20 February 2012
Go-Ahead train operator Southern received the top accolade at the prestigious Rail Business Awards last week when it was named Rail Business of the Year.
The Awards recognise excellence across the UK rail industry. The winner of Rail Business of the Year is selected from all of the category winners. Southern also won awards for Environmental Innovation of the Year for the successful introduction of Area Champions for the Environment (ACEs) and for Safety and Security Excellence for Eyewitness.
ACEs are members of staff who advocate green innovation, good working practices and ensure Southern's 4000 employees understand how they can make a positive difference to reducing the company's impact on the environment. Eyewitness is a crime-fighting tool which enables staff to use their smartphones to notify Southern's Safer Travel about anti-social behaviour on the network.
Southern was also highly commended in the Rolling Stock Excellence category for the refresh of Class 313 trains and the Making Every Journey Better Internal Communications Excellence for a staff engagement campaign.
London Midland was joint winner in the Marketing Campaign category for the successful marketing of its Birmingham to London service.
David Brown, Go-Ahead Group Chief Executive and Chairman of Govia, which operates the two companies said: "I congratulate Southern and London Midland on their success. Winning Rail Business of the Year is hugely prestigious and is the result of the excellent teamwork, innovation and commitment shown by Southern staff who focus on delivering the best possible service to their passengers every day."
Ends
| The Go-Ahead
Group |
|
| Samantha Hodder, Interim Group Corporate Affairs Director |
020 7821 3927 |
GO-AHEAD
Go-Ahead is a leading UK public transport operator, providing high quality services in the bus and rail sectors. Employing around 22,000 people across the country, over one billion passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. We are committed to operating our companies in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible way and are proud to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change. In addition to the travelling public, our customers include the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and local authorities.
BUS
Go-Ahead is one of the UK’s largest bus operators. With a fleet of around 3,900 buses, we carry, on average, around 1.7 million passengers every day. Our operations are focused on high density commuter markets. We have a strong presence in London, with around 21% market share, where we provide regulated services for TfL. We operate deregulated services in Oxford, East Anglia, the South East, Southern and North East England. We also have a yellow school bus joint venture in North America.
RAIL
Our rail division operates the Southern (including Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland franchises through our 65% owned subsidiary Govia. It is the busiest rail operation in the UK, responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys. In December 2009, Southeastern began operating the UK's first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing journey times.