North Walsham travel survey starts 27 Sept

Getting to and from North Walsham Railway Station is perfectly easy by train – but what is it like when you walk, cycle, drive or use the bus on the other side of the ticket office? A new survey aims to find out.

Getting to and from North Walsham Railway Station is perfectly easy by train – but what is it like when you walk, cycle, drive or use the bus on the other side of the ticket office?

A major survey begins on 27 September to find out how people get to and from the station, what problems they encounter, and what improvements would encourage them to use the station and the train more.

Views of existing rail travellers and those who don’t use the train will be garnered by:

• A survey of station users. This will be carried out during the week beginning 27 September by volunteers from Railfuture and the Bittern Line Community Rail Partnership.
• A stand in North Walsham market place on Thursday, 30 September as part of the ‘Be a Vocal Local’ campaign. Opinions of people who don’t use the station will be particularly important.
• A postal survey to 8000 houses in the area, with a 15 October deadline for returning the questionnaires.
• An internet survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s/nwtravel

All those who complete the survey will be entered into a prize draw to win one of five pairs of return tickets to a destination of their choice on the National Express network.

“Rail travel can be an enjoyable and environmentally friendly way of getting from A to B, but getting to the station itself can be a different matter,” said Peter Lumb, Sustainability Assistant at North Norfolk District Council.

“Stations generate journeys which can cause congestion or access problems which can then become barriers to travel by rail. The information from the survey will help us draw up a travel plan for removing these barriers. We want access to the station to be easier, particularly by encouraging more sustainable forms of travel, such as walking, cycling and public transport, so more people will then travel by train.”

The Station Travel Plan will then be used to attract funding for the changes it recommends. Station Travel Plans were first introduced nationally two years ago but this will be the first to be undertaken for a community rail station, using volunteers to help reduce costs. This ground-breaking project is a partnership between Norfolk County Council, North Norfolk District Council and National Express East Anglia. Funding for the plan has come from the Association of Community Rail Partnerships with the expectation that lessons learnt at North Walsham can be applied to other rural stations on community rail lines.

Geraint Hughes, National Express’s stakeholder manager said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for the people of North Walsham and the surrounding area to tell us what they think about North Walsham train station, which will enable the partnership to produce a plan of action for improvements to the station to be made, with the ultimate aim of increasing its use.”

ENDS