10YearsofSuccess

Progress report of North StaffordshireCommunity Rail Partnership 2014/15

northstaffsrail.org.uk

eastmidlandstrains.co.uk

northstaffsrail.org.uk

eastmidlandstrains.co.uk

Train into Work

Our innovative pilot project to provide young people and long-term unemployed 20 days work experience andfocused learning with EMT at Derby Station to give them a step up into employment.

The concept is a first for a community rail line. Thanks to the support of EMT and the endorsement of theInstitution of Railway Operators (IRO), we piloted the project during September 2015 with two very inspiringyoung people who each have a learning difficulty, Amelia (Milly) Humphries (24) and Mitchell Grant (20).

Milly from Alsager and Mitchell fromNewcastle-under-Lyme, a station volunteer atKidsgrove, embraced the opportunitywholeheartedly. From selling tickets andminding the gateline, to making announcementsand serving passengers on board, they appliedthemselves to learn all aspects of customerservice, and with great success, winning manycompliments from passengers and great feedbackfrom the Derby station team.

During their placement, they also studied througha detailed training pack, developed especially forus by the IRO, to help them review theirperformance in all the activities: they alsoreceived tips on CV writing and undertook mockinterviews, giving them comprehensivepreparation for the job market. And whensuitable vacancies arise with EMT, they will atleast be given an interview.

EMT is to roll out the project to benefit manymore young people from job clubs and collegesalong the route, with Milly and Mitchell as theideal ambassadors.

Milly and Mitchell start to “Train Into Work”

“Train Into Work is a fine example oforganisations working in partnershipcreatively to address local employmentneeds and help people into work.”

Janice Mills, Alsager Job Club

For more information about North Staffordshire Community Rail Partnershipor to get involved by sponsoring a project or joining the volunteer team, logonto www.northstaffsrail.org.uk or get in touch with:

Faye LambertPartnership OfficerNorth Staffordshire Community Rail PartnershipTel: 01782 232272Email: faye.lambert@stoke.gov.uk

NOVEMBER 2015

Crewe

Alsager

Kidsgrove

Longport

Stoke-on-Trent

Longton

Blythe Bridge

Uttoxeter

Tutbury & Hatton

Peartree

Derby

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uKidsgroveStation

Regeneration

Project

see centre pages

for latest

Welcome to “10years of Success”our anniversaryreport in whichwe celebrate our10th birthday; 10years of

improving station facilities andencouraging communities to take pride intheir local stations. 10 years of growingpassenger numbers and ensuring thefuture of the Crewe - Stoke - Derby line issecure. For when we started out in 2005,Etruria station was being closed; weresolved to do all we could to preventlocal rail services from being erodedfurther.

10 years of working in partnership, whichis the centre of our success. Partnershipwith East Midlands Trains (EMT) andNetwork Rail and partnership with localauthorities along the line, Cheshire East,Stoke City Council and Derbyshire andStaffordshire County Councils. Mostimportantly, partnership with the localcommunities at each station. Without ourvolunteers and their countless hours ofwork improving station gardens, routestations would look as unwelcoming asthey did when we started. But insteadnow all are not just looking better, theyare award winning...!

Award-winning stationsOur first decade has brought us over 30awards for excellence in and outstandingcontribution to community rail, includinga host of Best Stations awards.Alsager was awarded the 2014 CheshireBest Kept Stations ACoRP Award andEMT’s 2015 Community PartnershipAward, both in recognition of exemplarypartnership working and fantasticcommunity involvement at this station.

Kidsgrove was this year voted EMT’s BestSmall Station and in 2014 EMT’sCommunity Partnership station,acknowledging the unstinting support ofstation volunteers and the community inimproving this station for passengers. Wewere delighted for Uttoxeter to be

named the first ever winner of EMT’sStation Environment Award, recognisingthe outstanding partnership resolve thatmade the unique Station Heritage Gardenthere a reality.

InnovationWe’re proud to have delivered some veryinnovative projects this year all of whichhave received national recognition forinvolving young people, improving thepassenger experience and successfullypromoting the route. You can read allabout these on Page 7. I am especiallyexcited about our latest idea, ‘Train IntoWork’, another first for community rail,which we hope will help young peopleand long-term unemployed into jobsthrough a 20-day work experienceplacement with EMT. The pilot has been ahuge success and we are confident thatthis project will change lives.

Kidsgrove stationThere is especially good news to celebratefor Kidsgrove...the station facilities are tobe transformed, thanks to a community-inspired partnership project that secured£multi-million Access for All funding....seethe centre pages for full details.

Passenger growthAt the start I said we wanted to do all wecould to prevent local services from beingeroded further. The good news is thatsince 2005, the number of passengersusing the service from intermediatestations has grown on average 270%.When we started, many people thoughtLongport and Longton were closed, theywere so run down. One of our firstprojects was to advertise that these two

Stoke-on-Trent city stations were still openfor business. Today they are well-used, up594% and 284% respectively during thedecade. Proof that North StaffordshireCRP really does deliver positive outcomesfor local rail; this is the best possiblemeasure of the stations’ future now beingsecure.

