Rail user group celebrates 10 years of helping commuters

A TRAIN passenger support group has celebrated its 10 year anniversary.

Henley Trains was set up by Neil Gunnell, of Blandy Road, in 2015 to assist passengers on the branch line while providing information and timetable help and building a better relationship with railway staff.

The group also runs an X account (formerly known as Twitter) which regularly updates commuters on rail issues and disruption.

For the last four years, Mr Gunnell, 67, has volunteered at Henley Station alongside staff at Great Western Railway to assist and greet passengers as they embark and disembark the service for the Henley Royal Regatta in July.

On Sunday, the group marked 10 years of providing rail updates and support to the community.

Henley Trains also helped with the introduction of an up to four-minute holding time for trains on the branch line to ensure passengers could catch their connecting train at Twyford, which Mr Gunnell said was a “really big” step.

He said: “We work pretty closely with Great Western Railway.

“When it was introduced I came down to lend a hand until it settled down.

“I went down there to speak the same language as the commuters and to explain what we could and couldn’t do and to sit between the staff. I went down for eight of the next nine working days. The real issue for people in Henley is when it’s two hours to your office door to door but you miss a connection at Twyford, it’s an extra half an hour until the next train and it really frustrates people.

“The staff do everything they can to make it work for us.

“There is now a poster up at Twyford station which explains what they can and can’t do.”

Mr Gunnell said he was encouraged to welcome visitors coming to the Regatta after watching a documentary eight years ago which included information about the revenue protection process, part shot in Henley.

He said: “It was half-filmed there and it just came across as, ‘look how many fines we have’.

“I looked at it and thought, ‘is this how we welcome our visitors to our town?’.

“The railway staff are the first people they see when they arrive in our town and I thought, ‘we have to do
better’.

“For two or three years, I bought brownies and flapjacks to give to staff to hand out and asked them to say, ‘welcome to Henley’. I’ve helped to give out water on Friday and Saturday nights so people weren’t unwell on the train.

“I had two or three people come up to me during the Regatta this year who said they had never been met at the station like that and a couple of people said it made their trip.

“It’s showing that we’re proud of our town.”

Since the group was set up, Mr Gunnell, who worked for British Airways for 26 years, has also reviewed the twice yearly timetable changes to check the train connections. He said: “We’re always reviewing timetable changes.

“Great Western Railway let us know about the changes in advance and there are things they’ve tried to improve.

“I spend a lot of time checking the connections to make sure there isn’t a problem that has been missed.

“I love living here, we have great people here, I want the railway to know we’re decent people and by having decent relationships, we get the best that we can out of what we need.”