We would like to congratulate all our finalists on getting to this stage – the standard of entries has been higher than ever. Finalists wishing to book their tables can do so by clicking here or contacting a member of the team on 0161 833 6320
Apprenticeship Development Scheme
Alstom Transport UK – National apprenticeship programme
Since developing a national apprenticeship programme in 2013, Alstom now has 45 apprentices in the 16 to 24 age range. This is helping to rebalance the age demographic in the business.
London Underground – Track Programme
The Track Apprenticeship Programme Scheme was developed to address a future skills shortage at LU to deliver track and drainage renewals projects. Three years on, it has now recruited its fourth cohort.
Morgan Sindall – Brighter futures
Morgan Sindall and the C350 project created an apprenticeship programme alongside extra support that has helped young people, from some of the most deprived areas in London, seize the opportunity to create a brighter future for themselves and their communities.
Northern Rail – Revised framework
A new apprentice management framework has been introduced and developed to ensure the calibre of the operator’s trainees is first class.
Sulzer – Knowledge retention
Centred on knowledge retention, the scheme is investing in young, enthusiastic individuals who can provide succession planning for the business and enable the company to keep its skill base in-house.
Technician Apprenticeship Consortium – Design Technician
The Railway Engineering Design Technician Apprenticeship went live in September 2015 with 58 apprentices from 10 different companies starting their course. It is one of the first Trailblazer Apprenticeships to go live.
Thales – Railway engineers
Since starting in 2013, the Thales and Prospects College of Advanced Technology apprenticeship programme, aimed at developing the next generation of railway engineers, has 54 apprentices taking part.
Turner & Townsend – Apprentice Development Programme
Year on year, Turner & Townsend’s apprentices play a progressively bigger part in the company’s growth strategy and commitment to diversity, community and social value. It has also increased its intake from two in 2012 to 17 this year, a nearly tenfold increase.
Collaborative Working
Alstom Transport – Enhanced fleet
Through collaboration and by bringing all of the stakeholders together, Alstom has significantly enhanced performance – both availability and reliability – of the Class 180 fleet.
Balfour Beatty – Positive safe attitude
The collaborative work on the Cardiff Renewals project, and the implementation of the workforce council, has given Balfour Beatty’s Rail workforce a voice and encouraged a positive safe attitude.
IP Signalling – Safe working
Working alongside suppliers on the Cardiff Area Signalling Renewals Project, Network Rail IP Signalling is delivering a team-based approach to promoting safe working and behavioural-based safety.
London Underground – Crossrail collaboration
London Underground’s mission is to facilitate the successful build of Crossrail – the biggest construction project in Europe – and position LU to accept into operations and maintenance the five 'central section' stations as infrastructure manager.
Network Rail/Carillion – Reading
The successful work of the joint Network Rail and Carillion track team on the Reading Station Area Redevelopment project has resulted in business growth, increased reputational status, as well as staff development and promotion opportunities.
Northern Rail – Level crossing safety
Northern and Network Rail have worked collaboratively to remove the risk of collision interfaces between passengers and trains at several station level crossings.
Staffordshire Alliance – Pure alliance
The Staffordshire Alliance is the first pure alliance in the UK rail industry and its unique collaborative contract shares risk between all parties and has delivered many benefits.
Transport for Greater Manchester – Disability Access
The creation of the Disability Design Reference Group has played a fundamental role in making the Metrolink network the most accessible transport mode in the city. The group’s influence has now been extended and is being consulted on other initiatives.
Corporate Social Responsibility
Bridgeway Consulting – Health and wellbeing
A big part of Bridgeway’s sustainability efforts is keeping all its staff happy and motivated, and each year it holds a Health and Wellbeing week.
DHL – We Day
Through a partnership agreement, DHL supported the inaugural Free The Children’s ‘We Day’ in the UK, enabling the event’s success by ensuring a smooth and reliable logistics service with no cost to the organisers.
Furrer + Frey – STEM UNBOUND
The company labelled 2015 as ‘STEM UNBOUND’, to promote the rail industry as a serious career option for undergraduates, and to encourage school-age children to consider a STEM profession.
Kier Construction – Environment
While working on the refurbishment of the Selby Swing Bridge, Kier developed wildlife workshops to engage with local school children about understanding the importance of the environment.
