To mark Better Transport Week 2026, Campaign for Better Transport is embarking on a nationwide tour of recently reopened railway lines and stations, highlighting how investment in rail is reconnecting communities and linking people to jobs, education and opportunity.

The four-day tour will launch at the newly reopened Pineapple Road Station on Birmingham’s Camp Hill Line, which opened in April and is one of five new stations delivered across the West Midlands. It will then travel north to the highly successful Northumberland Line, where the sixth and final new station opened in March. From Newcastle, the tour will continue to South Wales, where participants will see first-hand the £1 billion South Wales Metro transformation between Treherbert and Cardiff, delivering faster journeys, electric tram-trains and more frequent services.

The tour will then return to England to visit Brabazon Station, one of seven new stations planned on the reopened Portishead Line between Bristol and Portishead, set to reconnect more than 50,000 people to the rail network.

The final stop will be Okehampton Station on the Dartmoor Line in Devon. Reopened in 2021 with support from the Government’s Restoring Your Railways Fund, the station has already transformed local connectivity, generating more than 550,000 journeys in its first two years.

Michael Solomon Williams, Campaign for Better Transport, said: “When a railway station opens, places begin to change. People gain better access to jobs, education and healthcare, while businesses see new opportunities to grow.

“Travel becomes easier and more reliable, and communities feel less cut off. Better Transport Week is the perfect moment to celebrate these connections and show how investing in rail can support thriving local economies, stronger communities and a fairer future for everyone.”

The tour forms part of Better Transport Week 2026 which runs from 15 to 21 June. Organised by Campaign for Better Transport, funded by the UK Government and sponsored by Bauer Media Outdoor, the week showcases how safe, accessible, affordable, reliable, integrated and green transport can bring people together and strengthen communities across England and Wales.

For more information about Better Transport Week and the full programme of events, visit www.bettertransportweek.org.uk.