NORTHERN and National Express East Anglia both scored hat tricks at the National Rail Awards ceremony at London’s Grosvenor Hotel on 18 September, celebrating excellence and achievement in the UK’s rail industry while Southern scooped the prize for Maintenance Team of the Year

For the second year running, Northern won the Outstanding Teamwork Award, its Flood Response Team commended for exemplary commitment in managing severe weather disruption during summer last year.

As the ‘life and soul of the Penistone Line Partnership’, train driver Neil Bentley won the Outstanding Personal Contribution Award, Workforce for his spare time energy and commitment, and managing director Heidi Mottram was awarded the senior executive title as a ‘consummate railway professional who has always led from the front’.

Also, Northern was highly commended in the Putting Passengers First category for its improvement work at Harrogate and Rochdale stations.

National Express East Anglia’s London Liverpool Street station-based team of welcome hosts and ongoing improvement work was highly commended in the Major Stations category in the first of three such commendations.

The second was in the Outstanding Teamwork award for improving train service performance to over 90 per cent in Partnership with Network Rail through introduction of a Joint Performance Improvement Plan.

Finally, the company was highly commended in the Innovation of the Year category for its project to reduce energy usage across its operations by means of more than 50 separate innovations. And to round off a successful evening, it was a finalist in Station of the Year, for improvements at Woodbridge, Suffolk, London and South East Commuter operator of the Year, Putting Passengers First, for its rural train fleet upgrade, and London Team of the Year, for London Liverpool Street station.
Also, Lowestoft station’s Ray Stone was a finalist in the Outstanding Personal Contribution category for his commitment and dedication to customer service.  

Impressed with Southern’s upgrading of stock and facilities at Brighton and Selhurst Traincare Depots without impacting on services, judges awarded the company the Maintenance Team of the Year prize, describing it as ‘the best Southern has ever been’.

Highly commended for individual effort in the Outstanding Personal Contribution category were Selhurst assistant service engineer Chris Herne, for major improvement to waste management, and Gatwick Express welcome host Fatima Samateh, for superb customer service provision.

Highly commended in the Station of the Year category was Buxted station on the Oxted to Uckfield line, where customer sales clerk Mark Leary works alone to make a fantastic contribution to enhanced facilities for customers.
 

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