Community Rail Network - Supplementary written evidence (TTS0066)

About Community Rail Network

We are a not-for-profit organisation working across Britain to support, champion and represent community rail: a growing, thriving grassroots movement that works to engage communities with their railways, and ensure local people benefit from railways and stations. 

This growing movement now includes 76 community rail partnerships (CRPs) and c. 1,200 station friends groups and other local groups, spread across Britain. These are community-based and -led groups and organisations, working closely with the rail industry, to:

• Enhance the railways’ contribution to local sustainable development and community wellbeing, including by maximising access to and use of the railways;
• Ensure the community has a voice and plays a part in the development and improvement of our railways, so this meets community needs and aspirations and delivers maximum benefit;
• Communicate the development and importance of our railways to communities, enhancing understanding and pride, and promoting rail as a key part of sustainable, healthy travel.

We work to empower, support and champion community rail, as a growing membership organisation. We share good practice, connect those working in community rail, and help our members to develop, enhance their impact and overcome challenges, drawing on experience from across the movement and insights from the wider voluntary sector, rail industry and beyond. We also raise wider awareness about community rail and share its unique insights with policy and decision-makers. Find out more about our work, and our members, at communityrail.org.uk.

Community Rail Network is part-funded by the Department for Transport (DfT), our biggest funder, to support and enhance community rail in England. We also receive funding from the Welsh Government and a range of other authorities, agencies and industry partners. We are the lead delivery partner for the DfT’s Community Rail Development Strategy, and we work with government and partners at national and regional level to help community rail to deliver maximum support for a range of public policy goals.

Responses to questions:

1. What patterns are you seeing in public transport usage? In what ways have travel behaviours changed post-Covid?

Rail use remains significantly reduced overall compared to pre-pandemic; there were some encouraging signs of approaching 90% of pre-Covid use, but industrial action and disruption from recent extreme weather present further set-backs. The rail industry reports that income levels are still down by a fifth; much income was concentrated in the commuter market, which has been hardest hit, although leisure travel has bounced back strongly. We are conscious that this creates challenges for the rail industry’s financial sustainability, and in regards to adjusting to changes in travel patterns, although the industry appears well aware of the need to do this and is taking steps through the process of rail transformation. Community rail is strengthening its long-running focus on promoting rail for leisure and tourism, as a part of sustainable, healthy, community-centric travel[1]. We have also been advising the Great British Railways Transition Team on how the rail industry can respond to altered and potentially more fluid travel habits (less easily categorised to peak and off-peak) and take advantage of the opportunities offered from a more even spread of passenger flows throughout the week. We have recommended that working with communities to understand local needs and opportunities, including related to incoming visitor traffic as well as outgoing commuting, business and leisure, is important to the rail industry’s approach[2].

Bus patronage levels are also an ongoing worry, remaining at lower levels, and we note some specific concerns around long-term bus sector funding from some of our third sector partners[3], although government support has been continued until October. Many of our members report worries about the long-term decline of local bus networks, especially in rural and semi-rural areas, and the effects this has for communities and rail use. Although in community rail our focus is on involving communities with their local railways and stations, we recognise that buses are feeders into the rail network, and that for rail to serve communities well it must be joined-up with other modes of travel, especially public and shared transport and active travel. It seems clear that and that if we are to reduce reliance on the private car, as academics say we need to achieve legally-binding Net Zero targets[4], the alternative, more sustainable modes need to work in synergy, not in competition. We therefore encourage our members to think across the full sustainable travel mix, and our members are increasingly leading initiatives to better integrate rail with buses, active travel, community and shared transport for the benefit of local communities, their sustainability, and levelling up objectives[5]. This enables communities to derive greater value from existing transport assets, as well as spearheading improvements and innovations that meet local needs.

We also note that active travel levels increased during pandemic, but this appears to have mainly been for leisure and it is unclear the extent to which affects transport and travel patterns. However, there appear to be positive opportunities to build on this from a behavioural perspective, building on new-found and rediscovered enthusiasm for walking and cycling, and also to connect up the work now taking place to enhance active travel infrastructure with public transport. Most public transport journeys are also active journeys, involving some level of walking and cycling, and improving active travel access to public transport can open it up to larger parts of the population, especially lower-income groups, younger people and minority groups who are less likely to have direct access to a car[6]. Enhancing public transport and active travel in tandem can deliver great health and wellbeing benefits as well as environmental and socio-economic ones, in line with Levelling Up ambitions. We see this reflected across many community rail projects, from guided/self-guided walks from stations, to improvements to active travel infrastructure around stations, to engagement work promoting active travel combined with public transport among school children, families and young people[7].