However, this unprecedented growthshows the limitations of the route’sallocated rolling stock during peak times.In March, with the support of our localauthority colleagues and stationvolunteers, we carried out a week-longpassenger count on all Crewe-Derby peak-time services. The results showed a highincidence of severe overcrowding. One ofour key objectives therefore continues tobe to improve service capacity. To this endwe are working behind the scenes withpartners to realise the strategic nature ofthe Crewe-Derby service, which we hopewill bring future benefits of improvedcapacity and better connectivity.

The Central Role of the CommunityRail Partnership OfficerI hope what you read here will enable youto celebrate with us the achievements ofour first 10 years. During that time FayeLambert has worked unstintingly as ourCommunity Rail Partnership Officer. Inonly a part-time post, she has initiatedand delivered projects, recruited andsupported volunteers, won funding andgained the involvement of businesses andschools, generated publicity material, andbeen the driving force behind our long listof achievements. So a huge thanks to Fayefor leading on so many successful projectsduring the past 10 years. She is truly thesource of our success.

Michael WillmotChair, North StaffordshireCommunity Rail Partnership

2 A decade working in partnership to improve the North Staffordshire Line

Welcome from the Chairman

Former REACH student Jordan B

oughey

designed our 10th Anniversary p

oster

Faye (left) and the Crewe route teamcelebrate our 10th anniversary

The “Train Into Work” team

People make it happen

A growing volunteer teamThe North Staffordshire Line boasts the largest station volunteer team of EMT’scommunity rail routes. Over 50 volunteers continue to do stations proud bycreating winning gardens and helping us to promote the route. Many of theteam have been volunteers for 8 years; they’ve been joined this year by moreinspiring local people, including:

Mitchell Grant (Kidsgrove), Sue Owen (Kidsgrove), David Steele (Longport) &Marika Latham (Uttoxeter). Hats off to all our volunteers for the hugecontribution they make to the North Staffordshire Line.

Businesses help deliver winning stationsTESCO Kidsgrove, Nestle Tutbury and Redstone WillowsAlsager have all supported us this year, sponsoring a varietyof projects, like these purpose-built oak planters from Nestlefor Tutbury & Hatton station, helping the station achieve aMost Improved Station award.

TESCO also sponsored the ingredients for our 10thanniversary celebration cake, expertly created by Kidsgrove resident Linda Blunt.The verdict? Delicious!

Cracking customer serviceRapidly growing footfall at Kidsgrove station (up 564% in a decade) equals lotsof passengers requiring a cuppa and snack for their rail journey. Our solution? ‘ASpotter Tea’ community cafe, which we developed with Small Grants fundingfrom ACoRP and set up, with the support of EMT, in the station Booking Hall. It’sproved a huge success thanks to the epitome of customer service who managesit, Kidsgrove resident Kath Keeling, pictured opposite, far right.

REACH for the skyWe were delighted to work again this year with REACH Pupil ReferralService, Stoke-on-Trent, which supports students 11-16 who areexcluded or are at danger of exclusion from their home schools. Ouraim was inspire the students’ creativity to promote the route for travelto work, leisure and all around the UK. Their commitment achievedeye-catching poster designs for local display.

Promoting rail travel on your doorstepAlsager station provides a great rail transport resource;direct, regular services to London, Crewe, Derby andStoke, affording rail connections UK-wide from a fully accessible and welcomingstation. Through our ‘Make Tracks for Alsager’, campaign, sponsored by Cheshire EastCouncil, we developed an information leaflet for all households, poster, web campaignand press release to promote these benefits to the local population. The projectdelivered increased origin footfall at Alsager of 728 in April over March, up 15%.

“It’s always clean and tidy and it’s nice to seeflowers, impressed they are done by volunteers.”

Tutbury & Hatton passenger

Mitchell (front right) meets the

Kidsgrove team

Uttoxeter’s Marika

Award

Winner

Passenge

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Matter

2015 Co

mmunity

Rail Awa

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AwardWinnerInvolving YoungPeople2015 CommunityRail Awards

AwardWinner

Best MarketingCampaign

2015 CommunityRail Awards

7 A decade working in partnership to improve the North Staffordshire Line

REACH students help launch the project

6 A decade working in partnership to improve the North Staffordshire Line 3 A decade working in partnership to improve the North Staffordshire Line

10 years of making a difference for passengers

u 100s of £1000s raised for investment in North Staffordshire Line stations, including supporting a £multi million community-inspired project for a fully accessible Kidsgrove station with transport interchange.

u 10s of station improvement projects funded including new shelters, customer information screens, CCTV, new seating and lighting; all better for passengers.

u 10s of station volunteers engaged, who have transformed station gardens as well as promoting the route and raising additional funding support.

u 10s of promotional projects developed for the Crewe-Stoke- Derby service, including a bi-annual route guide with vouchers to local tourist attractions.

u 10s of local schools involved to create community artwork and support volunteers to further improve station environments; young people helped into employment through our “Train Into Work” project.

u 10s of national businesses like JCB, AMCO Rail, Nestle and TESCO and local councils engaged to sponsor station community days and projects.

u 10s of awards won, recognising North Staffordshire CRP’s contribution to the route and to community rail best practice nationwide.