Linbrooke Services Ltd – Multi-sector approach
The company has developed three programmes to cover its military resettlement, school partnership and fundraising efforts for its selected charities, bolstering Linbrooke’s reputation for CSR.
London Underground – Wayfindr
Working alongside charities, London Underground has trialled a wayfinding service called Wayfindr that could radically change the way visually impaired people use the transport system.
Northern Rail – Essential feedback
By integrating rail services into local communities, Northern has gained essential feedback from customers, allowing the company to make investments and improvements that really benefit them.
Transport for Greater Manchester – Disability Design Reference Group
TfGM’s initiative ensures meaningful and appropriate consultation with disabled people, and requires a process which ensures full engagement.
VolkerFitzpatrick – Future benefits
Hitachi Rail Europe and VolkerFitzpatrick have worked to change perceptions of the new Stoke Gifford maintenance facility to highlight future benefits for the community through training and employment opportunities.
Cost Base Reduction
Amey – S&C North Alliance
In August 2014, AmeySersa and Network Rail in Alliance became the framework provider for S&C Track Renewals in the north, and have developed this to transform S&C track renewals in the UK.
Arriva Trains Wales – ECMS
The introduction of the ECMS has provided many successful outcomes for Arriva Trains Wales. These outcomes range from quantifiable cost saving to improved competency.
Innovative Railway Safety Ltd – Safety Barrier
A magnetically-attached safety barrier has been uniquely designed to fix to a steel stanchion, adhering to the web of the rail and resting on the sleepers/ballast. No ballast is required to be disturbed during erection or dismantling, it does not interfere with track circuits or axle counters and is easily removed using the leverage of the stanchion towards the rail – no pulling is required. It overcomes all the disadvantages of existing systems and additionally provides extra benefits to save time and cost, and to afford superior levels of protection, assist the protection of the physical and protect the health of the workforce from pathogens within the ballast.
Network Rail – Whole Life Product Management
The Whole Life Product Management Programme is underpinned by reducing the cost of running the railway. It had targeted identification of savings of circa £30m for CP5 and £60m for CP6. These targets have already been exceeded with just the first two product strategies.
Morris Line Engineering – Load Break Isolator
Three years of collaborative work led to the development of the Morris Line Load Break Isolator (LB1250), which achieved Network Rail product acceptance in August 2015.
Tasty Plant Sales – Attachments
By using attachments, the speed of doing work across the rail sector has, in some cases, quadrupled, and none of it at the expense of safety.
Taylor Woodrow – Renewable energy
A hybrid renewable energy system at the Crossrail Train Maintenance and Stabling Depot at Old Oak Common Lane is expected to significantly reduce CO2 production and operational costs.
Transport for London – Four Lines Modernisation
An enabler to the Four Lines Modernisation programme, the primary aim of the project was to increase the nominal voltage and to implement 890Vdc regenerative braking for the first time.
Design Innovation
dorsaVi Europe – ViSafe
Launched in the UK in March 2015, ViSafe provides employers with new in-depth data, collected via wearable sensor technology, to make decisions based on evidence to improve worker safety.
Morgan Sindall – Victoria
The design of Manchester Victoria’s £44m renovated station included Morgan Sindall developing a 5D BIM model – through partnership with Rapid5D – to support Network Rail’s long-term goal of developing best BIM practice across a number of flagship major schemes.
Sperry Rail – RCF Identification
Sperry has created a new, patented detection and measuring system designed to fit easily to train bound or pedestrian testing systems for identifying Rolling Contact Fatigue.
London Underground – Crowding indicators
The crowding indicators project aims to understand how gathering and using live train crowding data can be used to decrease dwell time and improve passenger experience.
London Underground – Substation inverter
London Underground has become the first UK railway operator to successfully implement a substation inverter, resulting in significant energy savings.
Track Screw Ltd – Hollow steel anchors
Using Track Screws in place of traditional construction methods saved 94% in terms of man hours during a trial at the Old Dalby test track.
Trelleborg Industrial AVS – Fire-resistant coating
DragonCoat has been created to deliver a step change in the safety performance of elastomeric suspension components on rail vehicles, significantly extending the safe evacuation period in the event of a fire.
