Northern Lincolnshire community partnership joins national campaign showcasing how rail can increase access to opportunities.
Barton Cleethorpes Community Rail Partnership (CRP) joins community rail partnerships, station friends’ volunteers and other community groups to showcase how the railway can increase access to opportunities, as the national Community Rail Week launches on Monday 20 May.
The partnership has launched a new E-bike hire scheme alongside a pack of cycling and walking routes between railway stations on the Barton to Cleethorpes line. In conjunction with Humber & Wolds Rural Action (HWRA) and The Cycle Hub, Grimsby, E-bikes and safety equipment is available to hire from £15.00 per day from The Cycle Hub on the platform at Grimsby Railway Station.
The newly designed routes are available to view on the Barton Cleethorpes CRP website (www.bccrp.co.uk), as well as printed packs being available from HWRA at The Wilderspin Centre in Barton-upon-Humber.
Throughout the national campaign week, Barton Cleethorpes CRP will also be taking to social media to raise awareness of the green credentials of rail travel, especially in conjunction with walking, wheeling and cycling.
Dawn Branton, community rail officer at the Barton Cleethorpes CRP, said: “The area surrounding the Barton to Cleethorpes railway line is stunning. We want to encourage local people to enjoy the area, look after their environment and improve their health and well-being.
“The E-bikes are foldable which makes them easy to take onto the train for days out around the beautiful northern Lincolnshire countryside, coast, towns and villages. So, for your next day out, why not cycle there, and catch the train back!”
This promotion is part of over 100 community-led activities and events taking place across Britain during Community Rail Week.
Community Rail Week, organised by Community Rail Network and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, returns for its fourth year 20 – 26 May and will showcase the innovative projects and inspiring initiatives from across the community rail movement around the theme of ‘More Than A Railway’.
The idea behind the theme is to highlight the inspiring work that goes on in community rail bringing people together and creating more inclusive communities and mobility, as well as the wider socio-economic benefit that the railways deliver.
Community rail is a grassroots national movement supported by hundreds of community partnerships, groups and volunteers to improve travel confidence, increase access to opportunities, tackle social isolation, give communities a voice, and put railways and stations at the heart of community life, while supporting a shift to sustainable, more social forms of travel, including rail.
Statistics from Community Rail Network reveal that each year, more than 8,000 volunteers give around 370,000 hours of their time to community rail, worth £32million in social value to individuals and their communities.
In addition, an estimated 65,000 young people per year engage in community rail education programmes and youth engagement activities, spanning more than 1,500 schools, colleges and youth groups.
Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “Community rail partnerships and thousands of ‘station friends’ volunteers the length and breadth of Britain are mobilising en masse, engaging local people and partners to raise awareness about sustainable travel by rail, and get people enthused about its many benefits.”
Community Rail Week is about bringing people together around the theme of ‘More Than A Railway’. Community rail has an inspiring track record of promoting travel confidence and broadening mobility horizons, sometimes with life-changing effects, while giving communities a voice on transport, and putting railways and stations at the heart of community life.”
