Community Rail Partnership

Community Rail Partnership

The Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership Skegness-Grantham-Nottingham

Community Rail Officer – Jayne Wingad

The Poacher Line was one of the Department for Transport’s seven pilot Community Rail projects set up in 2004, and is designated as a Community Rail Service. Partners include East Midlands Trains, Network Rail, Department for Transport, Association of Community Rail Partnerships, County and District Councils who all contribute towards the activities and aspirations of the project.

Improvements have been made to the provision of signage, timetable and travel information and Poacher Line information has been integrated into bus time tables and advertisement space at bus stops.

DfT

Community Rail Development Strategy (CRDS)

The Community Rail Development Strategy published in 2004 by the former Strategic Rail Authority and reviewed in 2007 by Department for Transport sets out four objectives:

CRDS 1: Increasing ridership, freight use and revenue

CRDS 2: Managing down costs

CRDS 3: Greater involvement of the local community

CRDS 4: Enabling local rail to play a larger role in economic and social regeneration

Overall Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership (PLCRP) Objectives:

PL 1: To secure long term viability of the line and its services

PL 2: To promote the use of the line by local residents, visitors and businesses

PL 3: To bring economic, environmental, accessibility and social benefits to localities served by the line

PL 4: To contribute to sustainable and integrated transport in the Districts served

PL 5: To create a greater awareness of the railway in communities along the route and encourage their involvement

PL 6: To reduce usage of and reliance on the car

ACoRP

The Association of Community Rail Partnerships – ACoRP – is a federation of over 60 community rail partnerships and rail promotion groups.

Focused on practical initiatives which add up to a better more sustainable local railway. Improved station facilities, better train services and improved integration with other forms of transport are central to the work of ACoRP and its members.

The Government’s Community Rail Development Strategy provides a framework for partnerships to improve the effectiveness of local railways in meeting social, environmental and economic objectives.

Text from ACoRP website http://www.acorp.uk.com

“Community rail partnerships are a bridge between the railway and local communities. They are about positive development, bringing together a wide range of interests along the rail corridor. Some partnerships have been instrumental in achieving spectacular increases in use of rail through innovative marketing, improved services and better station facilities.

Their work includes improving bus links to stations, developing walking and cycling routes, bringing station buildings back to life, art and education projects and organising special events which promote the railway and its relevance to the community.”

Project Progress

What has been the impact of the project to date

The Community Rail Partnership (CRP) has helped to raise the profile of the Poacher Line and support major improvements to the infrastructure of the line and bus links from the train stations to the surrounding area. Some of the main activities and achievements during the term of the project are outlined below:

· The CRP has played an integral role in the campaign for track renewals. Degradation of the track through lack of investment over many years left the line with speed restrictions and vulnerable to being downgraded. The CRP helped to lobby for re-instatement of the track to a standard capable of carrying heavier rolling stock.

· Renewals have commenced and are scheduled to be completed in 2012, a year ahead of the original timescale set by Network Rail. These works will effectively replace 36 miles of track and hold future opportunities for better train speeds; importantly cutting down on travelling times for passengers making the service more attractive. It will also allow more frequent running of heavier trains at normal line speed. Such future possibilities would have been lost if the line was downgraded.

· Improvements have been made to the provision of signage, timetable and travel information. The CRPO has worked with Lincolnshire County Councils Accessibility and Policy Team to cross market the Poacher Line through the bus time tables and advertisement space at bus stops. Opportunities have been explored to provide a more integrated bus and train service; notably Lincolnshire County Council launched a new bus service in Grantham that has created an important link between Grantham Train Station, Grantham town centre and suburban areas. The bus route will provide for the local population far greater accessibility to Grantham train station and the services of the East Coast Main Line and Poacher Line Community Rail. This improvement to Public Transport network for Grantham will also be of benefit to local businesses as the wider populations are able to visit with increased ease and flexibility for leisure and work purpose. The bus times has been carefully planned to link in with the train table and will run every half hour each way between 7am and 7pm daily. This should provide a viable and sustainable alternative to car use for those that find parking charges prohibitive at Grantham Station.

· The CRPO has supported Station Adoption Groups, Skegness, Ancaster, Rauceby, Carlton & Netherfield are now adopted through East Midlands Trains (EMT) adoption scheme. A group has also made initial enquiries about adopting Sleaford Station and the CRPO with EMT is currently looking at ways to improve facilities at the station for the group.

· A “Poacher Line Guide to travelling by train” has been produced in four languages to provide guidance to those who have not travelled by train before and for migrant populations to help make train travel more accessible.

· Theme trains, in particular the music trains have continued to be popular and have created many publicity opportunities for the Poacher Line to spark public interest. These events also support local musicians in a small way and have received the continued support of Batemans Brewery, a local producer. Farmers markets have also been promoted through the CRP and the tourist attractions that are easily accessible from the line.

· Skegness station interchange re-development works are being jointly funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (£449,201), Network Rail’s National Stations Improvement Programme, East Midlands Trains and Lincolnshire County Council. These works are worth approximately £720,000 in total. The aim is to revive Skegness station interchange and enable greater use of multi modal transport. Works started in January with the removal of buildings of poor structural state situated to the front of the station. A glass wind break has then been installed along the periphery of the station canopy area. This has opened up the previously obscured station interchange site for a new plaza to be built to the front, improving visibility, functionality and access to the station. The plaza design has a seaside theme with dune, sandcastle, “welcome” arch features and jolly fisherman sculpture. This project will deliver small-scale, transport-related infrastructure improvements with long-term strategic impact in Skegness, on the Lincolnshire coast and across the East Midlands region.