Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership, with support from World Heritage UK, launched a guide to visiting the UK’s World Heritage Sites by sustainable transport.
The idea came from the pilot project, Hadrian’s Wall Youth Ambassadors. During a workshop run by the Partnership with the Ambassadors, the young people came up with lots of ideas to promote rail travel to and around World Heritage Sites. Encouraging people to use public transport rather than the car to visit Sites supports UNESCO’s Sustainable Development Goals to build sustainable communities and taking climate action.
The Partnership recognised the need for a guide to help people plan travel to explore these WHSs sustainably. Anne Ridley, TVCRP’s Marketing Director said, “As a Community Rail Partnership, our role is to work with partners to encourage people to travel by train and to engage with and support our communities. Creation of this national guide from the aspiration of young people certainly achieves these goals”. The project received support from rail industry partners, CrossCountry, TransPennine Express and Community Rail Network, and from World Heritage UK. Representatives from individual World Heritage Sites have spoken enthusiastically of the need for such a guide.
The guide was launched on World Heritage Day on Thursday 18th April at Newcastle railway station. Newcastle’s Central Station provided an ideal venue for launching the guide, with excellent travel connections from stations throughout the country, there is rail connectivity for people to visit Hadrian’s Wall Country or to travel elsewhere to explore the other World Heritage Sites throughout the country. Click here to see TVCRP’s Director Patrick’s journey to the launch.
The map is available from the TVCRP website.
To access a flip book version, click here.
It is appropriate that Tyne Valley Community Rail Partnership led this project. The Tyne Valley Railway, Newcastle to Carlisle, runs through Hadrian’s Wall corridor and provides several access points to exploring the Wall. In the late 1830’s Scott’s Railway Companion published a guide to the route, making it one of the earliest guides to a railway line. This route has a long history in directing rail travellers to sites of interest!
Main image: travelling by train in Hadrian’s Wall Country