Generally, we see a great need to build confidence and familiarity with public transport: community rail experience shows that this was a critical need pre-pandemic but has been heightened through it; we believe it is typically underestimated as a barrier to public transport use. Large parts of population are unfamiliar and out of touch with rail and public transport as a whole, including those living car dependent lifestyles, children and young people growing up in car dependent households, as well as people from low-income households or with limited or constrained mobility who tend to not go far afield beyond their immediate neighbourhoods. In regards to these groups, our members report that the railways especially may be seen as unaffordable or otherwise unattainable: something for rich people. Our members also report engaging groups of school children many of whom have never been on a train and find it a daunting prospect.

However, we also see positivity and willingness to engage at local level in conversations about sustainable travel, and how we can create climate-safe mobility systems that are better for local and global environments. We see this in community rail and in other contexts at a grassroots level: even in very car-dependent communities, most people show an understanding of the need for change and benefits of using public transport more, and respond positively if they are engaged well and their voices heard. This has been recently reflected in WPI Economics’ report on modal shift finding that six in 10 drivers would prefer to use public transport more,[8] and engagement and deliberative democracy exercises such as Leeds’ Climate Citizen’s Jury recommending that public transport improvement is prioritised and private car use made a ‘last resort’[9]. See also the initial findings from a local council-led green travel project in West Yorkshire that our chief executive has been leading on a voluntary basis[10]. There are barriers and complexities of course: academic evidence shows it is not nearly so simple as persuading, tempting or nudging people to make different choices, as transport behaviours are deeply habitual and constrained[11], so meaningful community involvement and empowerment, and breaking down barriers, is crucial[12]. This is reflected in community rail experience, showing how local engagement can create increased positivity, familiarity and ownership towards public transport, while addressing the myriad of practical and perceived barriers people face in an enabling way[13].

As referenced above, the evidence has become increasingly clear that we need to shift a significant proportion of car journeys onto public transport, walking, cycling and shared mobility if we are to hit our climate targets and start to bring transport emissions down, which have so far stubbornly refused to fall, except for during the pandemic.[14] Greener Transport Solutions recently reported that academics and experts are coalescing around a 25% reduction in private car use being needed by 2030[15]. We are starting to see devolved govts, sub-national transport bodies and a few local authorities putting in place targets for reducing private car mileage: 20% in Scotland, 27% in London, 30% in Leeds, accompanied with targets for increasing usage and modal share of public transport and active travel, and delivering the raft of associated co-benefits for communities and local environments[16]. This further suggests that momentum is building at local, regional and devolved level, in different types of places, towards more sustainable and inclusive transport systems with public transport central to this – and there are opportunities for central government to support and facilitate this.

2. How does community involvement/engagement in transport provision shape transport networks? How might community involvement help patronage recover after the pandemic?

We might think of two sides to the coin of community involvement with transport, as exemplified by community rail and reflected in the DfT’s Community Rail Development Strategy[17], which work in synergy, and mutually support and feed into one another:

1. ensuring local needs are continually appraised and understood, and diverse voices are heard, and using this to shape transport provision and development (in community rail’s case through close collaboration with the rail industry as well as other transport partners);
2. engaging proactively and meaningfully with local communities and different groups to break down travel and transport barriers and increase awareness, positivity and propensity to use public transport, combined with active and shared travel.

Feeding in local needs and creating locally-led change, as per (i) above creates a sense of empowerment, ownership and self-efficacy which feeds into local engagement and awareness raising and ensures local barriers are effectively broken down. Local engagement activity as per (ii) above (so long as it is genuine, meaningful engagement based on respect, dialogue and empowerment, and therefore a two-way street) should also help to identify, assess and capture local needs, ideas and barriers. Both require support and collaboration from transport providers and authorities, especially mechanisms for listening and being responsive and taking a partnership based, participatory approach to development and change. This has been developing positively within the rail industry in partnership with community rail,[18] and further work is ongoing linked to rail transformation and reform[19], which Community Rail Network is actively feeding in to. We propose that there is plenty of scope for further change and shifting both rail and the transport sector as a whole to a more community-focused, participatory and empowering approach, more responsive and attentive to local needs, as was recognised in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, and as we understand is a requirement for Bus Service Improvement Plans. We suggest that such aspirations and strategies to better empower and respond to communities should be joined up across transport modes, and aligned with decarbonisation goals, to maximise social, environmental and economic benefits.

