Kent Community Rail Partnership (Kent CRP) has worked with Southeastern to lay cycle rails on 6 of the station bridge steps along the Medway Valley Railway Line (Strood to Tonbridge). These stations are: Halling, Aylesford, Maidstone Barracks, Maidstone West, East Farleigh and Yalding. Cycle rails allow cyclists to push their cycles along channels up and…
A group of fourteen assembled at Charing station to walk up into the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. More were booked, the forecast of heavy showers may have been off putting to some. Therese presented a brief introduction of our work with station adopters at Charing before our group of fourteen walkers set…
On Thursday 11th August, we were joined by Matt Fraser of Southeastern and the Dawn Patrol group of Rotary International to promote the 61016 service from British Transport Police, station safety surveys and all things rail safety. Between us we handed out over 100 cards introducing the British Transport Police 61016 service that offers a…
A group of seven assembled at Halling station to walk up into the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Gary presented a brief piece on the history of the station before the group set off, following a route inspired by Robin Bourner from the Friends of Cuxton Station. The Blue Lake looked resplendent in…
Kent CRP are delighted to share with you that our Partnership has successfully been shortlisted in 3 categories for this year’s Community Rail Awards. This was for: Involving Children and Young People and our work with a range of schools and colleges throughout the year. Involving Diverse Groups for the station improvements at Charing Station…
Kent CRP are delighted to share with you that our Partnership has successfully had its Accreditation renewed by the Department for Transport (DfT). Representatives from Community Network Rail, Kent CRP, Sustrans and Southeastern met in late April to assess if Kent CRP met with the DfT standards. Accreditation is the formal recognition by the DfT…
On Saturday July 9th Kent CRP were invited by Maidstone Cycle Campaign Forum to host a stand at Maidstone CycleFest 2022. The day was warm and busy with valuable community engagement. We promoted riding and walking to railway stations and encourage cyclists to take their bike on the train for their end to end journeys,…
What have we been doing? The Summer 2022 newsletter is now available. You can either view it online by visiting the newsletter tab on the website or download a pdf copy.
On Friday 1st July Kent CRP and Diversity House organised a trip to Rochester to support a group of adults who speak English as a Second Language. The group chosen were those that attended the English classes on a Friday and the IT classes during the week. The age ranged from 4 months old Mia…
Thursday May 26th As part of Community Rail week, Kent CRP organised an event involving Students from Ashford College in order to interview students about their thoughts on rail travel. We were extremely pleased to be joined by Jools Townsend CEO of the Community Rail Network, Catherine from Southeast CRP, Chris Fribbins Chair of Kent…
We were delighted to hold our Annual Stakeholders Event on April 28th this year. It was an opportunity for our members and friends to meet face to face, especially after last year’s event was conducted online. The event was held in Maidstone and gave our partnership the opportunity to share some of the exciting work…
Our Annual Report is now available online to celebrate some of the work we have been doing throughout the year. To download a copy click here.
What have we been doing? The Spring 2022 newsletter is now available. You can either view it online by visiting the newsletter tab on the website or download a pdf copy.
The recent hot weather we had at the end of March coincided with Sheppey College’s Community Week. It was an extremely busy time and an opportunity for them to complete the Kemsley project that had been planned just before Lockdown in March 2020. The area is planted up in 4 different colours to represent the…
On Saturday 26th March, Kent CRP organised a 10 Km walk between Charing Station and Lenham Station. The walk was organised in partnership with Visit Maidstone as a launch event for the Heart of Kent Walking Festival. We were joined by 37 walkers on a beautiful sunny day, some who were members of the public…
Aylesford Station Adopters have taken steps to preserve the Goods Shed for future generations. Read more here
There are 14 noticeboards on the Medway Valley LIne and a mostly hourly service. How do we update them all in a day? Our Line Officer explains all.
What have we been doing? The Winter 2022 newsletter is now available. You can either view it online by visiting the newsletter tab on the website or download a pdf copy.
