We have been actively supporting the people, places and communities we serve, including commemorating Railway 200, raising money through the Big Sleepout, and supporting projects through our Customers & Communities Improvement Fund. 

Celebrating 200 years of Britain’s modern railway and inspiring future generations alongside the industry through Railway 200

In February we named one of our Pendolino trains at an event in Derby to mark celebrations at Alstom’s ‘The Greatest Gathering’ launch event. The Pendolino train, which has been temporarily renumbered 390200, also sports the Railway 200 logo on its cab ends. Alstom’s Derby site will be home to the UK’s largest gathering of historic rolling stock in August 2025. With another Pendolino set to feature, the three-day festival aims to raise thousands for Railway 200 charities and the rail heritage sector.

We also announced plans to attempt a non-stop run between London and Glasgow later this year, aiming to beat the record of three hours, 52 minutes and 40 seconds set in 1984. The record attempt will promote the seamless connectivity rail provides between cities and across borders.

Eight Avanti West Coast colleagues slept overnight at Birmingham New Street as part of the Railway Children’s yearly Big Sleepout challenge

The team, which included frontline and office-based colleagues, raised over £2,500 through sponsorship. Taking on the challenge were Jo Bird, Communications Director; Joanna Buckley, Community Manager; Cleo Lindo, Internal Communications Executive; Amy Dawson, Reporting Analyst; Natalie Richbell-Beer, Safeguarding Manager; Nicola Hague, Customer Experience Strategy Manager; Marcia Graver, an on-board chef; and Louise McGregor, Management System Administrator. Money raised from the event goes towards the charity’s work to combat child homelessness in the UK, India and Tanzania.

Find out more about some of the projects we have funded through our Customers & Communities Improvement Fund

As part of our annual business plan, we are committed to provide a Customer & Communities Improvement Fund for projects that are located within 10 miles of one of our stations or a station that we serve, that address regeneration challenges and/or social needs. Details of the community projects we will be funding from April 2025 will be shared at a later date.

Last year we funded 8 amazing projects, and you can find out about some of them below:

• Liverpool and Sefton Mencap received funding to deliver a series of travel confidence training sessions to adult members in Merseyside. Travelling by train can be confusing and concerning for customers, so these workshops help members become more confident by discussing their concerns and highlighting the positives of rail travel.

• Outdoor Mobility funds Tramper mobile vehicles for various sites of interest. These vehicles allow people to travel around the countryside and to attractions. The Tramper vehicles are designed to navigate easily across muddy paths and uphill terrain, whether in an ancient castle or a woodland area. They are user-friendly, and each person receives a brief training session before hiring them at the venue. One of the locations where these vehicles are available is Sizergh Castle, which is just 20 minutes away from Oxenholme.

• The aim of Cheshire Buddies is to bring together young people with a range of disabilities to give them experiences and meet other young people with disabilities, whilst supporting their families and siblings too. Some of the experiences which our funding supported included craft events in unused space at Crewe Station to taking young people on life-affirming day trips to Blackpool, Liverpool, Manchester and Shrewsbury.