Showing the ways in which community-led, engaging and bottom-up initiatives can spearhead effective change to make public transport better meet local needs and create a sense of community ownership towards public transport, community rail offers a plethora of examples. These often involve community mobilising and bringing together wide-ranging partners to inform and drive improvements to the rail network, small and big scale, and sometimes sustainable transport connections too, then feeding that back out to the community to build awareness, ownership and pride and enable the community to take advantage. Major infrastructure projects that community rail has advised on and played an active part in include:

• The ‘Todmorden Curve’ and ‘Darwen Passing Loop’, where Community Rail Lancashire worked closely with the rail industry, local authority, and local communities, to build a social case for the impact that these changes would make in reducing travel times and increasing service frequency into Manchester from Blackburn and Accrington, opening up new employment and leisure opportunities[20]; 
• The Dartmoor Line reopening (part of the DfT’s Restoring Your Railway programme) where the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership collaborated with rail partners to advise on the planned reopening, as well as engaging local schools, securing funding for heritage features at stations, and proactively promoting the line to communities and potential visitor markets, building enthusiasm and awareness[21]. 
• Bolton Station is undergoing major transformation spearheaded by South East Lancashire CRP, working in partnership with the local university and wide-ranging community partners to return the station’s many disused rooms and spaces to productive community use, from arts exhibitions to meeting spaces, while combining this with local engagement events and improved bus connections to local leisure attractions and green spaces.

Alongside these bigger initiatives, we have hundreds of examples of smaller scale improvements, often focused on and around stations. For example:

• Friends of Handforth Station worked over many years to build a case and local support for step free access (alongside their wide-ranging local engagement and social inclusion initiatives at the station), which is now being funded through Access for All;
• A new community hub at Haslemere Station managed by a team of volunteers providing facilities for local people, and onward travel advice and information for visitors, especially supporting walking and cycling trips from the station in the surrounding area[22];
• A footpath upgrade at Romsey Station led by Three Rivers CRP, providing much improved access for people on foot, which brought together community groups, Sustrans, the local authority and rail industry, in this case with the community rail partnership project managing, and linking the works to installation of commemorative artwork and a heritage community event at the station;
• A water refill point at South Woodham Ferrers installed by Essex & South Suffolk CRP[23];
• Friends of Hindley’s work involving volunteers across their community in installing community gardens, wildlife-friendly features using repurposed materials, and a warm welcome at the station.

It is pertinent too to specifically highlight how community involvement and community-led change can facilitate cross-modal collaboration and integration, pulling together partners in a community- and passenger-centric way. Another great example from Three Rivers CRP is the Waterside Wanderer ticket, which allows for the first time a single ticket to be used across rail, bus and ferry providers in the Southampton area, and for day-trips to New Forest and Winchester. This involved years of work by the CRP to build trust and positive relationships between transport operators who may otherwise have seen themselves in competition. It is already delivering benefits for the tourism and leisure market, as well as helping to overcome concerns and barriers about the price of public transport, especially when combining different modes or making more complex journeys. Three Rivers are now working to promote this new ticket offer to the community[24].

We additionally want to emphasise the importance of the public transport sector and decision-makers thinking about not only bringing people back to public transport but bringing new people on board, and how important community involvement and empowerment is to this. We suggest we should be thinking beyond the recovery of patronage to pre-pandemic levels, and working ambitiously towards major growth. This is important not only for the financial sustainability of public transport but from an environmental and social perspective. As discussed above, to decarbonise transport rapidly, to hit Net Zero targets, we need to shift journeys onto public transport, shared and active travel: electrification of the road fleet won’t get us far enough and fast enough in terms of decarbonisation, and doesn’t address congestion, particulate pollution from brakes and tyres, road danger, and inequitable and inefficient use of public space[25]. Instead, a strong focus on making public transport, shared and active the natural way to get around (in line with the DfT’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan[26]) can deliver rapid decarbonisation while transforming air quality, supporting levelling up ambitions, and making our local communities more pleasant, safe, sociable, healthy places to be. The Levelling Up white paper also specifically recognises that enhancing and better integrating public transport is hugely important, and community rail shows how this endeavour can be linked to other Levelling Up missions around creating greater pride in place and empowering people and leaders at a local level. In this way, empowering and engaging communities on public transport services wide-ranging public policy goals, connecting the key agendas of Levelling Up and Net Zero.