Virgin Trains – Delay Repay
The Automatic Delay Repay scheme makes Virgin Trains the first and only train company to automatically compensate customers when they’re delayed for 30 minutes – without them needing to lift a finger.
Digital Pioneer
Barnbrook Systems Ltd – BlueCube
BlueCube remote sensing technology – designed by Barnbrook Systems Ltd – has the power to consign delays, cancellations and poor performance penalties to the past.
dorsaVi Europe – ViSafe
Launched in the UK in March 2015, ViSafe provides employers with new in-depth data, collected via wearable sensor technology, to make decisions based on evidence to improve worker safety.
Graffica – HERMES
The HERMES railway simulator provides a sophisticated virtual environment for railway engineers to simulate complex, functionally correct networks, running their chosen timetable and rolling stock, with the desired mix of systems and technologies.
Heathrow Express – Smart Screens
Heathrow Express installed the world’s first smart screens at Heathrow Airport, which help passengers make a decision on how to make their onward journey.
ORM – GWR digital transformation
ORM helped GWR to digitally transform their business from being a transactional ticket-seller into a customer-centric travel retailer. Since the launch of GWR.com, site conversion has increased by 11% compared with the FGW site, with mobile visitors up 22%.
RSK Orbital Ltd – Routeview
Routeview is an online map and image collaboration tool, open to all Network Rail users. The virtual site visits it allows delivers significant time and cost savings by keeping field visits and internal meetings to an absolute minimum.
Transport for Greater Manchester – TramPro
The introduction of TramPro, a pioneering driver route training simulator, which is a first for light trail, has enabled Metrolink’s tram drivers to be trained more quickly without compromising safety standards
Virgin Trains – Digital Project Management
To improve customer experience through digital innovation, Virgin Trains set up the Digital Project Management Office (PMO) January 2015, with the aim of ensuring that all future digital change delivers the expected business benefits, safely on time and to budget.
Electrification
AECOM – Box Tunnel
AECOM worked collectively with Network Rail to identify risks and mitigate them during the electrification of Box Tunnel – a challenging project on a unique heritage structure.
CPMS – Great Eastern
CPMS has played an integral part in the recovery of the Great Eastern electrification project, working closely alongside both Network Rail and the supply chain to implement wholesale change to the approach taken on the project.
London Underground – Regenerative braking
Since implementing a substation inverter, London Underground has been able to use electricity recovered from regenerative braking on DC traction.
Morgan Sindall – Manchester Victoria
During the £44m refurbishment of Manchester Victoria station, the existing power and electrification systems did not have sufficient capacity requiring renovation and the capacity to be increased.
Northern Rail – Allerton Depot
Working in partnership with Network Rail, Northern commissioned the electrification of Allerton Depot near Liverpool, upgrading and extending the existing facilities to ensure the right facilities were in place to deliver high-quality and efficient maintenance of its new Class 319 vehicles.
Environmental & Sustainability
IKM Consulting – Borders Railway
As part of the Borders Railway project an overarching Environmental Management Plan was developed to support the delivery of environmental and sustainability objectives from managing air quality to engaging with local communities.
Interfleet Technology – Timetable Advisory System
Interfleet’s Timetable Advisory System (TAS) is a new tablet app that provides real-time feedback to the driver on train performance, and can be used to develop efficient driving styles, maintain right-time running and reduce energy consumption.
London Underground – Substation inverter
As a result of the potential energy benefits identified by the substation inverter project, London Underground has increased the level of priority given to sustainable energy reduction technology.
Network Rail – Bio-beans
A partnership between Network Rail and bio-bean aims to turn coffee waste into fuel, reducing the cost of disposal and the environmental impact of stations across the UK’s railway.
RSK – Innovation culture
The East West Rail Phase 1 team adopted a culture of ‘innovation to deliver sustainability’ to ensure good ideas were discussed and potentially adopted on the project, while ensuring the long-term legacy of the scheme.
Staffordshire Alliance – Road alternatives
The principal environmental benefit of the work being carried out by the Staffordshire Alliance is the capability to deliver more freight and passenger services, providing alternatives to road journeys.
Taylor Woodrow – Hybrid energy
An integrated hybrid renewable energy system has been designed for the new Crossrail Train Maintenance and Stabling Depot at Old Oak Common Lane.
