'THE GOVERNMENT'S ABSOLUTELY AWARE ... - Rail Professional

HSBC Rail Business Awards 2006 Review
‘clear winner’ in the Business Manager of the
Year, with judges acknowledging that ‘his
reputation as a customer-driven business
leader is well known’. The operator’s student
campaign was found to be a ‘strong campaign
that had good application and execution’. FTP
also took the Rail Business of the Year Award.
Freightliner was recognised by the judges
for launching new services, founding a new
divisional company and investing millions of
pounds in specialist equipment staff and IT
resources in order to offer a better service to
its customers. They called its achievements
‘significant and clear’.
Another victory, which saw a small
company snag an award that much bigger
operators were up for, was Northern Ireland
Railways’ win in the PR Campaign category
for its Dead Cert campaign, raising awareness
of the dangers of level crossings. The judges
recognised ‘the consistently high level of
PR/communications campaigns that are
being implemented by this organisation, with
limited resources’, which saw it fend off the
huge Eurostar Da Vinci Code campaign.
The Rail Safety and Security Excellence
category had an impressive 15 entrants,
topped only by the Engineering Excellence
awards with 19 nominations. The safety
award was won by Halcrow and Arriva Trains
Wales for its Risk Triggered Commentary,
which judges recognised as assisting drivers
‘in retaining important safety information,
particularly in relation to signal aspects
thereby contributing to the avoidance of
Spads’. Engineering Excellence was awarded
to Silverlink for its Class 321 trains. Judges
noted the operator had ‘achieved a really high
reliability from this train fleet’.
GNER also won an award, despite having
handed back its East Coast Main Line
franchise. The company came first in the IT
category for its onboard wi-fi capability – it is
the first train operator in the UK to offer
uninterrupted wi-fi service and has the
world’s biggest fleet of internet-enabled
carriages. Judges called this ‘a big step
forward’.
Merseyrail’s Liverpool South station, a
multi-modal interchange for south Liverpool
and John Lennon airport, won the Station
Excellence award. In handing over the award,
judge Peter Plisner noted that ‘although
schemes like this are expensive in cost terms,
it’s worth every penny when you look at early
usage figures’.
National Rail Enquiries took the Rail
Supplier of the Year award, with judges
recognising ‘a world class operation that
monitors its own performance well and is
already looking to embrace the next
generation of information platforms’.
Internal communications was won by
Gatwick Express for its customer service
initiative – a campaign which also won an
award in the Railway Industry Innovation
Awards. Judges found that ‘the commitment
of the management and the internal
communications team is evident and
exceptional’.
Paul Clifton was on fine form and took the
opportunity once or twice to remind winners
that the rail minister was within earshot as
they accepted their awards, prompting them to
reiterate some of the rail industry’s biggest
concerns while they had a captive audience.
‘You must desperately need the upgrading of
the freight route from Southampton to the
Midlands,’ urged Clifton, as Freighliner director
Peter Maybury accepted the Train Operator
award. Maybury agreed that it was ‘crucial’.
First TransPennine Express also took the
opportunity to mention their hopes of
increasing capacity in the future. ‘We could do
with some more trains,’ joked managing
director Vernon Barker, following hints from
Clifton. ‘Give us a fourth vehicle!’
Declan Curry’s witty repartee ensured that
the ceremony ran seamlessly, while HSBC’s
Peter Aldridge adeptly summed up the year’s
high points, reminding everyone of all that
the industry has achieved and why the
evenings awards were so richly deserved.