A NEW national website is to promote the country's community rail lines and heritage railways to tourists.

The project will be led by the Association of Community Rail Partnerships (ACoRP) and supported by the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership.

It has been awarded £75,000 from the Department for Transport's Heritage and Community Rail Tourism Innovation Competition.

Community rail lines are seen as an important contributor to tourism and the rural economy.

The new website will use Britain's most scenic lines as the "hook" to attract visitors, and then introduce them to a wide range of regional lines to explore.

The site will be translated into key European languages, and will be user-friendly on PCs, laptops, tablets and mobile phones.

ACoRP general manager Neil Buxton said: "This project will give the country's railways a great new platform to attract more visitors.

"We will be inviting all community rail partnerships to work with us to create dedicated pages on the website for their lines.

"These will link through to Partnerships' own websites, providing them with extra traffic and a higher profile. By working together, everyone will benefit."

The project – which will also feature heritage railways and other scenic lines – will draw upon the expertise of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership, which has won national awards for its online campaigns.

Rail Minister Claire Perry said: "We want to show the best of British to our visitors and Heritage and Community Railways are part of that package.

She added: "I look forward to seeing the scheme develop, providing another great reason to visit Britain and explore the country by train."

The new website will be launched in 2017 and will be accompanied by a marketing campaign.