About the Community Rail Partnership
The Community Rail concept
In November 2004 the Strategic Rail Authority (now the Department for Transport) published its Community Rail Development strategy.
The main objectives of the 'Community Rail' concept are:
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To increase passenger volume and income
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To manage down the cost of running the line now and in the future, without compromising safety or service
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To involve the local community more closely in the development of its railway
- To enable the local railway to play a greater part in economic and social regeneration
The Abbey Line's part
As part of the strategy, the Abbey Line was selected to become one of the UK's first official 'Community Railways'.
Six Pilot Projects covering seven routes across the UK were set up, with each of these being carefully chosen in order to test different aspects of the concept. For instance, the Abbey Line is the only one of the seven to be an electrified semi-urban branch line, and has a very different character from some of the 'classic' Community Rail lines in more rural parts of the country.
The first objective of the pilot project was to establish a Community Rail Partnership (CRP) and this was launched on 15th June 2005. This is managed by a part-time officer and a group of representatives from the Lead partners, who meet around six times a year to drive forward projects such as:
- Station adoption
- Better signage
- Cycle facilities
- Improved marketing
- Special trains
The long term aim is to increase train service frequency, which will require changes to the infrastructure or rolling stock. Work on this continues, see our Pilot Project page for more details.
The other six objectives of the Pilot Project are listed here.....
Measuring our success
There has been considerable growth in patronage - up around 22% since the establishment of the Partnership - 11% in the last year with patronage now at around 500,000 journeys p.a. This was an important achievement, because it was done with very little change to the fabric of the trains, the stations or the service.
Improving, exploiting and marketing what we've got is our key aim.
For further examples of what we have achieved, see our Achievements page.
How you can help
YOU can help us keep the momentum of the CRP going by joining us!
Individuals are encouraged to express their support through membership of the line's user group, ABFLY. See their website www.abfly.org.uk for further details.
Businesses and organisations should contact the CRP officer to discuss how they can participate.