A range of academic research, chiming with community rail experience, shows why and how community engagement and empowerment is so important to enabling, supporting and empowering more people to make good use of public transport, while simultaneously developing public transport so that it better meet local needs. Research across disciplines explores how we can bring about more sustainable (transport) behaviours, for example:

• social norms are shown to be important in influencing habits.[27] Hence efforts to normalise sustainable alternatives to private car use and show them to be integral to communities are likely to be helpful;
• a raft of communications research explores why attempts to create shifts towards more sustainable living have been largely unsuccessful to date, suggesting that many have turned away from the scale, complexity, remoteness and intangibility of the environmental crises, as well as finding many changes needed to be at odds with their lifestyles and identities, suggesting that localised, interactive, empowering engagement may be key;[28]
• social practice theory argues that people cannot be ‘persuaded’ to adopt different practices, but need to be ‘recruited’ within their social contexts, underscoring the need for interactive engagement that assimilates sustainable transport with local needs, lifestyles and identities;[29]
• social psychology research shows the importance of values and emotions in people’s behaviours, and particularly the power of feelings of belonging[30] – resonating with our evidence showing how community rail builds a sense of community and efficacy.[31]
• a growing number of built environment and transport papers urge that a more engaging, participatory, joined-up approach is needed in transport and planning to achieve a more sustainable and inclusive transport system[32].

A common theme across much of this literature is the value of localised approaches, dialogue and engagement, supporting people to make change together. The idea that people will simply make different ‘choices’ with different information has been disparaged as overly-simplistic at best, and potentially counter-productive. This is likely to be particularly the case within transport, where private car use has become deeply embedded over many decades in people’s lifestyles and identities and our communities, and given how confidence in and familiarity with public transport has been further eroded by the pandemic. There is also discernible in the evidence, again reflected in community rail experience, the profound social and economic co-benefits that can be unlocked at the same time as decarbonising and creating more environmentally-sustainable transport systems and habits, particularly aligning with Levelling Up objectives. Researchers have highlighted that our car-dependent/orientated system of mobility is inherently inequitable and interferes with community coherence and life[33], and we have an opportunity, and multiple needs, to address this.

Community rail demonstrates how communities can be involved and empowered with public transport in empowering, beneficial ways, to encourage more sustainable transport behaviours while enabling socio-economic benefits, and a more equitable system of mobility, to be created. Community rail’s success in this is shown by the way that lines with community rail partnerships have seen significantly greater passenger growth than lines without, and our qualitative evidence on the value community rail delivers to families, individuals and communities as a whole[34]. In drawing on local character, landscape, histories and identities in the way it promotes and encourages use of rail, community rail shows the railway to be part of the fabric of communities and normalises public transport use. For example, through creative projects and campaigns celebrating local history and diversity, and drawing on people’s stories, such as the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership’s Looe Valley Heritage campaign[35], or Community Rail Lancashire’s 100 Women 100 Stories[36]. In working with different groups to help them overcome barriers and concerns about rail travel, and engaging groups in station based events and activities, such as Kent CRP’s work with local college students, community rail not only breaks down barriers but creates feelings of positivity, ownership and pride in the railway and local places (resonating strongly with the Levelling Up missions). In hundreds of cases, community rail involves communities in quote literally putting the community’s stamp on the station, such as through community-created and -run murals, gardens and cafes. Community rail also aligns strongly with social practice theory by recruiting people in social ways to more sustainable behaviours, and breaking down inhibitors to change with the community. For example, the many ‘try the train’ initiatives, school visits, supported excursions for those with mobility/support needs, running a ross the network all create positive, social experiences, developing skills and awareness, while enabling people to try out train use and consider how it might fit with their lifestyles and aspirations. Essex & South Suffolk CRP’s ‘bucket and spade trains’ taking hundreds of families on an affordable day out to the seaside is a highly successful example.

