Agenda item

Fiona Forsythe, Community Rail Partnership Officer, will attend the meeting to explain what the role of the partnership in delivering the Department for Transport’s Community Rail Strategy.

Fiona Forsyth, Community Rail Partnership Officer and Dr Malcolm Chainey, Chair, were in attendance to explain the role of the partnership in delivering the Department for Transport’s Community Rail Strategy.  (A copy of the power point presentation was enclosed with the signed minutes and would be circulated electronically after the meeting):

The presentation highlighted:

·        The background and composition of the partnership. They were founded in 2004 and provided a link between communities and the rail industry.

·        Tyne Valley Rail User’s Group was a separate organisation with some overlapping aims.

·        Community rail was originally developed to safeguard the future of local lines. The latest strategy was published in 2018 by the Department of Transport ‘Connecting Communities with the Railways.

·        Delivery of four key pillars:

-       providing a voice for the community

-       promoting sustainable, healthy and accessible travel

-       bringing communities together and supporting diversity and inclusion

-       supporting social and economic development.

·        They worked with the rail industry, shareholders and education establishments across all age groups.

·        There were 70 community rail partnerships across the UK.  With the assistance of volunteers, they worked to increase passenger numbers on community rail lines.

·        The Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership were based at the Booking Hall in Haltwhistle which was used for meetings and also for free educational visits for schools which included train travel.

·        They worked with the local Rail Academy at Newcastle College which to develop the skills required for rail employees and promoted the area as a visitor attraction at railway stations such as Glasgow and Teeside.

·        With the support of CrossCountry they had previously provided a student with a marketing internship.  It was hoped that this could be repeated in the future.

·        Delivery of an anti-trespass competition, Backtrack, as well as inclusion competitions such as Lyric and Line which explored reasons (and barriers) to travel, through music and song.

·        Current projects included revival of the waiting rooms and redundant wooden buildings at Haltwhistle Railway Station.

·        A review of the buildings, facilities and environment of the stations on the Tyne Valley Line had been undertaken by the Infrastructure Director to consider accessibility issues and develop projects should funding streams become available.

·        Assistance could be provided by:

-       Working with them to improve stations.

-       Promotion of their education work.

-       Promotion of their inclusion work

-       Improve the interface between County and Railway.

Information provided in response to questions, included:

·        Post pandemic, the railway required large amounts of public funding to keep it running.  It was critical that the timetable met people’s needs and that trains ran at the right time to enable connection with busses and the metro to increase passenger numbers. It was vital that these did not reduce further.  Through ticketing would also be beneficial.

·        Passenger numbers were increasing.  Data was normally published annually in December for the previous financial year.  They were also provided with some confidential Northern ticket sales data.  The information was used to determine where efforts should be directed to target stations or journeys which were not being used.

·        The difficulties of travelling with cycles was acknowledged given the restrictions on local trains and inability to make a reservation.  The type of train used also determined how many cycles could be transported at a time.  Some of the rolling stock was not adaptable.  They had spoken to Northern who were looking at engineering solutions, but change was difficult and slow. They requested that members used their contacts to lobby the Government.

·        Marketing opportunities were to be explored for off-peak leisure travel which would ‘smooth’ the number of users at peak travel times.

·        Use of public transport was increasing and had been seen by increasing vehicle numbers at Prudhoe train station.

Members commented that some stations were well used but that poor lighting was a deterrent to potential passengers at others.  Other issues included the availability of shelter on platforms and the timetable.  A Councillor intended to enquire whether the Members Local Improvement Scheme fund could be used to help finance improvements at his local railway station(s).

RESOLVED that the presentation be received and that the comments be noted.