READING BETWEEN THE LINES THE NEWSLETTER OF LANCASHIRE’S COMMUNITY RAILWAYS Issue 25 JULY 2016 Virgin Trains West Coast’s Sammy bear poses on platform 2 at Accrington station during the Station to Station, Queen’s 90th birthday celebrations. NOTES FROM THE BUNKER Well this is running a bit behind time! It just goes to show how much we all have been doing over the last 6 months in preparation for the new franchise and in setting up a brand new company. However, the main news took place only a few weeks ago on the 23rd June, when the UK voted by a thin majority to initiate a process that will eventually take the UK (you and me) out of the EU. Whatever the pros and cons of this are, and we all have our views, the EU has been good for railways in the UK and East Lancashire in particular. Without ERDF (European Regional Development Fund) we would not have the eco station at Accrington or the iconic Burnley Manchester Road station. The former was funded through the SusStations (Sustainable Stations) project and the latter by Citi- zens' Rail. For me it has been a real privilege to work with rail professionals from France, Germany, and the Netherlands. I have learnt a lot from them and have come to realise that we share many common problems and that together we can develop ways to try and solve them. In France the issue of a declining rural network is a key issue - France has seen significant rural depopulation making it hard to maintain a viable network. The 'Train des Plages' was one way to breathe new life into a dying line which has been pioneered by the Region Pays de la Loire. Their inspirational marketing has given us a mine of ideas to use in our own marketing initiatives. There have also been the two student master classes which were a real eye opener for me. I could go on but will leave it there. I had been looking at oth- er possible EU projects to fund for example the regeneration of Burnley Central station but I am sorry to say that will have to go on hold now. But now time for a picture! This La Meyze station on a very rural line in France. It is certainly true that the French can teach us a lot about train design but there is much they can learn from us about looking after rural stations. This is the way out from the station after a heavy rain storm (June 2016). 2 NOTES FROM THE BUNKER Before leaving my European theme (thank goodness I hear being said) many of our franchisees are operated by European companies. Take Northern which is operated by Arriva which just happens to be owned by DB (Deutsche Bahn). Northern has ordered considerable rolling stock from the Spanish train builder CAF (Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles) and the final cost of the trains could be affected by the weakening pound. By the way CAF made the excellent trains that are operated by Translink, the rail and bus operator in Northern Ireland. Even trains made in the UK rely on many components supplied from the continent. The impact of the 23rd June has barely begun to be seen but without doubt the rail- way will need to work through the implications. Full details of all the Citizens' Rail projects can be found by going to their website at www.citizensrail.org/ it is full of useful information and for SusStations go to www1.deutschebahn.com/ecm2-susstation/start. As you will see the website is hosted by DB!! Moving on the other big news is that we have finally given Community Rail Lancashire some real legs and turned the name into a not for profit company! It has taken quite a bit of effort especially as it currently employs one person and from 1st September will employ two more. Creating a company, even a not for profit one, takes quite a bit of doing. We have had to look at all the issues that I would normally take for granted such as payroll, insurance, terms and conditions, job specifications, setting up a bank account etc. etc., the list is very long. However, assisted by Simon Clarke it has all been achieved and on time (and dare I say to budget?). The objects of Community Rail Lancashire Ltd are set out in its Memorandum of Association and can be seen below and also on the CRL website. • Act as an umbrella body for the four Lancashire Community Rail Partnerships (CRPs) namely the Clitheroe Line CRP, the East Lancashire CRP, the South Fylde Line CRP and the West of Lancashire CRP or their successor bodies in name and title; • Co -operate and/or work with adjoining CRPs and station partnerships; • Become a delivery agent for regional and national rail projects; • Promote the development of the Lancashire community rail lines for the benefit of local residents, businesses and visitors, through a partnership approach; • Engage with a variety of organisations including, but not exclusively, Network Rail, the Train Operating Company, Rail North, (or their successor bodies in name and title), local government, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), local chambers of trade, the voluntary sector and local charitable trusts, local tourism bodies and rail user groups to promote the development of community rail in Lancashire; • Promote the development of, and investment in, the stations and train services, including the information provided to the public, on routes covered by the Company and in particular to develop stations as community hubs; • promote the formation and development of station partnerships; • expand the programme of school engagement and social outreach especially with disadvantaged communities; • encourage regeneration, sustainable development; and accessibility in the communities served by the Company; • promote integrated transport links; and • carry out any other activity in furtherance of, or ancillary to, the objects of the Company. 3 NOTES FROM THE BUNKER We are now moving into phase 2 which is to prepare the 'bunker' for the two new employees. Some of you will know that CRL has been awarded funding from ComREG (which stands for the Community Rail Executive Group) to develop and expand its educational engagement programme. We have se- cured £75k per annum from ComREG for at least three years which not only allows us to employ the additional staff but will enable us to really help develop the links with 'the passengers of the fu- ture' going forward. Helped by Marjorie, Brian, James and Janet we have developed a business plan that covers the full ARN franchise period (ie 9 years plus 1). The plan has been shared with and en- dorsed by ComREG. So in a few weeks time Emily and Daisy will be joining the CRL team and will be based at the revamped bunker at Accrington station. A particularly exciting development has been the evolving partnership with Virgin Trains. The new Community Champions at Preston are busy developing a community room on platform 4 and CRL plans to use this for school groups from, in particular, the West Lancashire and South Fylde areas. Already a party of school children from Ormskirk has visited the station. The project has inspired Brian to develop an 'I Spy' booklet to be used by school parties as part of an accompanied tour around the station. I am delighted to report that this project has been supported by the Designated Line Community Rail Development Fund. At the time of writing the DfT is consulting on the next West Coast fran- chise. Part of the CRL response will be to ensure that the Station Champions are maintained amongst many other things. The Bentham Line CRP is looking at the opportunities offered by Lancaster railway station with Vir- gin as it has large amounts of under used space. I am also informed that there is space at Wigan North Western so there may well be other developments taking place - watch this space. CRL recently welcomed a party of Chinese primary school children to Accrington. The pupils were on an ex- change visit to the UK and stayed with the families of pupils at Padiham Green Primary School. Brian got the pupils doing some of the exercises normally reserved for Eng- lish school visitors!! It all worked very well despite the lack of the offi- cial interpreter and the children even got a ride on a Pacer from Rose Grove to Accrington - I wonder what they made of this strange train?! Pupils from the No2 Experimental School, Qingdao, NE China near the Pacific Coast. To the left is Brian Haworth and to the right, at the rear is Janet Ennis, Deputy Head of Padiham Green. 4 NOTES FROM THE BUNKER What else has taken place over the last 6 months? Well we have completed the 'All Together Now' project at Pleasington station, which was the 2015 winner of the Abellio Challenge - more of that on page 7. This has been an exciting and challenging project which has brought together a very diverse range of groups - from young to old, able to disabled to take part. We have also been busy preparing three entries for this years Community Rail Awards which is taking place in Southport. I said quite a bit about the new franchises in the last RBtL so will hold off in this one. However, suffice to say that plans for the December 2017 timetable are not meeting with full approval. The plan to divert all services from Southport into Manchester Victoria has certainly not gone down well.