Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership

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Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership

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🚆 Connecting Communities by Rail
🌱 Promoting sustainable travel & car-free adventures
🛤️ Supporting local stations, tourism & accessibility

12/10/2026

We get asked all the time, so, what actually is community rail?

For us this year:

Community rail is £9.6 million of social value* impact over the past year.
Community rail is 3,000+ young people reached across Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire
Community rail is 385 people consulted on local stations
Community rail is 84% of participants gaining journey-planning confidence.
Community rail is someone going from "I can't" to "I can."

Our new impact reports are out now 👇
Oxfordshire CRP: https://www.oxfordshirecommunityrail.org/research-reports

Gloucestershire CRP: https://www.gloucestershirecommunityrail.org/research-and-development

*Based on Community Rail Network research into the average social value created for every £1 invested in community rail.

07/10/2026

Are you aged 16-25 and looking for work, training or apprenticeship opportunities?
We want to understand what helps and what gets in the way.

Through Journey Forward, we're gathering insight into the travel and commuting barriers that affect young people's ability to access employment, education and training opportunities. The evidence you share will help inform future resources, research and recommendations.

Take part in our survey and help shape a better understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing young people today.

Read more and complete the survey: The Commuter Survey – Fill in form

26/09/2026

Come along with GOCRP's Access & Inclusion Lead, Bee Clark, at the first-ever Active Travel England Conference in Manchester!

From keynote speakers and panel discussions to workshops and networking opportunities, the event brought together over 1,000 people from 450 organisations to explore how transport, walking, wheeling and cycling can become more connected, accessible and inclusive.

A particular highlight was hearing from Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson on the importance of listening to people with lived experience when shaping transport systems and services.

Thank you to Active Travel England for inviting GOCRP to be part of such an inspiring event.

👇 What's one thing that would make it easier for you to walk, wheel, cycle or use public transport more often? Share your thoughts in the comments.

16/09/2026

National Inclusion Week 2026 | Build Trust. Navigate Change.

For many people, catching a train is something they do without a second thought. For others, it can feel daunting, overwhelming or simply out of reach.

That's why our Travel Proficiency Certificate programme is so important.

Working alongside disabled people and others who face barriers to travel, we support people to build the confidence, skills and independence to make journeys that matter to them. Whether it's travelling to work, meeting friends, attending appointments or exploring somewhere new, every journey is a step towards greater independence.
But the programme isn't just about travel. It's about building trust, listening to lived experience and learning from the people who use our transport network every day.

The conversations we have, the challenges participants share and the successes they celebrate help us better understand what an inclusive transport system should look like. We take those insights and work with industry partners to influence positive change, helping make rail travel more accessible and welcoming for everyone.

This year's National Inclusion Week theme, Build Trust. Navigate Change., feels particularly relevant to our work. Real change happens when people feel heard, valued and included. It happens when organisations listen and take action.
We're incredibly proud of everyone who has taken part in the Travel Proficiency Certificate programme. Their experiences, ideas and determination continue to shape our work and inspire us to keep improving.

Together, we're helping create a future where more people can travel with confidence and where public transport works better for us all.

11/09/2026

Yesterday showed us what we can achieve when we work together!

Thank you to everyone who joined us yesterday at the stunning Oxford Town Hall for our joint OxCRP and GCRP Partnership Celebration.

The event was a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the power of partnership and the impact we can achieve when we work together. We reflected on our shared successes, recognised all that we have accomplished collectively, and looked ahead to exciting future opportunities.

It was fantastic to connect with colleagues and partners who share their time, expertise, and belief in what community rail can achieve when we work together.

The event also marked the launch of our 25/26 Impact Report. Through travel confidence programmes, research, accessibility initiatives and youth engagement, we connected with over 2000 community members and 300 stakeholder collaborators last year alone. But we know that the numbers are not what is important here - it is about who and what they represent: more confident travellers, more inclusive places, stronger community voice and better evidence for partners and decision-makers. They also show an organisation growing in maturity and capacity, so we can work smarter and create deeper impact with communities.

