First-ever Community Rail Week asks Scots to ‘go green by train’

Seven out of ten young people want to see more train travel in the future

The inaugural Community Rail Week, 18-24 October, is involving hundreds of community rail partnerships and volunteer groups, including many in Scotland, running activities to promote their local railways, and giving communities and young people a voice on green transport. 

Organised by Community Rail Network and sponsored by Rail Delivery Group, the Week is focusing on young people’s views, voices and futures, as a new survey is released exploring travel habits and attitudes to green travel among 1,000 16–24-year-olds: 1

• Seven in ten (70%) young people are keen to see more people using trains in the future, with the vast majority (90%) saying the environment and climate emergency is an important issue to them;
• Around half (48%) travel by train at least once a month, but one in six (17%) have rarely or never been on a train, or can’t remember when they last did;
• While 94% have a station near enough for them to use, most (67%) admit there are factors getting in the way of them using trains, including practicalities with walking, cycling, or getting a bus to the station, being worried about cost, or driving or getting lifts being more convenient.

In Scotland, the region’s community rail partnerships and groups will be taking part in a range of activities to raise awareness of the difference that people can make by choosing to travel sustainably and encouraging people to make their own pledge to ‘Go Green by Train’. 

They will also hold a series of events and activities including:

• Today (Monday 18 October), members of 6VT, an Edinburgh Youth Cafe, will travel from Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central on the 12.28 ScotRail service and complete activities on board highlighting the importance of going green by train as well as taking the ‘Going Green by Train’ pledge.
• On Friday 22 October between 1-3, in South Lanarkshire, the Rail74 Community Rail Partnership are joining with local schools to give out ‘random acts of green love’ at Newton rail station and will launch the new green space at the station which has been adopted by St Charles Primary School. 
• On Sunday 24 October, the West Highland Community Rail Partnership will host a “Building the Mallaig Railway” exhibition at Glenfinnan station exploring the railway contractor’s ‘unwittingly green’ credentials.

With greener transport recognised as a fundamental part of the solution to the climate emergency, Community Rail Week and the ‘Go Green by Train’ campaign looks to drive change at community level through the efforts of 74 community rail partnerships and 1,000 station friends groups across Britain – including 9 partnerships and over 260 groups in Scotland –  working to help people get out of their cars and onto trains and other sustainable modes. 

Transport has a huge role to play if the UK is to reach its target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 100% of 1990 levels, or ‘net zero’, by 2050.

Figures show that:

• Transport is now the largest emitting sector in the UK, making up 27% of domestic emissions in 2019; 1
• Rail accounted for just 1% of domestic transport emissions in 2019, despite representing 10% of the total distance travelled, and is the greenest form of transport after walking and cycling; 2, 3
• One train can remove up to 500 cars off our roads; 4
• For a 30-mile journey, travelling by train instead of by car can reduce emissions by up to 86%. 5

Jools Townsend, chief executive of Community Rail Network, said: “As we approach the international climate talks in Glasgow, the community rail movement across Scotland is coming together to highlight the great importance of green travel at a local and global level.

“Transport is now the biggest contributor of UK greenhouse emissions, so we face a pressing challenge to decarbonise the way we get around, for the sake of future generations – plus Scotland’s communities can benefit now from reduced traffic and pollution. Rail, combined with buses, walking, cycling, and shared mobility, provides a huge part of the solution: shifting as many journeys as we can onto these modes, and reducing private car use, can help us forge a more sustainable, healthy, inclusive future. 

“We’re excited to launch our first Community Rail Week with events and activities in communities across Britain, raising awareness and exploring how we can enable and empower more people to feel confident and able to go green by train.”

Andy Bagnall, director general at the Rail Delivery Group, said: “Trains are inherently green so when people go by rail it’s more than a journey – it’s literally helping to save the planet!

“In future, we want trains to be the backbone of a decarbonised transport network so, as well as supporting initiatives like Community Rail Week, we want to work with government to reform ticketing and fares – if it’s easier for people to find and buy a good value ticket, more people will use rail as a green alternative to other ways of travelling.”