Improving rail services in line with community needs was the focus at Greater Anglia’s annual community rail conference held recently.
Community Rail Partnerships, station adopters, local authorities and other organisations from across East Anglia came together with Greater Anglia (GA) representatives at the annual GA Community Rail Conference on 15 November to discuss how to further boost rail branch lines.
The event involved discussion on improving rail services for the benefit of local communities, a talk by Gary Shipp – Sustainable Transport Projects Co-ordinator, Community Rail Network, on sustainable transport; a talk by David Harrison, Senior Portfolio Manager, Commercial Property, Transport UK Advance Ventures, about bringing rail station buildings into community use; and a presentation highlighting the contribution of over 330 station adopters who help to improve their local stations under Greater Anglia’s Station Adoption scheme.
Jonathan Denby, Greater Anglia’s Head of Corporate Affairs, said, “Community rail initiatives help to bring railways closer to the communities they serve, encouraging more people to take the train and supporting local communities by making it easier for residents to travel, for work, learning, shopping or leisure, and for visitors or tourists to get around, with benefits for the local economy.
“We’ll continue to build on our strong track record of partnership working, which has seen community rail lines become more and more popular with customers, whilst train services and stations have become more integrated with local communities’ needs, with more frequent services, all year round, in place on most routes than used to be the case.
“Over the last year, we have continued to put funding and resources into working with our community rail partnerships, as well as providing a high level of support for our station adoption programme which continues to have tremendous success, with over 330 adopters and 125 stations now adopted throughout Greater Anglia.
“During the year our station enhancements have also continued apace, with improvements to our station buildings, car parks and cycle facilities, while train performance continues to at record levels, with GA the most punctual operator in the UK over the last 18 months.”
He added: “A huge thanks to all involved for making the conference such a positive, effective event with clear goals and a shared desire to ensure our local lines continue to thrive and maximise the ongoing impact of the exciting transformation delivered by the introduction of our new trains.”
To date in Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk, partnership working has helped to boost tourism and local economies and improve health and well-being through the production of local area guides, guided walks, special event trains, volunteering initiatives, community art projects, wildlife initiatives, partnership initiatives to deliver service improvements and station upgrades and wider community involvement schemes.
