A community rail group is in the running for two national awards.

The East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership has been shortlisted with two local projects in the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) Community Rail Awards.

They have been shortlisted in the categories of Best Improved Station Buildings and Best Marketing Campaign.

After the restored station house at Wickham Market was unveiled earlier this year following a major refurbishment and restoration undertaken by the Station House Community Connections project, as part of the scheme the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership facilitated a major grant towards installing a replica platform canopy. Along with a number of other funding partners, including the Railway Heritage Trust, has substantially improved passenger facilities and the creation of a new community hub featuring meeting rooms and a café.

Shortlisting in the Best Marketing Campaign comes after the Community Rail Partnership created a new guide to the railway lines in East Suffolk, which included the commissioning of a new geographical map of the lines running from Ipswich to Felixstowe and Ipswich to Lowestoft. The guide which has also been replicated in a large poster format displayed at stations, features a host of information about towns, villages and attractions along the two routes specifically aimed at encouraging both residents and tourists to explore the local area by train.

The East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership is an association of local authorities, community groups, volunteers and rail operator Greater Anglia which supports and encourages use of the railways running between Ipswich and Felixstowe and Ipswich and Lowestoft.

The awards, which are now in their 13th year, recognise the unsung work carried out by community rail partnerships and station adoption groups, who provide a welcome social and economic contribution, with their activities, to their communities.

Last year the East Suffolk Lines Community Rail Partnership won first prize at the national awards for its joint event celebrating the Queens 90th birthday and 50th anniversary of the East Suffolk Line north of Westerfield being reprieved from the Beeching Axe.

The winners will be revealed at the awards gala dinner and presentation evening held by ACoRP in Derby on October 5.