Better Transport

"It grieved me to see our local station - with such potential to be a brilliant asset to the community - in a sorry state of neglect. It made me want to 'do something' to improve the station and tempt more people to use it."
- Neil Stapleton, Friends of Walkden Station

The bad news: Too many local stations are unwelcoming and run-down.
The good news: Many people are interested in improving them.

If you wish to improve your local station, you should be able to quickly find people who will support your efforts.

The photo on the right shows members of Friends of Dronfield Station taking a break from their station improvement work.

Adopt the station
Many stations around the country have been adopted by community groups, who turn round uncared-for and unloved stations and bring them back into the heart of the community. Adopting the station may be your best way of improving it, and can be extremely rewarding. It is quite straightforward, although you may need to apply for a license from Network Rail. Check with Network Rail or your train operator to find out what the process is in your area.

1. Find out who manages your local station. You may find that the train operator manages one part of it (such as the ticket office and platforms) and Network Rail manages another part (such as the embankments). If so, take care to liaise with both organisations
2. Get together a group of local people to work with you
3. Work with the train operator and Network Rail to put together and implement a plan of station improvements. Your local authority or the Chamber of Commerce may be willing to fund some improvements.

Help is available
The Association of Community Rail Partnership has a helpful guide to adopting stations.

Another group to contact for support and information is Railfuture, which works to promote the interests of rail users.

BTCV alerts groups to funding opportunities for environmental conservation work.

If you don’t wish to adopt the station, put pressure on your train operator
It’s laid down in their franchise agreements that train operators have to provide and maintain a basic level of facilities at stations. Speak to your operator and find out what improvements it is planning for your station and ask it to consider your ideas.

Passenger Focus’s website will tell you who your train operator is.

Case studies
Around the country people are improving their stations -- people such as Friends of Homerton Station. Below are three examples. If you know of an improved station, please contact us so we can share the story with others.

Walkden station (near Manchester) was run-down and neglected until a group of local volunteers decided to adopt it. Friends of Walkden Station set to work installing flower beds and shiny steel planters (see photo, right), cleaning walls, sweeping floors and collecting litter. They also successfully campaigned for litter bins and anti-pigeon netting to be installed. Not content with these great improvements, the group is also campaigning for better disabled access, a longer platform, and Sunday services to the station.

See 'before and after' photos of Walkden station, and read group member Neil Stapleton's tips for improving your station.

Handforth, on the fringes of Greater Manchester, is a stunning example of what community involvement with your local station can achieve. Working with a group of local friends and school children, a former railway engineer safeguarded the local suburban station’s future by improving its condition. Before, Handforth was a fairly ordinary, two-platform station between Stockport and Wilmslow. But today the station has its own garden, artwork and new booking office.

The seaside town of Bridlington on the Hull-Scarborough line had a station that, a few years ago, was becoming increasingly run down. A few people came together and converted redundant station buildings into an excellent café and bar, an impressive local arts centre and a youth centre. The buildings are beautifully adorned with garlands of flowers in season and the station is becoming quite an attraction in itself.