Excellence recognised as Rail Business Awards come to Manchester

After a quarter of a century in London, the longest established national awards for the UK rail sector marked the start of a new era as more than 400 guests came together in Manchester on February 22 for the 26th Rail Business Awards.

With the landmark move reflecting the geographical spread and diversity of the rail network, the star-studded evening, organised by the Railway Gazette Group at DVV Media International, was hosted by comedian and actor Alun Cochrane at the Hilton Hotel Manchester Deansgate.

After another challenging year for the rail sector, characterised by limited progress on reform of the industry and ongoing labour relations problems, the Rail Business Awards presented an opportunity to recognise tangible achievements on the ground. The evening celebrated the many individuals and companies whose vision, innovation and commitment are helping to shape the UK rail sector.

‘The awards recognise and reward excellence in every aspect of the industry, from daily operations, safety and customer service to technical innovation and major projects across the UK’, explained Railway Gazette Executive Editor Nick Kingsley. ‘In moving to Manchester, we have also launched a category to recognise excellence in regional rail and metro projects.’

Crossrail leads the way

Although the event had moved to Manchester, London’s Crossrail project was in the spotlight. MTR Elizabeth Line was named Rail Business of the Year, with the judges commenting that the operator’s other wins underlined how the company had delivered an outstanding performance since the cross-London rail corridor opened in May 2022.

TfL’s Crossrail operating concessionaire has managed the Elizabeth Line’s transition from a standalone cross-city tunnel into a regional network linking with legacy main lines at both ends. This shift has not been without its problems, partly caused by the complexities of train control, and infrastructure issues on the Great Western Main Line.

With Elizabeth Line passenger numbers increasing to record levels, MTREL continued to focus on delivering outstanding customer service. Its Customer Experience Team was presented with the award for Rail Team of the Year. The judges said the team operated in an incredibly complex and dynamic environment, but had demonstrated how thorough planning and effective delivery were key to meeting stretching targets.

MTR Elizabeth Line was also named Train Operator of the Year. Despite some well-publicised infrastructure failures, the concessionaire had been able to maintain what the judging panel felt was a strong overall performance.

In the same category, the judges highly commended Greater Anglia, which saw another outstanding year with record performance figures and continuous improvement on all fronts, and open access operator Lumo, which they felt had demonstrated the ‘upside of open access competition’, by boosting rail’s market share in a highly competitive market.

MTR Elizabeth Line also collected the award for Education & Training Excellence, with the judges commenting that the operator had shown dedication to educating and training its employees from entry level right through to senior management.

Luton launch lauded

As the industry works to bring more passengers back to rail, the award for Marketing & Communications Excellence went to East Midlands Railway for its work to promote the Luton Airport Express. Developed following the opening of the DART peoplemover linking the airport terminal with Luton Airport Parkway station, the campaign was designed to grow business on the newly branded service by addressing an untapped market with high potential.

The judges commended CrossCountry for its brand relaunch campaign, which they said had brought a focus on positivity, making good use of data and insight to drive strategic decisions.

Leading Mann

Claire Mann, Managing Director of South Western Railway, was named Industry Leader of the Year with the judges emphasising her journey from front line roles to senior industry leader and recognising the way she had driven cultural change at SWR over the past three years. Her track record of showing empathy and resilience with a hands-on approach were commended by the judges. After what she admitted had been a difficult decision, Mann will be moving to Transport for London as Chief Operating Officer from the end of March.

The award for Safety and Security Excellence went to Purple Transform for its ‘SiYtE’ system which uses AI to make smarter safety decisions. These include the ability to identify potential trespass using CCTV. The judges recognised that this was helping to prevent tragedies, whilst offering operational benefits to operators seeking to mitigate the risk of disruption.

Tyneside on top

Tyne & Wear Metro was presented with the Customer Service Excellence award for its exceptional work to return many thousands of passengers when the 2023 Great North Run was disrupted by torrential rain and flash flooding.

The judges highly commended Great Western Railway’s Pullman catering, commenting that it was a ‘high quality value added service that represents a level of aspiration which other parts of the rail industry might use to grow long distance leisure trips and generate revenue’.

GWR was also recognised for its work to improve gender balance, diversity and inclusion with the award for Diversity & Inclusion in Rail. The judges said that GWR’s efforts had led to a cultural transformation, supported by practical action across the business. They also commended GWR for recognising that there was still more work to do in this field.

For the second year running Southeastern was highly commended for its entry ‘which demonstrated real drive and a commitment to improve, balancing organisational requirements with the personal touch’.

