A pair of community rail projects in Devon and Cornwall have been shortlisted for national awards.
The 2025 Community Rail Awards will be held in Newcastle in March. The shortlists include:
Tourism and Leisure award
Rail Ale Trails
Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership and Blackmore Vale Line Community Rail Partnership teamed up for a revitalised promotion of real ale pubs along community rail lines. Read more
Nearly 2,000 people took part in the recent Maritime Line (Truro - Falmouth) Survey. See a summary of the results.
CASE STUDY | With widespread pub closures an issue of national concern, the Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership supports nearly a hundred real ale pubs through our Rail Ale Trail scheme.
We’d like to know what you think about the Maritime Line, its train service and stations and what improvements you’d like to see:
Take the survey
The Maritime Line is the branch line which links Truro, Perranwell, Penryn and Falmouth. Read more
A new heritage GWR sign, called a “running-in board”, has been installed at Torre station to mark 175 years of trains to Torbay. Torre was Torbay’s first station and opened, called Torquay, with the line from Newton Abbot on 18 December 1848.The Read more
A new promotion has been launched to encourage people from near and far to visit local pubs by train.
The Salisbury – Exeter Rail Ale Trail includes 19 pubs along the railway that links the two cities, all of them within easy reach of the stations in the towns and villages it serves. Read more
We’ve produced an infographic of 2023/24 to show our impact: from the numbers that tell our story to our latest case studies and awards.
It features projects such as the Looe Pirate Trail, marketing the launch of Pay As You Go ticketing in Cornwall, and our growing presence on TikTok (with 30,000 followers and counting). Read more
New history boards have been installed at Devonport, Dockyard and Keyham stations as part of a partnership between the Dockyard and the Railway aimed at encouraging more Dockyard employees to commute by train.
We've helped make the Devon & Cornwall Railcard the first regional railcard in the UK to be available as a digital product.
Local residents can now either store the railcard on their phone, order a physical railcard online and have it posted to them, or head to their local station ticket office to buy the railcard in the traditional way. Read more.
Passengers using or passing through Whimple station on the East Devon Line, the western part of South Western Railway’s Waterloo-Exeter route, will see a bright “Welcome to Whimple” artwork at the Exeter end of the station.The sign is the result of work by pupils at the adjacent Whimple Primary School in a project organised and led by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership with the support of South Western Railway. Read more
CASE STUDY | atlBuilding on our experience creating and running the official DartmoorLine.com website, we have developed the website, logo and visual brand for the £56m Mid Cornwall Metro project.
in a project led by the Friends of Honiton Station, attractive new artwork has been installed on the inside of the station’s footbridge and a shed on Platform 1. In addition, an illustrated town map has been placed in the station forecourt. Read more
Okehampton station has won another award, scooping the Community Award at the National Railway Heritage Awards in a ceremony held in the City of London last Wednesday.
The award was for the heritage restoration of the main station building which was part of the overall Dartmoor Line reopening work. Read more
CASE STUDY | DCRP came together with GWR, local authorities and bus operators to produce and promote a series of 10 ‘travelogue’ short films to inspire visits to leisure destinations across Devon and Cornwall using joined-up sustainable transport.
This August marks the 160th anniversary of trains to Falmouth and 30 years since the Friends of Penmere Station, the volunteer group who look after the Falmouth station, was established.To mark their anniversary, the Friends are holding a Gala Open Day in the station car park on Saturday 26 August between 10 AM and 5 PM.On Read more
Marsh Barton station is now open – becoming Exeter’s ninth railway station.
A special ceremony was held yesterday at the station attended by Transport Secretary, Mark Harper, in advance of the start of passenger services today (Tuesday 4th July 2023).
Opening the station with Mark Harper was Ben Roberts-Mitchell (pictured centre of front row), a local resident who despite having a rare genetic condition has been enthusiastically watching as the station construction progressed. Read more
CASE STUDY | Swashbuckling treasure hunt to encourage families to visit Looe by train
The Devon & Cornwall Railcard has become the first regional railcard in the UK to go digital.
Residents in Devon and Cornwall, aged 16 or over, can now purchase the railcard, download it to their phone and use it to save up to a 1/3 on standard class rail fares. Read more
For the first time in more than a decade, Music Trains will return to the Tamar Valley Line this month (June).There will be two Music Trains – one on Friday 16, the second two weeks later on Friday 30 June. On Friday 16 June, The Kit Hillbillies will be playing good time bluegrass and acoustic roots music on the 17 33 train from Gunnislake to Plymouth and the 18 38 train from Plymouth to Gunnislake.On Read more