100s of 1000s more passengers now use the Crewe-Stoke-Derby service; a result of improved, safer and morewelcoming stations, and increased awareness of local rail.

Here’s a snapshot of some of the great partners who have worked with us this year to deliver a wide variety ofcommunity rail projects across the North Staffordshire Line.

Tots, a twin and celebrating Alsager WIAlsager station had community buzz all year. In February, we hosted a specialvisit by a class of 3-5 year olds from Betley Primary School. The children visitedas part of their class railway project to learn about being safe at stations. Wejoined with the Alsager station volunteers to show them good rail safetypractice and they were thrilled to receive high visibility jackets, wrist bandsand bags, provided by Stoke City Council, to help keep them safe on theirtravels. The day ended with the tots planting a new bed of nasturtiums; itinspired them to grow sunflowers for the station from seed in their schoolgarden, which bloomed proudly in the station gardens all summer.

For the fourth year running, Alsager was a winner at Cheshire Best KeptStations, taking the ACoRP award for outstanding partnership working and

community involvement. Through the competition, we made friends withfellow winners Rose Hill station, a former North Staffordshire Line station.And this is how our innovative Station Twinning project was born, aimed atsupporting the excellent work of station volunteers and sharing stationimprovement ideas across the rail network.

The Alsager and Rose Hill teams swapped visits to learnfirst-hand about each’s station projects, from artwork by their local schools, tocreative gardening and likely sponsors. We plan to roll out this concept toother stations along the Crewe-Derby route.

We’ve also involved AlsagerWomen’s Institute in improving the station through the creation of aspecial flower display to commemorate their 25th anniversary in thecentenary year of the WI. The display, comprising red, white and blueannuals, specially grown by station volunteer and Alsager WI memberHilary Robinson, was given the seal of approval by one of Alsager WI’sfounding members Betty MacKenzie. WI members now continue tosupport the station with donations of cuttings from their own gardens.

Station Twinning helps share ideas

“North Staffordshire CRP is an excellent example of what happenswhen different people work together…great things happen. It isenormously rewarding for everyone at East Midlands Trains andextremely humbling for me that this is part of our railway”

Neil Micklethwaite: Customer Experience and Commercial Director, EMT

People make it happen

Top teamwork at Blythe BridgeIn July, we held a highly productive Station Community Day when EMT’sMarketing Team, Derby station staff and former Forsbrook Parish Councilcolleagues Gill Burton and Christine Snape joined station volunteers to forma 16-strong working party to keep Blythe Bridge station gardens in first classcondition.

Gill and Christine, former Chair and Clerk of Forsbrook Parish Council, weredelighted to join in the work to celebrate how greatly Blythe Bridge stationhas improved since the Parish Council adopted it in 2007. The Parish Councilsponsors the many seasonal planters that help to embellish the station.

“The kindness of everyone at the station, especially the stationvolunteers, made it a great day of learning.”

Gill Mellor, Class Teacher Betley Primary

First Class teamwork at Blythe Bridge

Betley Primary Children atAlsager Station

Longport Station

Volunteer Support at Longton Station

Passengers at Uttoxeter Station

Customer Information Screens

at all Stations

Longton Station mural sponsored

by AMCO Rail

Part of Uttoxeter StationHeritage Garden

A Best Station Award forTutbury & Hatton

Full steam ahead for Kidsgrove Station

Thanks to a determinedpartnership bid, backed byoutstanding community support,Kidsgrove was one of only twocommunity rail stations to beawarded ‘Access for All’ fundingby the Department for Transport(DfT).

Access for All will fund a£multi-million new stationfootbridge project that will makeaccess to the station easier foreveryone, particularly peoplewith reduced mobility.

Since the good news wasannounced, the Kidsgrovestation regeneration team has been busy working to add value to the footbridge project andsecure additional funding to completely regenerate Kidsgrove through:

u New transport interchange. u New, larger car park. u Improved station facilities.

As part of the station regeneration project, partnerStaffordshire County Council is to transfer its ownershipof land adjacent to Kidsgrove station to Network Rail.The land will be developed to provide a much larger newstation car parking facility for passengers, with 1 hour offree parking for local residents, greatly improving thecurrent car parking offer both for the station and locally.

We’re planning another community event at the station in the New Year. In the meantime, togive your comments about the project, please contact; getintouch@eastmidlandstrains.co.uk

Here’s the good news to date:

March: Community event at stationCommunity feedback is central to the whole project. Over 100 people attended this event,see the charts opposite for a summary of what you told us you wanted to see at the newKidsgrove station.

April – September: Footbridge design developedDesign for a covered footbridge with lifts, the preferred option from feedback receivedand one that will be sensitive to the station gardens, is put forward to the DfT forapproval.

October: DfT approves the design and the cost of £4.2 million

December: Survey works by Galliford Try will start at the station to get the projectunderway

Stop press! Land transfer signals go ahead for new car park

What’s next?

Kidsgrove Station Regeneration team

5 A decade working in partnership to improve the North Staffordshire Line 4 A decade working in partnership to improve the North Staffordshire Line

Area of land for new, larger station car park