Rock Rail delighted to support 2020 Community Rail Awards

  • Rock, Rock Group

Rock Rail is delighted to sponsor the national Community Rail Awards, celebrating the achievements of the many individuals, groups and organisations benefitting and connecting communities with their local railways

Yesterday evening hundreds of community rail volunteers and representatives of community rail groups and partnerships, industry and government got together in a virtual online extravaganza to celebrate the dedication and achievements of those involved in delivering community rail.

Community rail is all about ensuring communities get the most from their railways. Nearly 70 community rail partnerships across Britain work with other groups and volunteers to connect communities with the railway, delivering a range of activities to engage and benefit local people and support the development of the railway. It aims to support social inclusion, community wellbeing and economic development as well as promote rail as a key part of sustainable, healthy travel.

This is the 16th year that the Community Rail Awards, organised by the Community Rail Network, have taken place and it witnessed an inspiring range of innovative community rail projects.

Rock Rail was delighted to continue its support for the event and to be sponsoring the ‘Best Community Engagement Project‘ for the second year running.  Community Rail Lancashire came out tops in this category beating off strong competition to win with their ‘Women in STEM‘ initiative. The initiative looked at ways to encourage more women and girls to join STEM roles and provided opportunities for women and girls to communicate and share their views to rail industry stakeholders through a number of different events.

The Community Rail Education Network scooped the Outstanding Contribution to Community Rail award for its work in enabling community rail partnerships to share good practice on engaging young people and children in rail-based education projects.

Nick Watson, Commercial Director Rock Rail, who manned Rock Rail’s virtual booth on the night, said:  “It was a real pleasure to have the opportunity to speak with so many of the people at the heart of community rail at last night’s awards. A massive congratulations to Community Rail Lancashire for their impressive efforts in making rail and STEM more accessible to women and girls, as well as to all this year’s entrants and category winners.

“Rock Rail is committed to playing its part in helping build a better railway and we are delighted to be continuing support for the Community Rail Network, recognising the vital role community rail groups play in shaping the rail industry to better serve communities across the country.”

Full list of categories and winners:

  • Involving Children and Young People – Kent Community Rail Partnership and Sheppey College – A chance to Shine
  • Involving Diverse Groups – Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership for Lyric and Line
  • Community Art Schemes – Permanent & Larger – Community Rail Lancashire for Horizons
  • Community Art Schemes – Renewable & Smaller – Track Record Arts and Severnside Community Rail Partnership for Track Record – The Soundtrack to the Severn Beach Line
  • Most Enhanced Station – Haslemere Arts Society, Museum and Town COucnil, with Surrey County Council, South Western Railway and regional partners for Haslemere Community Station
  • Small Projects Award – Under £500 – Friends of Hunmanby Railway Station for Attracting Passengers to Hunmanby’s New Hourly Train Service
  • Best Community Engagement Event – Community Rail Lancashire for Women in Stem
  • Best Marketing or Communications Campaign – The Bittern Line, Wherry Lines, East Suffolk lines, Hereward Line, Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnerships and Greater Anglia for Room with a View
  • Influencing Positive Change & sustainable Development – Community Rail Cumbria, Millom Discovery Centre and Flimby Primary School for Better Side of the Tracks
  • Tourism & Heritage Award – Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership, Lowestoft Central Project, Lowestoft Heritage Open Days Festival and Network Rail for Lowestoft Signal Box Tours
  • Photo Competition | “Community Rail in Action” – Poacher Line Community Rail Partnership for “Age is just a number”
  • Outstanding Volunteer Contribution – Kath Warbrick – Friends of Aspatria Station
  • It’s Your Station – Platinum – Friends of Buxton Station
  • Community Rail Network Award for Outstanding Contribution to Community Rail – Community Rail Education Network
  • Railway Family Supporting Communities Award – Shellen Divall and Christine Holland for The Scrubs Project

For more information on each of the category winners please  click here.

To find out more about the Community Rail Network please click here.

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Year
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Category
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The Challenge

The UK bus network is at the heart of everyday travel – but over 30,000 diesel buses still need replacing to achieve a fully zero-emission fleet.

While around 5,000 battery-electric buses are already on the road, the high upfront cost of electric vehicles and depot electrification continues to slow the transition. Traditional funding routes — such as government grants or short-term bank finance – have helped start the journey but cannot support decarbonisation at the scale required.

A new, sustainable funding model was needed: one that could attract long-term capital, spread costs fairly, and give operators and authorities confidence in the future.

The Solution

In 2021, Rock launched Rock Road to deliver exactly that –  applying its proven infrastructure financing approach from the rail sector to the UK’s clean bus revolution.

Working with Aviva, the National Wealth Fund, and HSBC, Rock created a dedicated investment platform that channels infrastructure-style finance from pension funds and institutional investors directly into zero-emission bus projects.

This model provides:
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Impact

The platform has already raised £100 million, with capacity to scale to £1 billion per year over the next decade – providing a consistent source of affordable capital for local authorities and operators.

Rock’s model ensures that the total cost of ownership (TCO) of electric buses can now be lower than diesel equivalents, thanks to both cheaper long-term finance and reduced operating costs.

In London, Rock has financed 120 zero-emission buses under 7-year leases aligned with Transport for London’s contract lengths. This structure gives operators flexibility and certainty:

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The Future

Rock Road’s ambition is to support the rollout of zero-emission fleets across the UK – helping local authorities and operators meet climate goals without overextending public budgets.

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