The National Rail Awards ceremony
 

The National Rail Awards ceremony was at London’s Grosvenor Hotel.

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.

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.

If this was anything like the "awards" my company puts on, it's a grand excuse for a pi**-up, pardon the language.