The Rail Business Awards has recognised and celebrated the achievements of the industry, from safety and customer service to major projects. More than 450 people attended the 24th event in London earlier this month.
TransPennine Express (TPE) named Train Operator of the Year and Rail Business of the Year
TPE captured the two prestigious titles as well as the Marketing and Communications Excellence Award and a highly commended in the Education and Training Excellence category.
Matthew Golton, Managing Director for TransPennine Express, said: “I’m delighted that we have been named Train Operator of the Year and Rail Business of the Year as well as picking up the Marketing and Communication Excellence Award, it’s a fantastic achievement.
“I’m thrilled to see that the hard work of our colleagues has been recognised at this level and it feels particularly special given the challenging backdrop of the pandemic over the past couple of years.
“At TPE we want to be at the heart of delivering positive change for rail customers and for the communities that we serve in the North of England and into Scotland and I’m looking forward to building on our success and working with our colleagues and stakeholders to realise that.”
Queen Street Scoops Station Excellence Award
Scotland’s Railway was triumphant scooping the Station Excellence Award in recognition of the £120m redevelopment of Glasgow Queen Street station.
Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, said: “I am delighted Scotland’s Railway had been recognised in this way at this year’s Rail Business Awards.
“To win the Station Excellence Award is testament to all who have worked tirelessly on the project, from our engineers and contractors to the station team – their commitment and dedication was to get the job done with minimal impact on passengers and the wider public.
“At the very early stages, collaboration was key to creating an integrated team, with everyone working to achieve the same end goal – a striking, iconic new station in the heart of Glasgow that has truly transformed the passenger experience. The new station also celebrates Queen Street’s rich heritage and embraces a vibrant, sustainable and greener future that is the direction of travel for Scotland’s Railway and our commitment to decarbonising passenger rail services by 2035.”
Tyne and Wear Metro has scoops award for commitment to employee development at its new £9 million Learning Centre in South Shields
Nexus, the public body which owns and manages Metro, won for Education and Training Excellence at the Rail Business Awards – recognising the boost it gave driver recruitment and customer service training by opening the learning centre.
The Nexus Learning Centre, which opened in 2020, is a purpose-built training facility, bringing a wide range of rail infrastructure and operations training under one roof in a modern new setting.
Chief Operating Officer at Nexus, Martin Kearney, said: “This prestigious award is recognition for all the hard work that we have done to transform our employee development and training facilities at our new Learning Centre.
“It’s a tremendous achievement for us to win at the Rail Business Awards, where we were up against the best in the UK rail industry.
“We have trained a record number of new Metro drivers at the new learning centre, and we can also deliver a wider range of customer service and infrastructure training there too, which is helping to drive excellence right across our business.
“I was also delighted to see Nexus and Stadler highly commended for the work that we put local people at the heart of the design process for our new Metro train fleet.”
ABP and DB Cargo UK win for Rail Freight & Logistics Excellence
Associated British Ports (ABP) and DB Cargo UK have won the award for ‘Rail Freight & Logistics Excellence’ at the Rail Business awards, for the rail freight solution that they provided to Mini cars, to meet the increasing demand for exports from Mini’s Oxford production plant to the Far East.
Craig Barbour, ABP’s General Manager Landside Operations at the Port of Southampton said: “ABP is delighted to win this prestigious award with our partners, DB Cargo UK, for our rail freight solution for Mini cars at our Port of Southampton. The success of this customer care solution is indicative of the outstanding customer care, collaboration and hard work of all those involved.”
Full awards
- Rail Business of the Year – TransPennine Express
- Asset Management & Maintenance Excellence – Translink, Rail Health Strategy
- Customer Service Excellence- KeolisAmey Docklands, Pandemic response
- Diversity & Inclusion in Rail Award – West Midlands Trains
- Education & Training Excellence – Nexus, Our New Learning Centre is transforming employee development
- Industry Leader – Nick Millington, Network Rail
- Infrastructure Project Excellence – Network Rail, East Coast Upgrade Werrington Grade Separation portal push
- Innovation of the Year – Whoosh, Real-Time Journey Dashboard
- Marketing & Communications Excellence – TransPennine Express, Passenger Reassurance Campaign
- Rail Freight & Logistics Excellence – DB Cargo UK & Associated British Ports, “The Southampton Job”
- Rail Team of the Year – Network Rail and industry partners, King’s Cross Remodelling
- Richard Hope Award – Darren O’Brien, Southeastern Railway
- Safety & Security Excellence – Network Rail, Safety Task Force
- Station Excellence – Scotland’s Railway, Glasgow Queen Street station redevelopment
- Supplier & Contractor Excellence – One Big Circle, Automated Intelligent Video Review
- Sustainability & Environmental Excellence – Atkins, Great crested newts Detection Dogs
- Train Operator of the Year – TransPennine Express
- Wellbeing in Rail Award – Hearts, Minds, Network Rail Southern region
- Young Professional – Ryan Firth, Balfour Beatty
Photo credit: Rail Business Awards
