Train Times incorporating ACoRP Annual Report 2012-2013 The magazine of Summer/Autumn 2013 the Association of Community Rail Partnerships No.68 NEW LOOK EDITION featuring: A better way to the Heart of Wales? * Community Rail in Scotland The arrival of Citizens’ Rail * Reviving Etchingham In this issue… Hello and Welcome... Hello & Welcome 2 North of the Border 3 Welcome to the first issue of our new-style Train Times! Citizens’ Rail 5 With more in-depth features about community rail and Up The Junction 9 the work of Community Rail Partnerships, we’re sure you’ll find it absorbing and informative. The content Reviving Etchingham 10 isn’t set in stone and we’d welcome features from our Partnership Profile - readers, as well as our regular contributors, so let us Heart of Wales 12 know what you think. The financial climate, like the weather, still appears to Principal Funders be a bit chilly as I write this, although I’m encouraged and Sponsors by the continued support for community rail from our many friends and colleagues in the industry. Underlining this is an interesting comment from a Association of Train Operating significant delegate at our recent ‘Stations’ conference in Birmingham. When Companies I asked if he’d enjoyed the conference, he was generous enough to say that he DfT Rail found it useful and thought-provoking. Frighteningly however, he then went East Coast Main Line Co on to say “You shouldn’t be doing this”. My eyebrows must have given me Network Rail away because he rapidly qualified his comment by adding “Community rail Welsh Government volunteers should be doing far better things than scrabbling around for no- ticeboards and the like – we (the industry) have set the bar too low, these kind Transport Scotland of things should be the norm”. Now, this person is influential and to hear this kind of comment was hugely Corporate refreshing and made me realise how far we really have come in the last 10 – 15 years. There are still commentators who feel it’s fashionable to knock the Sponsors railway, regardless of what it’s achieving. There are others who are simply Abellio ignorant of the key role that local rail plays in enabling communities to thrive Angel Trains Ltd and survive. But I believe there’s a sea change in the general approach to First TransPennine Express community rail, highlighted by the encouraging discussions I frequently seem Grand Central Railway Company to be having now with industry people across the board. Limited Change is afoot in Scotland too, where we’ve just recruited our two new Kirklees Metropolitan District Council Development Officers, Linda Ferguson and James Wilkin. With ACoRP hav- Merseytravel ing been given the green light to help facilitate the development of communi- Northern Rail ty rail partnerships in Scotland, Linda and James will be our representatives, Transport for Greater Manchester working with Regional Transport Partnerships (RTPs), communities, tourism (TfGM) and other agencies, the rail industry, and Transport Scotland. * We welcome additional corporate Not to be left out, there are interesting developments in Wales, with proposals sponsorship from the railway industry. Please contact our General to make the Heart of Wales line more locally accountable, perhaps even locally Manager Neil Buxton if you are managed - Train Times explores this exciting development in more detail. interested in sponsoring us. Rail devolution for the north of England is also in full swing, with ACoRP having detailed discussions about the way community rail can be incorporat- Contributors ed into the devolved franchise. This edition of Train Times was edited If that wasn’t enough, even Europe gets a look-in as ACoRP’s EU-funded by Nigel Barber ([email protected]) water tower project comes to a conclusion and ‘Citizen’s Rail’ is launched by and typeset by Philip Jenkinson. Thanks another EU-funded consortium including the Devon & Cornwall Rail Part- also to Chris Austin, Richard Watts, Nigel nership and Lancashire County Council. Whitburn and David Edwards. So, although life may occasionally appear a bit grey, community rail is still forging ahead nonetheless. One in the eye for Messrs Beeching and Marples don’t you think! Cover picture: The wonderful Heart of Neil Buxton Wales line, as captured by Colin Bigalow. General Manager 2 Train Times 68 Summer 2013 North of the Border In the first feature of the new look Train Times, guest contributor Chris Austin OBE takes a look at the rise of Community Rail in Scotland… and ACoRP. Drawing in regional transport partnerships, local author- ities and user groups, the seminar included staff from First ScotRail, Network Rail, Passenger Focus, the Railway Heritage Trust and DfT, as well as from Transport Scotland and ACoRP. Delivering the keynote speech was Transport Minister Keith Brown, who told attendees that this was a genuine grassroots initiative, stemming from the consultation car- ried out by Transport Scotland into its 2014 policy