Stations Focus

Does your station need a facelift?

Patience Atkinson-Gregory of horticultural suppliers Amberol works with station adopters across the UK. Here she explains why it’s important to keep our train stations looking good

The railway sector is just one of many to feel the adverse effects of 18 months of Covid-19 restrictions. With new variants of Coronavirus continuing to emerge, many passengers remain reluctant to return to public transport, so the industry will need to work hard to tempt travellers back.

While there is little that rail professionals can do about Covid rates and restrictions, there are important areas that they can directly influence. There are many different reasons why people travel by rail: convenience, leisure, business, necessity – or sometimes just for the pleasure of the journey. But whatever reason people have for choosing to take the train, the environments that travellers encounter on their journey are crucial to their experience.

Taking care of the station environment This doesn’t just mean clean, comfortable carriages or a punctual and efficient service; it also includes the stations that people use or travel through en route. Train stations are often the first place that a passenger sees when they enter a town or city – and first impressions count. So, it pays dividends to keep a station looking attractive and welcoming.

The Community Rail Network is an organisation made up of community rail partnerships across Britain which promote work around a range of areas, including sustainable travel, disabled access and community involvement. The Network recognises the importance of good station upkeep and runs a popular station adoption scheme for volunteers with over 1,000 membership groups across the UK.

These groups work on a range of projects to improve their railway station, including infrastructure projects, fundraisers for equipment, work to improve access such as installing lifts, litter picks, painting and art installations and planting up floral displays. These volunteers can make a massive difference to the station environment – which in turn makes a significant difference to the traveller’s experience.

Station improvement in action Friends of Beeston Station (FOBS) in Nottinghamshire is one such group. Set up just four years ago with the original aim of looking at station access, the group also recognised that the station needed a bit of a facelift to make it more attractive to passengers. Having produced a business plan outlining maintenance tasks, the group instigated a successful campaign to improve access at the station and are hoping that lifts will be in place by 2024. They run regular litter picks and have created an attractive display of photographs on one of the station’s platforms as well as planting up flower beds and containers in and around the station building to ensure that the whole area looks tidy and welcoming.

The power of flowers In fact, one of the simplest and most costeffective ways of transforming a station – whether it’s the platform, entrance, ticket hall or even the car park, is by planting up floral displays. Some stations already have flower beds, but for those which don’t, planters are usually a good option, offering portability and ease of maintenance. Many groups are also successful in seeking sponsorship for flowering containers from local businesses to help fund purchase and planting.

Both FOBS and nearby station adopters Attenborough Elderflowers have transformed their stations through the use of plants and flowers. This in turn has attracted much praise and approval from passengers and their communities, as well as external validation when FOBS won a certificate of excellence in the silver level of the ‘It’s Your Station’ category at the Community Rail Awards 2020, with Attenborough winning the same award in 2018 and 2019.

The importance of consultation When planning their restoration project, Attenborough based much of the work on a survey that they carried out to assess the views of both commuters and residents. These demonstrated high levels of support for new planting schemes as well as finding ways of highlighting the history of the station and the village, which the group achieved through the creation of a series of story boards on the platforms.

As a result, Attenborough station is now used for more than just commuting, with wider involvement across the community, e.g. carers bringing the elderly, small children or people with learning and other disabilities to sit amongst the plants and watch the trains go by. During different Covid-induced lockdowns, some people also used the station as a place to meet safely within official guidelines to sit and chat in the attractive station environs whilst self-distancing.

In addition to station adopters, Britain in Bloom groups are often active in improving their local stations as part of their work in the community. For example, the work that Friends of Norwich in Bloom carry out at Norwich train station is a real community effort. The group has installed large floral fountain planters to create an attractive entrance, as well as barrier baskets. The plants are grown by a local college and a nearby nursery, whilst the group generate income from the planters through sponsorship to sustain the maintenance and production of the plants.

The problem with water However, one of the issues around growing plants and flowers is access to water. Some stations, particularly smaller rural stations, don’t have easy access to water while running hoses across station platforms is a significant trip hazard. One solution that some station adopters and Britain in Bloom groups use is installing self-watering planters. These containers have a built-in water reservoir and so usually need watering just once or twice a week at most.

Gary Smerdon-White of Attenborough Elderflowers explains how using self-watering planters has worked for them. ‘There is no water resource on the station except for rainwater from the pedestrian bridge over the rail lines. So, we decided to invest in some self-watering planters to help address the watering issue. The planters are ideal for our purposes; they save time and water and have resolved the watering problems we had during periods of drought.’

FOBS also use self-watering planters after finding that the small floral baskets that were mounted on the railings dried out very quickly. Maintenance was very demanding, and the flowers often failed to thrive – or sometimes just died. Secretary of FOBS, Sarah Hampton comments: ‘Self-watering planters and baskets were needed because we just couldn’t keep up with the demands of watering in hot weather. Moreover, the self-watering feature has been invaluable over lockdown when our work at the station has been restricted.’

The East Midlands Railway (EMR) team that supports FOBS now encourages other station adoption groups to use selfwatering planters while the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) award assessors also support the use of selfwatering planters from a conservation and convenience point of view.

Finding the funding As with many services, financing station improvement projects can be a challenge, but there are a range of funding sources available. For example, Attenborough secured a grant from Nottinghamshire County Council based on the criteria of maintaining and enhancing community health and cohesion. They also gained funding from the National Lottery Community Fund based around environmental welfare, health and social cohesion. FOBs is able to apply for grants from both EMR and the Community Rail Network to fund relevant projects, while railway staff also offer support on community days organised by EMR.

Our railway stations are worth investing time in as the end results can significantly impact on passenger use and satisfaction. If we want people to return to taking the train, we have to be prepared to work with the community to make our stations brighter and better places to be.

Patience Atkinson-Gregory is MD of horticultural manufacturer Amberol who supply self-watering planters, benches and litter bins (including speaking ones) to railway stations and network, local authorities, educational organisations and businesses

For more information Visit: www.amberol.co.uk Email: sales@amberol.co.uk Call: 01773 830 930