Great Western Coffee Shop

UK: Great Western Railway was announced as Rail Business of the Year and ScotRail Alliance Managing Director Alex Hynes was named Industry Leader of the Year at the 20th Rail Business Awards.

Hosted by Railway Gazette at London’s Hilton hotel on Park Lane on February 22, the event bought together around 600 senior executives and industry experts from across the UK rail sector. The 20th anniversary awards were presented by TV and radio celebrity Sandi Toksvig.

‘Once again, these awards have highlighted the contribution made by so many individuals and companies throughout the UK rail industry, who put a huge amount of effort, vision and skill into developing their business and serving their customers’, said Railway Gazette Editor-in-Chief Chris Jackson. ‘These awards have become a highlight of the industry calendar, providing a valuable opportunity to pay tribute to all the hard work that goes on across the UK rail sector, day in, day out.’

In awarding GWR the coveted title of Rail Business of the Year, the judges said the operator had shown ‘incredible versatility and resilience through a very difficult period', despite the disruption caused by electrification and upgrading works. GWR also won the Rolling Stock Excellence award for bringing into service its Class 387 EMUs on Thames Valley commuter services, and the Safety & Security Excellence award for a partnership project to reduce anti-social behaviour on the Severn Beach branch.

Chiltern Railway won Train Operator of the Year for completing and launching its new route to Oxford, as well as its consistently strong performance and high levels of customer satisfaction.

ScotRail Alliance Managing Director Alex Hynes was named Industry Leader of the Year, while the alliance’s Head of Integrated Control, Mark Ilderton, took the award for Young Professional of the Year.

How about an award for Chris B for sticking up for GWR when everyone else is shouting him down ?

.... And the award for the INVISIBLE RAILMAN OF 2018 goes to MMAAAARRRRRRRRK HOPWOOD, I see he condescended to crawl out of the woodwork to sup a glass of champers in celebration.

OK folks ... point made. 

I note that we're far from alone in having problems at the moment - looking at Southern and Northern groups that fulfil some of the functions of our Western one, and even in Scotland ...

Were a problem to be purely in one franchise, logic would be to blame it mostly on something specific to that franchise. But where problems exist in so many places, and with different franchise operators, much more we should look at common factors such as their common suppliers and / or the system and environment they work in, including customer expectations.

Sometimes it seems that the more derisory we are of GWR, the more contemptuous
they are, of us ! :(

And I really can't blame them for that ... works the other way too.  The more respect and constructive feedback and help we give them, the more respect and constructive help they give us.  Not saying we couldn't do with more constructive help - far too often they can be very frustrating to deal with ... but there are some real gems of feedback and the odd tiny change that can make a big difference.

OK folks ... point made. 

I note that we're far from alone in having problems at the moment - looking at Southern and Northern groups that fulfil some of the functions of our Western one, and even in Scotland ...

Were a problem to be purely in one franchise, logic would be to blame it mostly on something specific to that franchise. But where problems exist in so many places, and with different franchise operators, much more we should look at common factors such as their common suppliers and / or the system and environment they work in, including customer expectations.

Yes, infrastructure faults are generally down to network rail as are the electrification delays.
The new trains are not proving a complete success, but were largely specified by DaFt.
Industrial disputes are arguable either way.

So a fair bit of the problems are not the fault of GWR, and broadly similar arguments apply to other franchises.

However some of the problems do seem to me to be the fault of GWR. Failure to reply in a timely fashion to correspondence for example.
I also blame GWR for failing to recruit and retain enough staff, despite the statement by a respected member that GWR have met their franchise requirements in this respect.
I certainly blame GWR for a costly advertising campagain that raises customer expectations even further beyond what is actually delivered.

And finally I don't mind GWR taking a bit of reputational damage for things are not in fact their fault, because they have routinely implied that THEY are funding the new trains and the electrification works.

Accepted Grahame, but haven't the judges enough guts to make 'No Award' for this year rather than making a mockery of the award.

Thats my final comment on this subject.

Organisers of a major rail industry awards have been forced to apologise after the ceremony featured a mock terror attack that guests called "appalling".

The UK Rail Industry Awards, hosted by comedian Rufus Hound in Battersea, was held on the first anniversary of the Westminster Bridge terror attack.

Rail staff and other transport officials were on the frontline responding to terrorist attacks in the past year with the British Transport Police attending the aftermath of the Westminster atrocity.

Bosses issued a grovelling apology for the performance including spoof terror stunt as well as women dressed in provocative leather outfits.

Toby Rackliff, who attended, vented his outrage on Twitter writing: "Providing a fake terrorist attack as 'entertainment' in year following #LondonBridge & #MENArena tragedies, which saw huge acts of courage & compassion by @BTP & #railstaff, shows (at best) crass insensitivity & an appalling error of judgment by @UKRIAnews & @rtmnews."

A rail source meanwhile told the Times: "They had simulated terrorist attack with people coming down from the ceiling. The host made some crude jokes that were really derogatory towards women and other attendees."

According to the Times, Network Rail and Chiltern Railways returned awards in protest at the entertainment.

Simon Rennie, general manager at the National Training Academy for Rail (NTAR), which won the award for apprenticeship development, meanwhile wrote in Rail Technology Magazine: "Re-enacting terrorism allied to foul-mouthed hosting encapsulated violence, bullying, placing individuals under duress and crass gender-stereotyping."

On the night of the awards, as the show progressed, guests took to Twitter to call it "weird" and "ridiculous".