Ricardo UK Rail was presented with the Wellbeing in Rail award with a strong entry which highlighted how wellbeing was prioritised at every stage of the business. The judges commended the company for recognising the importance of workload and communications as well as physical risks, and for encouraging employees to take time off and not push on when unwell.

Integrated transport award

The importance of embedding rail as part of an inclusive transport mix was recognised in the award for Accessibility & Integrated Transport Excellence. GWR took this prize for its entry ‘Turbo charging our response to accessibility and inclusion’. GWR was praised for the way it had responded to handling more Passenger Assistance requests than any other train operating company.

Improving capacity and performance was at the heart of the Metro Flow project delivered by Nexus and Kier Construction. This won the award for Regional Initiative of the Year, reflecting the successful scheme to remodel sections of the Tyne & Wear Metro’s South Shields line by converting an existing freight track for use by light rail services.

The Tree Council and Network Rail received the Sustainability & Environmental Excellence award for their joint entry ‘Managing vegetation for people and the planet’. Suggesting that this collaboration ‘could be a partnership made in heaven’, the judges commented that Network Rail had a large portfolio of land that is often difficult to access, while the Tree Council had the know-how and skills to turn neglected land into environmental assets. They hoped the partnership would improve the safety of railway operations in the future.

Wagon innovation

The Rail Business Award for Innovation of the Year went to VTG Rail UK and Knorr-Bremse UK for the ‘iWagon with digital intelligence’. Described by the judges as ‘very important and valuable’, this project had the potential to be ‘transformative’ for the rail freight sector. iWagon provides real time information that should dramatically reduce the risk of derailments and improve vehicle maintenance regimes.

The importance of the freight sector was also recognised in the award for Rail Freight & Logistics Excellence which was presented to GB Railfreight for its Peterborough maintenance hub. The judges felt that improving local infrastructure would help to open up new markets, and noted the rapid delivery of the project in just 10 months.

The supply chain was recognised in the award for Supplier & Contractor Excellence, which went to rolling stock builder CAF Rail UK for its work to deliver trains across many parts of the UK. The judges noted CAF had now established its presence in the UK market, winning orders for more than 1 000 vehicles for use by 10 different train and light rail operators and investing £30m in a UK assembly plant.

Metro modernisation

In the Infrastructure Project & Station Excellence category, the northeast was again in focus, as Stadler and VolkerFitzpatrick received the award for the reconstruction of Gosforth depot to accommodate and maintain the Tyne & Wear Metro’s incoming fleet of Stadler trainsets. The judges felt that this was a well-run project that had coped with the pandemic and global supply chain issues, as well as the added complexity of having to service the existing fleet on the same site.

Completing the four awards heading to the banks of the Tyne, Nexus, Furrer + Frey and Fugro walked away with the Asset Management & Maintenance Excellence award for their Rail Infrastructure Alignment Acquisition System. The judges described this as ‘an excellent example of using digital surveying tools to capture existing asset configuration’, which would improve the efficiency of project design. Successful implementation was reducing costs and speeding the up delivery of overhead line renewals.

Future leaders

Despite its complexity, the rail industry is still a family of individuals working together to make it a success and this was reflected in two further awards.

The Young Professional of the Year award went to Fran Coult of Alstom Transport, who was highly commended. The youngest entrant this year, Fran is a supply chain apprentice in the East Midlands. The judges commented that she had already demonstrated both breadth and depth in her role, along with a willingness to adapt, learn and inspire.

Launched in 2020, the Richard Hope Award for an Outstanding Personal Contribution to the UK rail sector commemorates a distinguished former Editor of Railway Gazette International. He was a tireless advocate for the rail sector and the award is intended to recognise his legacy in spreading best practice in railway development. This year’s award was presented to Helen Warnock of Network Rail’s Southern Region. As Programme Director for the Region’s Maintenance Modernisation programme, Helen is a champion for progress and safety for the rail industry, and a great advocate for STEM. The judges said she was a strong female role model in a male dominated field, well respected by colleagues, staff and senior management.

The judges also commended Translink’s Cross-Border Supervisor Eddie Campbell for his dedication, adaptability, and unwavering passion for the railway, driving customer service on the Enterprise route from the front line.

Much to celebrate

‘Once again we have seen a wide range of high-quality entries from across the UK rail market’, concluded Railway Gazette Executive Editor Nick Kingsley.

‘While we await meaningful progress to reform the industry and hopefully a clearer plan for growth in passenger as well as freight, there is still much to be celebrated, as we have seen tonight. My congratulations to some very worthy winners, who are setting an example for others to follow.’