paper, which showed that people wanted to have a great- er say in what happened to their railway. The Minister wanted a focal point to find out what communities wanted and where people would feel empowered to propose improve- Since the devolution of most rail- Scotland’s railway network has few branch lines but a number way powers and the establishment of long ‘lifeline’ routes, serving rural communities in long and of Transport Scotland, many of us sometimes remote corridors have looked enviously at the change in fortunes for Scottish railways and the Edinburgh Waverley route, with ments. He also wanted to build in particular, at their impressive 30 miles of new railway connecting on the progress already made with range of new projects. Apart from a Borders railhead at Tweedbank station adoption and confirmed that substantial investment in the exist- and the major town of Galashiels the new Scottish rail franchise from ing network on signalling, station with Edinburgh and restoring a link 2015 onwards would be required to improvements and new rolling stock, that should never have been broken. continue to support Community Rail the number of new lines and stations Apart from connecting communities Partnerships. has been breathtaking. and opening up new employment The Minister also revealed a bonus opportunities for those living in the The Stirling to Alloa line has ex- for the Oban line, which will see a borders, the line runs through some ceeded expectations from the start, doubling in service from three trains impressive scenery, making it easier with almost four times as many a day to six from 2014 – a welcome for tourists following in the steps of passengers first forecast using it in its change that dramatically increases Sir Walter Scott. It has all the hall- inaugural year alone. The scale of the the journey opportunities on the marks of a successful community new route, closing the gap between route, improving southbound sleeper railway for the future! Airdrie and Bathgate, is stunning in providing a double track electrified Another exciting step forward was main line from the outset. New sta- taken on 19th February this year tions have also been included, most when the first Community Rail recently at Conon Bridge (north of seminar was held in Scotland, under Inverness), timed to open before road the auspices of Transport Scotland works on the Kessock Bridge cause huge delays to motorists travelling Above: The award-winning floral displays at from the north along the A9. Then elegant Wemyss Bay station. Right: A good read can be found at there is the Borders Railway scheme. Pitlochry’s station bookshop. This will reopen the northern part of (Both courtesy First Scotrail) Train Times 68 Summer 2013 3 connections and making onward ferry connections to and from the islands easier too. Clearly Mr Brown was looking for a Scottish application of Community Rail principles and with good reason. Scotland’s railway net- work has few branch lines but a number of long ‘lifeline’ routes, serving rural communities in long and sometimes remote corridors (both the West Highland and the Far North lines are over 160 miles long). Moving forward, ACoRP will be working with Transport Scotland and oth- er stakeholders to interpret Community Rail in a Scottish context. Following several months of discussion, it has now been agreed that two ACoRP staff based in Scotland will support this new initiative, supported by funding of £100,000. This should also be seen in the context of Helensburgh Central - a colourful welcome at the end of the line. (Courtesy First ScotRail) with new ideas, as the award winning floral displays at Wemyss Bay have shown, as well as the bookshop at Pitlochry and the Coco Works at Inverurie (which is a welcome new cafe and nothing to do with the railway workshop that closed in 1969!) Next steps for Community Rail in Scotland will be to appoint the new ACoRP staff and take forward the development of individual partnership proposals with Transport Scotland over the next few months. The work of Frank Roach and the Highland Rail Partnership was an inspiration to myself and the team when we produced the £30m station investment fund provided by Trans- the Community Rail Development Strategy back in 2004 port Scotland and designed to draw in other funding, and I ‘pinched’ many of his best ideas as examples of which will come on stream from April 2014. The Scottish what could be done. It is now good to see the concept experience will extend the reach of the Community Rail being embraced by Transport Scotland and taken fur- concept and widen its appeal still further. I am sure it will ther. Community Rail Partnerships will soon be a reality also bring useful new ideas to benefit partnerships already throughout Britain and this really is a major milestone established in England and Wales and should sharpen worthy of celebration and a key expansion in the role of competition for the Community Rail awards as well! ACoRP.