"Things just got weird," wrote one attendee while another said: "Ridiculous start of the show. Unnecessary gimmicks ... Not good."

Roy Rowlands, managing director of the event, wrote in a statement that he was "very sorry" for the "poor judgment" that led to the "inappropriate" entertainment.

We will live with the pain every day, Westminster attack survivors say

He said: "I can assure you that this content was most certainly not in the script and does not reflect the values and opinions of UKRIA, Rail Technology Magazine and its owners and employees of Cognitive Publishing Ltd.

"Formal complaints have been issued to both the host and the stunt performers expressing our deep concerns."

He added: "I’m saddened that we have unwillingly subjected our guests and ourselves with the views of 'tawdry performers' that neither you nor we believe in or condone."

The fee paid for the act will be returned and given to funds set up for the London Westminster Bridge attack, Manchester Arena attack and women's rights charity the Fawcett Society.

The apologies in full from organisers, Rail Technology Magazine:

http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/ukria-2018-apology-statement

Rufus Hound is certainly not who you’d invite to host an awards ceremony if you wanted to play it safe.

You couldn’t make it up.

I fully expect GWR will return their award too.

What a disgraceful performance all round from the ceremony itself and the undeserving awards handed out.

Damn! I guess it's easy to get confused with all these prestigious awards GWR keep receiving! 😂

Great Western Railway and Network Rail win top rail accolade

Wednesday 27th February 2019

Great Western Railway has scooped two top prizes at this year’s Rail Business Awards, the industry’s most recognised awards scheme.

Shortlisted in a massive eight categories, GWR and Network Rail have been named as the Rail Team of the Year for their Western Alliance partnership.

The train operator also grabbed the award for Marketing and Communications Excellence for their much admired Famous Five advertising campaign.

Speaking after the awards dinner at the London Hilton on Park Lane, GWR Commercial Development Director Matthew Golton said:

 “After three years of building up our alliance with Network Rail, recognising what we can achieve and how best to work together to deliver for all of our customers across the route, I am delighted that this work has been acknowledged in this way.

 “I am also thrilled for our Marketing team being recognised for the Famous Five campaign; and not least being highly commended for our apprentice scheme, and Customer Service Excellence for delivering the Royal Wedding.”

South Western Railway was honoured at the 21st Rail Business Awards (RBA) on Thursday 21 February for its staff’s hard work and contribution to improving the rail industry for passengers.

Stephen Head, Head of Employee Relations, won ‘Young Professional of the Year’, while 80-year-old Don Buckley received a ‘Lifetime Achievement’ award for his 65 years’ service at Waterloo station. SWR was also ‘Highly Commended’ for its planning and delivery of last year’s Royal Wedding and for Jenny Saunders, Head of Stations and Revenue Protection, in the ‘Women in Rail’ category.

Stephen’s drive and passion for the rail industry has helped the franchise through a period of near unprecedented change.

For what it’s worth, who won the coveted Rail Business of the Year award?

Southern.
Didn’t you know it’s all more ironic than Alanis Morrisette could ever have believed possible??
The Fat Controller from Thomas the Tank Engine won ‘Slimmer Of The Year’!

😉

Industry awards are the scourge of all public transport. Companies giving themselves a pat on the back for receiving good marks from some nonsensical survey company. More effort is put into pleasing those doing the survey rather than pleasing those attempting to use the service provided. Image to those beyond the user seems to be the priority. The awards simply give the companies something to point at when they are criticised.
"We're better than the others" we could be told.
"But i'm not using the others, I'm using yours and it doesn't work"
U.S Business school rubbish like this doesn't work where public transport is concerned.

Cheers

2019 awards announced - GWR Press Release (https://www.gwr.com/about-us/media-centre/news/2019/february/great-western-railway-and-network-rail-win-top-rail-accolade)

The train operator also grabbed the award for Marketing and Communications Excellence for their much admired Famous Five advertising campaign

So - forum members - how many of you "admire" the Famous Five campaign? Can any of you explain how it has in any way improved either (1) Your experience as a rail passenger, (2) from what you have seen and heard, anyone else's?

Does anyone have any evidence that any new passengers have been attracted to rail travel to the GWR operating area as a result of the campaign?

GWR sponsoring the west country weather reports is nearly as silly IMHO as it simply reminds people that we increasingly have a "fair weather only" railway that fails to cope with moderately adverse weather during roads and airlines operate as normal.

As Timmer writes it was a reasonable as campaign promoting a totally unsuitable and inadequate service. All the campaign really did was draw attention to how poor the weekend service was. I wonder how many potential customers were lost because of it - tried it and had a miserable day out?

So - forum members - how many of you "admire" the Famous Five campaign? Can any of you explain how it has in any way improved either (1) Your experience as a rail passenger, (2) from what you have seen and heard, anyone else's?

Does anyone have any evidence that any new passengers have been attracted to rail travel to the GWR operating area as a result of the campaign?

The timing was unfortunate. The advertising campaign was run, though, at a time when the electrification should have been largely done between London and Bristol, and the 9-car IET fleet delivered. I wonder if First were in a position where postponing the campaign would have been very costly, even though the delays were not of their making?

Costly to cancel the campaign? Very possibly but perhaps less costly than the negative outcomes from not cancelling or delaying in these circumstances.

I think it is fair to say that members of this forum are not the target demographic for this campaign. For the intended audience I believe the campaign has gone down rather well.