Sixteen months on from being awarded a new Community Rail line from Ashford to Otford, we were able to officially open our Kent Downs Line at Maidstone East station on November 18th 2021. Our Chair Chris Fribbins cut the ribbon before we embarked on a train journey along part of the new line to discuss…
On Friday 8th October Kent Community Rail Partnership traveled with students and staff from St Edward’s school Sheerness to the Network Rail Travel Safe Travel Smart centre at Margate. It was an exciting day and the students enjoyed the interactive learning environment at this new state of the art facility. Explaining how much a train…
Kent CRP are organising a Music Train for Saturday 14th March along the Medway Valley Line. Mark the date in your diaries to avoid disappointment. More information about how to book your place will follow after Christmas.
We are looking forward to hosting our first Santa Train on the SwaleRail Line this year on the 14th December. The event is very popular and has already sold out. We are looking forward to seeing all the lucky passengers who managed to reserve their visit to meet Santa.
Kent CRP are organising a 12 mile family bike ride from Tonbridge Station to Penshurst Place and back. The route is beautiful and follows the National Cycle Network Route 12. We are encouraging participants to travel on the train with their bikes to Tonbridge Station. The event will take place between 10:45 and 15:00 Sunday…
Kent Community Rail Partnership will be one of more than 40 groups joining forces to showcase some of Britain’s most scenic rail journeys at a nationwide series of events next month. ‘Community Rail in the City’ is a flagship annual celebration aimed at promoting sustainable tourism and travel for recreation on Britain’s community rail routes,…
Any new Kent CRP events will be advertised here.
Father Christmas and his Elves look forward to welcoming you at 12:45 at Maidstone West Station on 15th December for our 2 hour train ride. Tickets are now available to purchase. Adults are priced at £10 and children £1. To purchase your tickets just click Eventbrite.Book now to avoid disappointment as numbers are limited.
Sat 15 Dec Santa Train. Boarding at Maidstone West for a 2 hour return journey. Join us for fun on the train with a visit from Santa and a goody bag for every child, we’ll have fun with crafts, face painting, ballooning and more. All for the price of the train ticket! Booking essential on…
Kent Community Rail Partnership has submitted its response to the Department for Transport (DfT) consultation about the renewal of the Rail Franchise for the south east of England, which is due take place in December 2018. You can download a copy of the document here. If you would like to respond yourself to the consultation…
A nationwide event to promote Community Rail at Main Line Stations. Come and find us on the Southeastern concourse anytime between 7am and 7pm and make your own pedal-powered Smoothie drink!
9:30am start to see fantastic redevelopment at Snodland station and celebrate 160 years of Medway Valley Line.
As part of the continuing Thameslink Programme work, Network Rail need to close Cannon Street at the end of August, resulting in major changes to services. Other stations including London Bridge will also be affected. Please click here for further detail on Southeastern’s website.
Kent CRP are recruiting a part-time Project Support Officer, but you’ll have to be quick! Click here for the job description. Closing date is 28th July.
We are holding a couple of public consultation meetings to enable us to prepare for the forthcoming South East England Rail Franchise renewal exercise. You are all very welcome to join us at either or indeed both of the meetings Timings are as follows: Medway Valley Line: Tuesday 7th June at 6:45pm to 8:15pm: Public…
Our Spring Newsletter is now available on the Medway Valley and SwaleRail Line pages for download. It features pictures and articles about recent events details of our plans for the coming months. You can also download it by clicking on the following link: Spring 2016 Printed copies will be distributed to manned stations, libraries etc……
The latest Great British Railway Journeys programme features Ashford to Sevenoaks and includes a visit to the Hitachi Javelin maintenance depot at Ashford. You can watch it on BBC iPlayer at the following web address (or on your TV/smartphone etc…): http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06z8ht0/great-british-railway-journeys-series-7-16-ashford-to-sevenoaks Unfortunately Mr Portillo misses out the 2 best destinations on the line, Paddock…
Tonbridge station is now officially part of the Medway Valley Line bringing the delights of the Rail Partnership to a whole new set of potential users and supporters at Kent’s busiest railway station! Approval was granted by the Department for Transport who launched a formal consultation which generated a lot of positive support for the…