Community Rail Lancashire helping Burnley deaf community gain travel confidence

Community Rail Lancashire has been running the project for six months to help give deaf people more confidence to travel by train.

The partnership has been hosting a Deaf Community Group at Burnley station as part of its annual Rail Confidence Programme.

The events helped to raise awareness of Northern Trains support facilities and offer a series of journey-planning workshops, with a group meeting taking place on Monday, May 22nd, during Community Rail Week, to look at the next steps for the initiative.

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 all about connecting communities and bringing people together, while supporting and enabling more people to travel sustainably by train and access the opportunities they want. Community rail has an inspiring track record of doing just that: 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.”

Community Rail Week, organised by Community Rail Network and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, includes youth engagement projects, guided walks, station tours, and campaigns promoting scenic and sustainable leisure travel.

It shines a light on the year-round work of the 76 community rail partnerships covering 34% of Britain’s railway network, and 1,200 station friends groups comprising more than 10,000 volunteers.