Community rail, as a grassroots movement, is uniquely placed to deliver such initiatives on the ground, with the trust and active involvement of communities, and support and collaboration from the rail industry and wider partners. See Community Rail Network’s report on Modal Shift for further examples and exploration of how community rail helps to promote and encourage increased use of rail, and how this aligns with academic research. While further evaluation of the long-term impacts of different types of initiatives would undoubtedly be useful, our evidence on the positive benefits community rail delivers for rail patronage, the regeneration of stations and surrounding areas, and the sometimes life-changing impacts for individuals, all provide a strong argument for community engagement and empowerment being more at the heart of public transport development and decision-making.

3. What can be done to ensure that passengers are at the centre of decision making about public transport at both the national and local level? How can the Government’s commitment in the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail to empower community rail be realised?

We believe it’s vital to not only put current passengers at the centre of decision making, but communities as a whole. Engaging with non-public transport users, as per the examples given above and in our reports on modal shift, social inclusion, and youth engagement, is clearly crucial to increasing public transport use and its modal share, and accelerating progress on Levelling Up and decarbonisation. This is partly related to mindset and culture within the transport sector: treating communities as partners in local transport development, and ensuring the door is open and effective mechanisms are in place for consulting, listening and local partnership working as a minimum, but ideally going beyond, thinking of the ‘ladder of engagement’, and opportunities for synergising with local authorities needs and ambitions around sustainable and inclusive mobility.

We suggest that with any consideration of local developments or changes to public transport provision, such as to infrastructure, services and timetabling, local engagement, and maximising social value, should be a requirement, and built into contracts or funding agreements where appropriate. Requirements for train operators to collaborate with and support community rail set by DfT originally as part of rail franchises have been hugely helpful in community rail, but this could be learnt from and integrated across the wider transport field, including bus operations. We don’t see this as running counter to a need to tighten belts in transport in the challenging post-pandemic environment: in fact, it brings efficiencies when we ensure that public transport developments fits with local needs, and it empowers local leaders and groups to champion public transport better if local communications and dialogue is working well.

We advise that there is also attention needed to relationships between transport providers and local councils, where we are conscious of missed opportunities and frustrations, for example a failure to link up active travel infrastructure development and the railways, or stations with vacant/under-utilised property not being integrated into wider town/high street regeneration plans. These issues have been reflected in the Willians-Shapps Plan for Rail’s commitments towards more joined up working between rail and local government. There also, from wider experience, seems to be a lack of engagement between bus operators and many parish and town councils that possess the in-depth local knowledge to be able to advise, including on small, low-cost changes that can make a big difference to local people. Getting these local relationships and communication channels working better, with communities respected and heeded as crucial partners in transport, is surely essential to putting communities at the centre of a more inclusive, sustainable and effective transport system, and delivers immediate benefits, in our experience. This appears to be an area where strong leadership and strategies from national government, alongside coordination and empowerment by sub-regional transport bodies and combined authorities, as well as at a local level, could bring about an improved approach.

We also want to point again to the importance of joined-up working across modes, which helps to put communities at the forefront, and indeed the process of empowering and engaging communities tends to naturally lead to a more holistic view of transport development than has been typical historically.  In our experience, siloised working between transport modes gets in the way of enabling and encouraging more people to use public transport, shared mobility, and active travel, and hinders community-led and -informed transport development. Our members feed back that connecting rail better with buses, community transport, walking, cycling and shared mobility schemes, is a key priority for them, and we have a growing range of successful initiatives, albeit mostly only a fairly small, local scale, which we can point to (see especially those in our Connected Stations guide). However, it seems that it can be often challenging pulling different transport operators together, particularly getting rail and bus services working together coherently. We have examples of community rail partnerships working for years towards more integrated timetabling between buses and trains, only to find the work undone shortly afterwards from a change in personnel. We note that several DfT strategies focused on different modes make commitments on modal integration, and this is part of the Levelling Up paper too, but there is clearly some way to go, and we suggest that modal integration, local partnership working, social value, decarbonisation, and how communities are engaged and empowered with transport, should be considered alongside as inter-related strands of work. We are starting to see change in rail with increased thinking about the importance of first and last mile, particular attention to active travel connections, and more cross-industry collaboration; again this was recognised in Williams-Shapps, and again it is an area we are advising on as part of rail transformation[37].

