Community Rail Network

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Community rail in Britain is the support of railway lines and stations by local organisations, usually through community rail partnerships (CRPs) comprising railway operators, local councils, and other community organisations, and rail user groups (RUGs). Community railways are managed to fit local circumstances recognising the need to increase revenue, reduce costs, increase community involvement and support social and economic development. The Community Rail Network (CRN), formerly known as the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) until April 2020, [1] supports its fifty or so member CRPs and also offers assistance to voluntary station friends groups that support their local stations through the station adoption scheme. Since 2005 the Department for Transport has formally designated a number of railway lines as community rail schemes in order to recognise the need for different, more appropriate standards than are applied to main line railway routes, and therefore make them more cost effective.

Contents

Community Rail Partnerships and Rail User Groups

Station Friends

International members

Reciprocal membership

The Association of Community Rail Partnerships has reciprocal membership with:

Designated Lines

The Department for Transport announced a pilot project in 2005 under their Community Rail Development Strategy, with the intention of having seven differing lines (Abbey Line, Esk Valley Line, Looe Valley Line, Penistone Line, Poacher Line, St Ives Bay Line, and Tamar Valley Line) test out different types of community rail schemes. The aims of these schemes are to:

Designation does not physically separate a line from the rest of the network or remove it from either Network Rail or franchise operation. It is not generally intended to be used as a mechanism to reopen lines or create "microfranchises", although these options may be investigated on some routes.

In addition each line has a remit agreed in a route prospectus which gives more detailed aims and objectives for each scheme, such as infrastructure improvements, new ticketing arrangements, or cooperation with other local transport operators.

The DfT has identified about fifty routes in England and Wales that would benefit from designation, covering 10% of Network Rail and some 390 stations. Some routes will only be designated as community rail services (rather than community rail lines) as the infrastructure may be used by other operators in a way that precludes designation. Not all of the CRPs mentioned above have been designated. Those that have so far are:

Date of designationLineBetweenPartnershipLine or service
July 2005 [6] Abbey Line St Albans Abbey to Watford Junction Abbey Line Community Rail PartnershipCommunity line
July 2005 [6] Esk Valley Line Whitby to Middlesbrough Esk Valley Railway Development CoCommunity line
July 2005 [6] St Ives Bay Line St Ives to St Erth Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership Community line
September 2005 Looe Valley Line Looe to Liskeard Devon and Cornwall Rail PartnershipCommunity line
September 2005 Penistone Line Huddersfield to Barnsley Penistone Line PartnershipCommunity line
September 2005 Tamar Valley Line Gunnislake to Plymouth Devon and Cornwall Rail PartnershipCommunity line
March 2006 Island Line Shanklin to Ryde Pier Head Community line
July 2006 Derwent Valley Line Matlock to Derby Derwent Valley Line Community Rail PartnershipCommunity line
July 2006 Poacher Line [7] Skegness to Grantham Grantham – Skegness Community Rail PartnershipCommunity service
September 2006 Atlantic Coast Line Newquay to Par Devon and Cornwall Rail PartnershipCommunity service
September 2006 Maritime Line Falmouth Docks to Truro Devon and Cornwall Rail PartnershipCommunity line
September 2006 Tarka Line Barnstaple to Exeter Central Devon and Cornwall Rail PartnershipCommunity line
November 2006 East Lancashire Line Colne to Preston East Lancashire Community Rail PartnershipCommunity line
November 2006 Gainsborough Line Marks Tey to Sudbury Essex & South Suffolk Rail PartnershipCommunity line
November 2006 Marston Vale Line Bedford to Bletchley Marston Vale Community Rail PartnershipCommunity service
February 2007 Barton Line Barton-on-Humber to Cleethorpes Community Rail HumberCommunity line
February 2007 Wherry Line Great Yarmouth to Norwich Community Rail NorfolkCommunity service
February 2007 Wherry Line Lowestoft to NorwichCommunity Rail NorfolkCommunity service
March 2007 Clitheroe Line Clitheroe to Manchester Victoria Clitheroe Line CRPCommunity service
September 2007 Bittern Line Sheringham to NorwichCommunity Rail NorfolkCommunity line
September 2007 Medway Valley Line Strood to Paddock Wood Kent Community Rail PartnershipCommunity service
April 2008 Lakes Line Windermere to Oxenholme Lakes Line Community Rail PartnershipCommunity line
April 2008 Severn Beach Line Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads Severnside CRPCommunity service
April 2008 South Fylde Line Blackpool South to PrestonSouth Fylde Community Rail PartnershipCommunity line
July 2008 Lymington Branch Line Lymington Pier to Brockenhurst Lymington-Brockenhurst Community Rail PartnershipCommunity line
November 2008 North Staffordshire Line Crewe to DerbyNorth Staffordshire CRPCommunity service
September 2009 Cumbrian Coast Line Barrow-in-Furness to Carlisle Community service
January 2011 Bishop Line Bishop Auckland to Darlington Bishop Line Community Rail PartnershipCommunity service
September 2011 Preston to Ormskirk Line Ormskirk to PrestonWest of Lancashire Rail PartnershipCommunity line
October 2011 Heart of Wessex Line Weymouth to Bristol Temple MeadsHeart of Wessex Rail PartnershipCommunity service
January 2012 Mid-Cheshire Line Chester to Manchester Piccadilly via Northwich Mid Cheshire Rail PartnershipCommunity service
June 2012 Furness Line Barrow-in-Furness to Carnforth Community service
September 2012 Avocet Line Exmouth to Exeter St Davids Devon and Cornwall Rail PartnershipCommunity line
October 2012 Bentham Line Heysham Port/Morecambe to Leeds Leeds – Morecambe Community Rail PartnershipCommunity service
October 2012 Hereward Line Ely to Peterborough Hereward CRPCommunity line
September 2016 TransWilts Line Swindon to Westbury via Melksham TransWilts Community Rail PartnershipCommunity service

See also

References

  1. ↑ Harris, Nigel, ed. (22 April 2020). "ACoRP changes its name to Community Rail Network". Rail Magazine. No. 903. Peterborough: Bauer Media. p. 21. ISSN   0953-4563.
  2. ↑ Holland, Julian (2015). Britain's best railways. Glasgow: Collins. p. 22. ISBN   9780007951666.
  3. ↑ Holland, Julian (2015). Britain's best railways. Glasgow: Collins. p. 157. ISBN   9780007951666.
  4. ↑ Thomas, Peter (2007). Along the Penistone Line. Stroud: Sutton. p. 14. ISBN   0-7509-4619-9.
  5. ↑ Comfort, Andy (11 June 2025). "A railway with "people at its heart"". Rail Magazine. No. 1, 037. Peterborough: Bauer Media. p. 57. ISSN   0953-4563.
  6. 1 2 3 Knight, Steven (July 2025). "Time traveller - 20 years ago". Rail Express. No. 350. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 73. ISSN   1362-234X.
  7. ↑ Delivering a sustainable railway. Norwich: TSO. 2007. p. 73. ISBN   978-0-10-171762-5.
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