Missed the event? Don't worry! You can download our 25/26 Impact Report and learn more here:https://www.oxfordshirecommunityrail.org/_files/ugd/c0b4e8_85687e57bc2845ccbabbf07e074c8256.pdf

We look forward to continuing our work together and building on this success in the years ahead.

08/09/2026

📖 We've listened. We've learned. Now we're inviting you to read and reflect.

The On Track for Inclusive Train Travel Discovery Report is now live.

Funded by the Motability Foundation and delivered by a partnership between the Royal National Institute of Blind People ( RNIB ), Community Rail Network , Community Rail Lancashire and Oxfordshire Community Rail Partnership, the project set out to understand how disabled people experience train travel, what barriers they face, and where the greatest opportunities for change lie.

At the heart of the report are the voices of disabled passengers. As Community Rail Partnerships, we were uniquely placed to connect with disabled people in our communities, build trust, facilitate meaningful conversations and amplify lived experience throughout the project. The report reflects not only what people told us, but the value of community-led engagement in shaping a more inclusive railway.

Their experiences highlight the importance of approachable staff, clear information, confidence throughout the journey, and opportunities to shape decisions that affect them. The findings are honest, challenging and optimistic in equal measure.

At OxCRP, we believe lasting change happens when communities are listened to, evidence is taken seriously, and solutions are developed together. This report provides a foundation for that conversation and demonstrates the opportunities to strengthen communication, build trust, embed lived experience more deeply in decision-making, and work together to turn insight into action.

👉 Read the report and accessible summaries on our website

27/08/2026

This week we’ve been busy out and about on the rails delivering our Rails to Trails trips, designed to build young people’s confidence in travelling by train whilst encouraging active travel.

Using Oxford Leisure Trail Maps just launched this year, starting from the station
we explored the canal, enjoyed the outdoors and let our travel champions lead the way and navigate their journey through the city.

Across both trips we walked over 20,000+ steps, keeping active, connecting with nature and discovering more of what Oxford has to offer!

A huge thank you to Active Oxfordshire for funding this amazing project, and to Ellie for joining us on our trip!

And of course, thank you to our fantastic partners The Hill and Sunrise Multicultural Project for working with us to make these trips possible.

Fancy exploring Oxford for yourself? You can find our Oxford Leisure Trail Map on our website here https://www.oxfordshirecommunityrail.org/leisure-trails

20/08/2026

🚆 Exciting developments for the Cowley Branch Line!

We recently joined a site visit to the proposed Cowley and Littlemore railway stations, which will reconnect communities in southeast Oxford to the rail network and provide new opportunities to travel by train.

The new stations have the potential to improve access to employment, education and leisure, while making sustainable travel more accessible for local communities.

We’re excited to be involved and to see how OxCRP can support as the plans develop, helping to ensure the new stations have a positive impact for the communities they will serve.

There’s still a way to go with the stations being targeted for completion in 2029, but we’re looking forward to being part of the journey! 🚆🌱

Thank you to the Cowley Branch Line team at County Council and City Council for setting this site visit up!

06/08/2026

We recently joined - Radio for Oxfordshire & The Cotswolds as part of their Active Together series to chat all things active travel and community rail!

From what it means to be a Community Rail Partnership and the people we support, to how we're using our local leisure trail maps (which you can find on our website) to help more people discover the benefits of rail and active travel, it was a great opportunity to share how we're working to make sustainable travel more accessible, enjoyable and inclusive! 🚶‍♀️🌳

🎧 Listen to our interview heading to www.wrfm.co.uk/active-together/ and selecting Episode 14. Our feature is from 2:34 - 20:48 mins

A huge thank you to Grant at WRFM for inviting us onto the show and for helping us share the work we're doing across Oxfordshire. We'd also like to thank Active Oxfordshire for funding this project and supporting more people to get active through rail travel.

Address

Morroway House
Gloucester
GL11DW

Website

https://www.oxfordshirecommunityrail.org/

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