Community project connecting people with rail in Lancashire & Yorkshire recognised at national awards.
Community Rail Lancashire and partners, have won a coveted national Community Rail Award for its innovative work engaging communities with their local railway. Community Rail Lancashire and partners fought off strong competition to be named Silver winner of the Tourism & Leisure Award, sponsored by TransPennine Express, for the Yorkshire Dales Explorer, at the 20th national Community Rail Awards.
The event, organised by Community Rail Network and headline partnered by Lumo, was this year held in Newcastle, to honour the wider railway industries’ celebration of 200 years since the birth of modern railways.
This year’s Awards recognised a diverse array of projects across Britain and beyond, with 20 winners chosen from 227 inspiring entries, all demonstrating how the community rail movement builds positivity and awareness between local people and their railways.
The Yorkshire Dales Explorer is an exciting new service that links Greater Manchester and Lancashire to the Settle Carlisle line and the wonderful Yorkshire Dales. It will operate on Saturdays, as an extension of the Rochdale to Blackburn service with two trains a day going on to Ribblehead via Clitheroe and the Ribble Valley.
More broadly, Community Rail Lancashire delivers a range of community engagement and social inclusion initiatives, supports volunteering at stations, promotes green travel and tourism by rail, and works with railway and local authority partners.
More than 500 guests including senior rail and transport leaders and community rail officers and volunteers were in attendance at the prestigious evening on 13 March. The Awards recognised projects supporting diversity, accessibility and inclusion, sustainable travel and tourism, youth and schools engagement, community-led station improvements, empowered communities and influencing positive change.
The Awards recognise the crucial, often unsung work of community rail partnerships, station friends and other community rail groups, which continue to grow in number and impact, under Community Rail Network’s umbrella. There are now 76 CRPs and an estimated 1,300 station groups spread across Britain (and now a few beyond too).
Richard Watts, Chair of Community Rail Lancashire said: “We are very pleased that this exciting new service has been recognised in the National Community Rail Awards and look forward to its development over the next few years.”
Bill Freeman, interim chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “Our Community Rail Awards give deserved recognition to community rail partnerships, groups and volunteers across Britain and now beyond. It’s a fantastic achievement to be able to celebrate two decades of recognising the outstanding work across community rail, especially during this special Railway 200 year. Our congratulations to Community Rail Lancashire and partners and to all our winners, and thanks to everyone who supports and champions community rail, helping the movement to go from strength to strength.”
