A London station with a thriving volunteer group and community nature garden hosted a festival of urban community rail activity as part of a nationwide campaign, showcasing a grassroots movement helping communities get the most from their railways.
Alexandra Palace Station, North London, has been a site for volunteering and positive social change for eight years, ensuring its place at the heart of the community, benefitting the local environment and people’s lives.
The Friends of Ally Pally Station was set up in 2016 to create a community garden and improve the station environment. They give a voice to the community on rail improvements and engage schools and businesses to deliver community events. The station is one of 155 stations ‘adopted’ by volunteer groups, encompassing around 1,000 volunteers between them, across the GTR and Southeastern network, and part of 1,300 across Britain.
The ‘More Than a Railway’ campaign, marking this year’s Community Rail Week, 20-26 May, will involve nearly 100 community activities nationwide. These wide-ranging activities increase access to opportunity, help communities to have a voice on rail, bolster sustainable travel and tourism, tackle social isolation, and put railways and stations at the heart of community life. The week offers a snapshot of year-round community rail initiatives, which are run across Britain, in partnership with the rail industry and community partners.
Community Rail Week, organised by Community Rail Network and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, celebrates the work of the community rail movement across Britain, made up of 75 community rail partnerships and 1,300 station groups. Nationally they now cover 34 per cent of Britain’s railways and about half its stations. As well as an army of 8,000 active volunteers, they directly engage an estimated 120,000 people a year, increasing access to rail and sustainable travel, and bringing people together.
Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of Community Rail Network, said: “Rail can be much more than a mode of travel: a catalyst for positive change, unlocking opportunities, connecting communities, and enabling climate-friendly mobility. The community rail movement – which is delivering more and more across London and the South East – shows how communities and railways, and the wider transport sector, can work together with amazing results, enhancing local places and changing lives.
“From engaging young people on travel confidence, to advising train operators on accessibility and inclusion, to active travel and bus-rail integration, to community gardens and social enterprises at stations: community rail is playing a growing role in the region, harnessing the power of rail to create a more connected, inclusive, sustainable future.”
Founder and Chair of The Friends of Ally Pally Station, Michael Solomon Williams, said: “More than a Railway is a fantastic theme reflecting the hugely positive social impact of community rail. It is a great joy to bring people together to learn new skills, make new friends and transform the lives of hundreds of the many thousands who use Ally Pally Station.”
Jenny Saunders, Customer Services Director, GTR, added: “I was delighted to join Community Rail Network at Alexandra Palace to celebrate and thank our station partners and the amazing work they do.”
For more information, visit www.communityrail.org.uk/events-and-campaigns/community-rail-week/