A related point is the opportunity to see stations (rail and bus) and interchange points as multi-modal hubs and, crucially, as hubs and focal points for local communities to get around, come together, and derive maximum benefit. Within community rail we have countless examples, some already mentioned, of stations transformed, not just for the benefit of passengers, but bringing in, bringing together, and benefitting diverse groups across the community. Community rail activities at and around stations, and using the railways to offer different experiences to local groups, supported and facilitated by the rail industry, can have a marked effect on community coherence, mobility, local environments and people’s quality of life. This includes: volunteering of any kind at stations (evidenced to build social connections and reduce anti-social, as at Friends of London Road Station, Brighton); greening grey spaces and providing relaxing spaces people can enjoy (such as the Bottesford Friendly Garden); self-guided/guided walks (such as Community Rail Lancashire’s Rail Rambles); taking disadvantaged groups on trips to rural locations (as in Gloucestershire CRP’s GetAway scheme); helping people to grow their own food (as in Severnside CRP and Incredible Edible’s secret garden at Avonmouth); and connecting people with nature (as in Buxton’s bumblebee safaris). Further examples related to repurposing station buildings can be seen in our Community Stations report, and we suggest that there are lessons that can be learnt for all types and size of station and interchange. Again, we are proactively feeding in to the Great British Railways Transition Team (GBR TT) and the process of rail reform on how such initiatives can be further facilitated to bear fruit, especially removing the red tape and common pitfalls with station buildings initiatives that can hold up progress or even stop projects getting off the ground[38].

Lastly, we want to emphasise the great importance of ongoing government and rail industry support for community rail, for it to continuing to play its important role putting communities at the forefront of rail, and helping those communities get wide-ranging benefits from their railways, stations and wider sustainable transport networks. We were delighted with the recognition community rail received in the Williams-Shapps plan, and we are working proactively with DfT and the GBR TT on how the movement can keep delivering and developing, and opportunities to increase its impact and share its lessons. Our recommendations to this effect are outlined in our response to the recent GBR TT call for evidence: see especially Q5b, p21-23 here.

4. How might passengers on other modes, including buses, have their voices heard more effectively and influence policy making?

We hope we have already answered this question in large part in our responses to Q1-3 above, but we would particularly draw attention to and reiterate these key points by way of a summary:

• We propose there needs to be a wider focus on communities as a whole and those not using public transport (much) at present, going beyond current passengers, to unlock greater socio-economic and environmental benefits from public transport;
• Rail contracts and the new Bus Service Improvement Plans appear to offer opportunities for ensuring operators and authorities are working together and taking an engaging, empowering approach to working with communities, listening to diverse voices, responding to local needs, and being alert to new local opportunities and ideas;
• There is potentially a strong role for Sub-National Transport Bodies / combined authorities in ensuring coordination and coherence, and that an engaging, participatory approach is taken across regions on sustainable and inclusive transport development and decarbonisation[39];
• Joined-up working between transport modes creates a more conducive environment for engaging communities and ensuring local voices are heard and needs met, whereas competitive approach between operators tends to get in the way of this. Individuals’ and communities’ needs and ideas on transport and mobility invariably cut across multiple modes, and common (often the commonest) complaints and travel barriers relate to a lack of integration. Integration of buses, trains, other public, community and shared mobility, and active travel, is also clearly critical in enabling more people to use the more sustainable alternatives to the private car, and therefore to rapid transport decarbonisation;

• In community rail we have benefitted greatly from commitment from national government and industry bodies, which has further stoked commitment on part of train operators, plus we are increasingly working with SNTBs, and our members invariably work with local authorities and community partners. Such coordination across multiple levels and scales, with a common commitment towards empowering, place-based, locally-driven change, and to listening and learning from local experiences at a strategic level, is hugely important;
• Lastly, we finish on an additional point about the important role of the third sector in transport development. Community rail shows how community and voluntary organisations can not only create positivity, confidence, awareness and pride in local transport, but improved understanding of diverse local needs and barriers, better collaboration across organisations and sectors to address these, and greater attention to the socio-economic and environmental benefits that (sustainable) transport can unlock – and of course it shows how we can make things happen on the ground, spurring wider change. Community Rail Network is part of the Sustainable Transport Alliance, a group of national third sector organisations supporting communities in different ways on sustainable and inclusive transport[40]. We see lots of opportunities for government at different levels and the transport industries to work constructively with organisations like ours to transform public transport for the public good.

August 2022

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