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This week 20-26^th May sees the return of Community Rail Week 2024 and showcases the innovative projects and initiatives from across the community rail movement, this year revolving around the theme of “More Than a Railway”.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank the White Cliffs Community Rail Partnership, especially Rebecca Dunroe, for allowing AW Rail to join as a stakeholder and work with them and their partner organisations over the course of the coming months and years allowing us to showcase our inspiring community initiatives, bringing people together and creating more inclusive communities as well as increasing the awareness of the wider socio-economic benefit that the railways deliver.

The objectives for this year and moving forward being:

• Raise the profile of community rail and the role it plays in connecting communities and helping to tackle social isolation.
• Amplify and elevate members’ stories providing them with the tools to reach a larger audience with their messages and promotions.
• Encourage more people to use the train as a sustainable, healthy way to travel.
•  Showcasing the role community rail plays in enabling people to access work, education and other opportunities that may otherwise be out of reach.
• Deliver positive online social engagement about rail engaging with partners and showing unity with the wider railway industry.

AW Rail are proudly reinforcing our dedication to enriching the communities within our areas of operation and ironically, we’ve worked on every station covered by the White Cliffs Community Rail Partnership and the rail infrastructure in between over the past ten years from Westenhanger all the way through to Sandwich.

The team here at AW Rail are continually seeking innovative ways to contribute to the social and economic well-being of the regions we work in and are looking forward, to the continued growth and success of our community-focused endeavours, always striving to help develop a railway network that benefits everyone it serves.

Being able to talk about these initiatives at Folkestone West Station, and display just a few of the items our partners have made for us from recycled materials,  today, to other members of White Cliffs Community Rail Partnership and their guests, delivering our insights and initiatives gained over the past two years of working with local communities was a great pleasure. Thanks to all those that came along and spoke with members of our team, we are looking forward to striking up some new community collaborations over the coming weeks, an improtu violin recital concluded todays communtiy meeting!

If you would like to know more about the community initiatives, sustainable projects and the wider range of schools, charities, organisations, individuals that we have helped please do have a look on our website.

We are constantly looking to engage with more communities within Folkestone and the surrounding areas in which we work so do get in touch!

If you yourself have ben involved in Community Rail Week 2024 then do let us know about the projects and initiatives that you have been involved with, it’s only with greater collaboration that we can bring these endeavours to light and raise public awareness of:

• Providing a voice for the community
• Promoting sustainable, healthy, and accessible travel
• Bringing communities together
• Supporting diversity, inclusion plus social and economic development