \u2013 but there\u2019s still work to do<\/li>\n
  6. Station friends, partnerships and business adoption<\/li>\n
  7. The new railway architecture<\/li>\n
  8. Great British Railways and \u2018Community Rail\u2019<\/li>\n
  9. What should a Community rail partnership be about?<\/li>\n
  10. Catalysts for change<\/li>\n
  11. Inter-City Community Rail?<\/li>\n
  12. Maximising Social Value<\/li>\n
  13. Developing \u2018Community Rail Enterprise\u2019<\/li>\n
  14. Back to the land<\/li>\n
  15. Arts-led rail regeneration<\/li>\n
  16. Away from \u2018big is best\u2019 mentality in procurement<\/li>\n
  17. Building awareness in the industry<\/li>\n
  18. Professionalising Community Rail<\/li>\n
  19. Rail re-openings<\/li>\n
  20. Where next?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    BUILDING ON SUCCESS: future directions for \u2018Community Rail\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u00a0\u201cCommunity rail groups already play an important role in supporting a thriving rail network across the country, including through strengthening initiatives with local understanding, improving rail\u2019s social impact and engaging partners such as schools and local businesses. Together, the regional divisions and community rail groups will be able to work more closely with each other, helping to maximise recovery from the pandemic by reinvigorating rail travel for leisure and tourism, particularly in our protected landscapes. They can also advise on how to improve active travel connections to stations, supporting connectivity in rural areas and working together to improve facilities at stations and on trains.\u201d – <\/em>Great British Railways: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail<\/em>, 2021\u00a0 \u00a0s. 13 p.45<\/p>\n

    Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

    This paper argues that the current restructuring within the railway industry presents a unique opportunity for Community Rail (CR) to up its game and become more ambitious, building on its strengths and becoming more entrepreneurial. It needs to shout its achievements much more loudly, or risk losing vital external support.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Maintaining and developing a close partnership with its existing partners in the industry, particularly the train operating companies, is crucial. Train companies and Network Rail should work with the Community Rail Network and CRPs to build a stronger awareness amongst all railway staff about the value and importance of Community Rail. \u2019Community Rail\u2019 should become a professional career with appropriate accreditation, in partnership with the further and higher education sector.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Building an equally strong relationship with the new Great British Railways (GBR) is of equal importance. I argue for a GBR Community Unit with a dedicated director at headquarters level and community engagement mangers within the regional divisions, working closely with the TOCs and CRPs who should be incentivised to develop ambitious projects, assisted by a \u2018Community Rail Enterprise Challenge\u2019 funded by GBR. <\/em><\/p>\n

    These projects could range from developing integrated bus links, promoting walking and cycling schemes including bike hire, to station and on-train catering and other station activities which bring passenger and wider benefits. Making greater use of railway land e.g. for cultivating edible produce, is a further opportunity.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Community Rail should be resourced to take on issues around mental health, hate crime, anti-social behaviour and loneliness, each of which impact on the railways in different ways. <\/em><\/p>\n

    Local government, including the \u2018Combined Authorities\u2019, have a crucial part to play. Community Rail can help address wider policy areas beyond a narrow \u2018transport\u2019 focus.<\/em><\/p>\n

    New community rail partnerships should be encouraged through a \u2018Community Rail Partnership Growth Fund\u2019 which helps CRPs get off the ground and develop, rather than using existing resources which would have the effect of \u2018spreading the jam more thinly\u2019 and penalising existing CRPs.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A unique opportunity<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      The railway industry is going through some major changes, following on from the Williams-Shapps report. Nothing will stay the same.<\/p>\n

      \u2018Community Rail\u2019 (CR) and \u2018community rail partnerships\u2019 (CRPs) get very positive mention, even with some suggestions that they could potentially take on the running of some local lines (going back to the early days of community rail and \u2018microfranchising\u2019). That\u2019s too big a leap for now, but while the industry is going through big changes, not least with the formation of Great British Railways and post-Covid recovery challenges, serious thought should be given to building on the success of Community Rail in the next ten years, rather than assuming it just carries on \u2018as normal\u2019. All the encouragement that could be possibly asked for is in the white paper. It\u2019s too good an opportunity to miss.<\/p>\n

      Rufus Boyd, Programme Director (Passenger and Freight Services) at GBR\u2019s Transition Team told me: \u201cIt is a challenging time for the rail industry and high on the agenda post-Covid is the need to demonstrate value for money.\u00a0 Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) have proved themselves time and again as making a difference to customers at a price the railway can afford. I hope that CRPs continue to build on the success that they’ve so far demonstrated as we move towards building a railway that puts customers and its communities at its heart<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

      It\u2019s all about building on success, not a drastic change of direction. CRPs need to be more ambitious. One TOC manager bemoaned the modest scale of some CRP\u2019s ambitions, proposing projects costing in the \u2018low thousands\u2019 when they should be developing initiatives substantially greater that can demonstrate value (not purely monetary but that\u2019s important) and make a real difference.<\/p>\n

      So, my view – having been involved in Community Rail since its inception – is that now is the time to demonstrate that it can do much more – contributing towards attracting passengers back to rail and bringing innovation to local rail services which contribute towards reducing costs. And, of course, the big challenge is ensuring that rail plays the fullest possible part in addressing climate change \u2013 which takes us back to filling those trains.<\/p>\n

      This paper argues for a wider role for CR, embedded firmly alongside the new structure which will be led by Great British Railways (GBR). It should retain and expand its independence, dynamism and creativity. I\u2019m talking reform and creative evolution, not revolution. Let\u2019s use the \u2018four pillars\u2019 enshrined in the Government\u2019s Community Rail Development Strategy, and take each of them further. Just to remind you, they are:<\/p>\n