FoWS shortlisted for national Community Rail Award

FoWS are very excited to announce that our station art project has been shortlisted in this year’s Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) Community Rail Awards, in the category of Community Art Schemes – Permanent Projects.

The scheme – designed by Mark Mennell and students from Salford City College, and funded by grants from Little Hulton & Walkden Community Committee, Salford City Council Recycle & Reward, and Northern – was unveiled at Walkden in May this year.

The ACoRP awards, which are now in their 13th year, recognise the important but often unsung work carried out by community rail partnerships and station adoption groups, amongst others, who provide a welcome social and economic contribution, with their activities, to their communities.

The winners will be revealed at the awards gala dinner and presentation evening held by ACoRP, at The Roundhouse in Derby on Thursday 5 October 2017.

Notes about ACoRP

Community rail is all about ensuring communities get the most from their railways, and promoting rail as a key part of sustainable, healthy travel. There are more than 50 community rail partnerships around Britain, working at a grassroots level along railway routes to connect the community with the train operator and other local partners. They deliver a range of activities to engage and benefit local people and support the development of the railway. More than 1,300 smaller community rail groups, such as station friends, work locally, often involving volunteers in ensuring the station is a welcoming and productive hub for the community.

The Association of Community Rail Partnerships is the membership body for community rail partnerships, representing over 80 community rail lines, and more than 1,300 local groups. ACoRP works to empower, support and champion the community rail movement. See acorp.uk.com, follow and tweet us @ACORPoffice, find us on Facebook and sign up to our monthly e-news ‘Train On Line’(http://bit.ly/tol17), to keep up to date with all that’s new in the world of community rail

No parking on Park Road this Monday

Please note that Park Road is scheduled to be re-surfaced on Monday (14th August) and temporary No Parking notices have been put up.

Drivers should anticipate extra congestion in the area, and a longer walk from car to station.

No train service at Walkden this weekend

Just a reminder that, as previously noted, there are no trains to or from Walkden this weekend, and a bus replacement service is running instead.

See National Rail Enquiries for details of bus times.

Service disruptions: be prepared

Due to the upgrade of Bolton station and electrification of the Bolton line, we will continue to experience considerable disruption on the Walkden line as services are diverted and engineering work is done around Salford Crescent.

Please be aware of the following service changes:

• Mondays to Thursdays from 10 July to 4 August (i.e. already happening)

No trains through Salford Crescent after 2130. See Emergency Timetable for details of bus replacements.

• Saturday 12 to Sunday 27 August

Bolton station closed for 3 weeks. Weekend services through Walkden severely disrupted with no trains running on Sat 12th August or any of the three Sundays. Weekday services are running more-or-less normally but are expected to be busier with passengers displaced from Westhoughton, Bolton and Farnworth. Northern have assured FoWS that all services on the Walkden line during this period will be formed of 4 carriages. See Emergency Timetable for details.

FoWS recommend passengers check all trains on National Rail Enquiries before travelling during this period.

Salford Rail Strategy prioritises key improvements for Walkden

Salford City Council have adopted a Rail Strategy to formally identify their aspirations for improvements to stations and services in the area. FoWS made a substantial contribution to the consultation process and are delighted to see most of our goals formally adopted by the council.

The strategy does not mean any of the improvements identified will automatically go ahead, but it places Salford in a great position compared to all the other Manchester region boroughs for presenting a structured improvement plan to the likes of Network Rail, Transport for Greater Manchester, and Rail North when funding streams become available.

FoWS welcome Salford’s proactive adoption of a rail strategy and believe it will be an important step towards realisation of our goals.

The strategy can be downloaded from Salford’s website here: please note the strategy is almost 100 pages long and the council have requested that a shorter version is produced for general distribution.

Among the top priorities identified by Salford are the following Walkden-related items:

• Work with TfGM to complete the development of the business case for funding to deliver disabled access at Walkden Station (as part of a wider development of the station and the area it serves).
• Six trains per hour at Salford Central Station including inter-regional services and at least 1tph to/from Manchester Airport (after the provision of Liverpool Line platforms);
• Through services to Manchester Piccadilly from the Wigan – Atherton – Salford Crescent Line. 
• Raising the Atherton line line speed to at least 75mph
• Withdrawal of Class 142 units.
• Electrification of the Atherton Line 
• Promote interchange improvements at Walkden station.

Section 4.15 of the report talks specifically about objectives for Walkden:

4.15.1 Salford City Council wishes to see progress of proposals to improve disabled access at Walkden station. Whilst there are no assurances from the rail industry and TfGM, the City Council looks forward to the eventual identification of funding and commencement of the work. However, the City Council wishes to see further coordinated and sustainable investment at Walkden including:

(i) The completion of a ‘park and ride’ facility at Walkden to incorporate car parking, a cycle hub and a cycle maintenance workshop.

(ii) The provision of a retail facility.

(iii) Improvements to the immediate area of the station including improvements to bus stops, taxi bays and drop off facilities, walking and cycle routes, road crossings and way-marking/signage.

4.15. Salford City Council is working with TfGM to develop proposals for a Park & Ride at Walkden, potentially funded by TfGM. The Salford Bolton Network Improvement (SBNI)  programme will also provide a series of highway improvements in the vicinity of the station.

 

Next meeting – Weds 19th July

The next FoWS meeting will be held next Wednesday 19th July at 7.30pm in Walkden Legion Club, Wilfred Road (a couple of minutes walk from the station).

The agenda is attached here

FoWS meetings are open to all members of the public with an interest in our work or the station, so please feel free to come along!

Art project creators re-united at Walkden

Friends and supporters met at Walkden yesterday to formally celebrate the installation of our station art work with artist Mark Mennell, students from Salford City College, and representatives from Northern.

It was a chance for our members to thank the young people who helped produce the beautiful designs, and for many of the contributors who made the project possible to celebrate its successful completion.

Andy Barlow (Chair FoWS), Vicky Cropper (Community and Sustainability Manager, Northern), Nicola Worthington (Salford City College) and Mark Mennell (artist) beside a panel commemorating the old signal box at Walkden (and the day a Deltic visited Walkden in 1981!)