GWR - Rail Business of the Year

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

You couldn’t make it up.

I fully expect GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will return their award too.

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

Just to clarify and correct:

GWR won Rail Business of the Year at the Rail Business Awards held on Feb 22nd. What’s being discussed today is the UKRIA ceremony which was held on March 22nd.

Apologies for any confusion and happy to clarify this.

Still think GWR should hand their award back though. Just ask anyone who has to travel GWR lond distance services on weekends and Bank Holidays at the moment and you will find plenty who will agree.

[TaplowGreen]

Damn! I guess it's easy to get confused with all these prestigious awards GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) keep receiving! 😂

[Timmer]

Damn! I guess it's easy to get confused with all these prestigious awards GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) keep receiving! 😂

Indeed, so much so that Rail Business Awards hosted by Railway Gazette tweeted yesterday that the event we’re discussing is in no way related to their awards.

[grahame]

2019 awards announced - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Press Release

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.”

And SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) press release

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.

[IndustryInsider]

All richly deserved! 

[Reading General]

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

[Timmer]

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

[NickB]

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’!

😉

[TaplowGreen]

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’!

😉

The award was to be presented by Ivor the Engine, but due to the excessive consumption of hospitality at the buffet, he found himself caught short (formed).

[grahame]

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

I used to be totally in agreement with you.  Now I'm not quite so sure but it very much depends on how the awards are entered and evaluate - so I'm talking personal experience of other awards - the ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships) ones and RailFuture ones.

Looking at ACoRP ...

* The writing up of the entries in the first place (I did a number of these as Community Rail Officer) really gets you thinking about what you are doing - a strong nudge to encourage you to remember the Community Rail ethos, and look and see how others see you too.

* The shortlisting process - for those who are shortlisted - helps provide motivational input for the volunteers, and local press and publicity opportunities for an organisation that's designed around getting people who don't know about their local train service to hear about it and use it

* The big gala dinner is a chance to say "Thank You" to key members of the volunteer team - motivational again, publicity again, and there are also opportunities offered (and enthusiastically taken up by many) to see the best of community rail in the geographic area where the dinner is held.

Last year, while I was Community Rail Officer for TransWilts, I submitted two entries on their behalf - both shortlisted, but neither was placed.  And I know that the new CRO has been instructed to make entries this year; the hope is that with TransWilts' new "increased effectiveness" they'll get some sort of gong this year.  I also put in an entry for the Coffee Shop project to inform the GW^▸ (Great Western) Franchise consultation process, and we managed to get short listed and third placed.  And that has done wonders for Coffee Shop visibility in those places where we really need to be visible for 'political' reasons - behind the scenes it's far better to take to someone in "Whitehall" or Huddersfield and have them already know about the Coffee Shop than have to start explaining every time.  With so much change at the Coffee Shop in the current 'cycle', I would be strongly in favour of making an appropriate entry or two this year to continue the networking visibility.

Now - how much of my logic applies to National Rail Business of the Year, I question.  Most of them are so big that the awards are more an unnoticed drop in the bucket of business direction than the tool that the ACoRP one is to have participants take a look at themselves, motivate their teams, and generate publicity for their services

[TonyK]

2019 awards announced - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Press Release

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.

Book review:

"Five Grab Another Top Award

The latest offering in the series, following Five Are Stranded at St Andrews Road and Five Get Bustituted Again, sees our intrepid quintet at a top London hotel to receive their award. After drinking lashings of grown-up ginger beer, Julian is poorly over the Archbishop of Canterbury, who was due to present a special Lifetime Achievement Award to DafT's Internal National Electrification Pausing Team (INEPT). George is found without her vest, wrestling with Dick in a broom cupboard, and Timmy is caught worrying a model of Shaun the Sheep.

Available from all good book shops, and some pretty rubbish ones."

[TaplowGreen]

I was also particularly impressed to read that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had won the prize for "delivering the Royal Wedding".......albeit with a little help from Her Majesty & the Archbishop of Canterbury......does this mean they've got a similar role for the upcoming Royal Birth? If so (dare I say it?) Could Mark become SIR Mark Hopwood? (If they can find him?) 😃

[eightonedee]

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^▸ (Great Western Railway) operating area as a result of the campaign?

[broadgage]

I think that the "famous five" adverts make GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) look very silly and are also a considerable waste of money.
For the amount spent on the adverts, they could probably have purchased or leased another train.
And yes, just one more train WOULD make a difference, looking at the vast number of short formations recently.

GWR sponsoring the west country weather reports is nearly as silly IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) 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.

[eXPassenger]

I actively ignored them.  I saw little point in trying to build a business while the fundamentals were undergoing significant change and disruption.  It would have been far better to run a campaign now when the dust is settling.