Women in Rail Awards nominations open

Nominations are now being invited for next year’s prestigious Women in Rail Awards.

The Awards celebrate and reward individuals and companies who have made a significant contribution to improving gender balance, diversity and inclusion within the UK rail industry.

Next year’s Women in Rail Awards are being held at The Roundhouse in Camden, London, on Wednesday 15^th May and will be hosted by Rachel Riley, television presenter and STEM ambassador.

This awards ceremony follows on from the hugely successful inaugural Women in Rail Awards which took place in April this year to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the official launch of charity Women in Rail, founded by Adeline Ginn.

Adeline says: “Women in Rail was set up in 2012 to improve gender balance, diversity and inclusion in the UK rail industry.

“Currently, just 16.4% of the total UK rail workforce are women, an issue that the charity is working to redress, with the support of companies and key stakeholders in our sector.

“As a charity, we have established a robust networking platform for our members, men and women in rail, and provide support through development workshops across the UK and our acclaimed mentoring programme; we devise initiatives aimed at positioning our industry as an attractive career choice for women; we engage with key stakeholders to promote diversity as a business strategy and – through the Women In Rail Awards – celebrate the men and women who, like us, work hard to improve gender balance, diversity and inclusion in UK rail.”

The 2018 Women in Rail Awards attracted more than 350 entries and was sold out in just eight weeks, with attendees representing a cross-section of the UK rail industry including key stakeholders and decision-makers, infrastructure providers, operators, manufacturers, rolling stock companies, technical consultancy companies and suppliers.

At the time, the judging panel commented: “It was truly inspirational reading about the achievements and dedication of the nominees. There is a real sense of recognition at all levels across rail that growing diversity in the workforce is how our sector will grow and prosper.”

Next year’s judging panel includes, among others, Ruth Hannant and Polly Payne (DfT), Ian Prosser (ORR), Karen Boswell (Hitachi), Paul Plummer (RDG), Maggie Simpson (RFG) Mohanad Ismail (YRP), Neil Robertson (NSAR) alongside this year’s Female Apprentice of the Year Arroba Noor (TfL) and Inspirational Woman of the Year Rajinder Pryor (NR).

Award categories can be found on the Women in Rail website at www.womeninrail.org/awards and nominations must to be submitted by Thursday 31^st January 2019.

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