Transport for London – Increasing voltage
By increasing voltage on four London Underground sub-surface tube lines, the company has aimed to reduce energy consumption, effectively decreasing its annual energy costs.
Infrastructure Planning
Autodesk – InfraWorks 360
The InfraWorks 360 technology allows users to combine and connect data to better create, view, analyse, share, and manage information to make decisions in a full contextual model.
DHL Supply Chain – Change programme
DHL, Virgin Trains and the DfT developed an innovative project to modernise wash equipment to ensure the service passengers received was not compromised by dirty crockery and glasses. It improved staff morale and reduced overall costs.
Furrer + Frey – ELFF
The company has developed its own BIM modelling tool, ELFF, which supports OLE design and can be internationally understood by designers from different OLE backgrounds. The system has been rolled out on Great Western Main Line and South Wales Electrification.
Network Rail – Whole Life Product Management
Network Rail embarked on a change programme, Whole Life Product Management, to develop product strategies for critical infrastructure assets. It had targeted savings of circa £30m for CP5 and £60m for CP6. These targets have already been exceeded with just the first two product strategies.
Marketing Communications
Network Rail – Borders Railway
The sustained and integrated communications campaign for the Borders Railway construction and reopening had a quantifiable impact on awareness, interest and ridership.
Southeastern – Weekender
Marketing campaign generated £113,480 in additional Weekender ticket sales over a two-week period versus the previous year, achieving a return in investment of 8:1.
Transport for London – Walthamstow closure
A fully integrated employee communications campaign that received extremely positive feedback from both customers and employees.
HS1 Ltd – New websites
New station websites and HS1 corporate website have increased traffic, visitor numbers and returning visitors, and created a live environment that puts focus on the most important and relevant information when people need it most.
South West Trains – ‘Look closer’
Running for just 50 days between July and August 2015, the ‘Look closer’ campaign generated 145,530 ticket sales.
TPA Portable Roadways – Rapid Rail Access
TPA RRA, through its innovative in-house marketing, has successfully filled the void between the road rail access points manufacturer and the end user hire customer.
Mobile Technology
3Squared Ltd – RailSmart Suite
The RailSmart suite of applications provide autonomous, powerful business applications supporting the operations of today’s modern rail operators.
Alstom Transport – iFormbuilder toolkit
Using digital forms has reduced administration and data handling, improved access to information and data accuracy, and increased the quality of defect reports.
Arriva Trains Wales – Mobile Multi-Flex app
The first UK rail carnet ticket retailed through an app, to reward the loyalty of those regular train users who are unable to benefit from the savings provided by a seven-day or longer season ticket.
Barnbrook Systems Ltd – BlueCube and iSense
BlueCube remote sensing technology and its accompanying iSense software deliver real-time information straight to the fingertips of the engineer or manager, wherever he or she is, so it can be used and acted upon to deliver actual benefits for the rail industry.
Interfleet Technology Ltd – Timetable Advisory System
A revolutionary tablet app that monitors train performance against schedule, described by Network Rail as a “huge leap forward in meeting the demands of a railway managed on seconds rather than minutes”.
London Underground – Lift and Escalator access app
An app that ensures the weights of parts being handled are apparent to the lift and escalator engineers, acting as the central source of information and truth. It has become a business-as-usual tool that complements existing working practices and enhances the user experience with respect to data capture practices.
Masabi – Interoperable mobile barcode ticketing
A project and trial that proved that a barcode ticket may be purchased from one TOC and then safely used for travel and inspected on one or more other operators, extending the convenience of barcode tickets beyond limited single-TOC use.
Transport for Greater Manchester – Free wi-fi service
Metrolink is the first light railway in England to become fully wi-fi capable – and it’s completely free. All 104 trams now running on the network offer free wi-fi, as will the new trams being added to the fleet.
Virgin Trains – M-tickets
A new focus on M-tickets represents a significant shift in booking patterns, allowing Virgin Trains to redeploy staff from ticket offices to the other side of the counter.
Operator of the Year
Merseyrail
Recent improvements include an external and internal fleet refresh, new asset management programme that doubled fleet utilisation, the underground stations upgrade, improved passenger flows, and new ticketing options.
Metrolink RATP Dev
Metrolink RATP Dev has been able to deliver the day job alongside a major transformation in the form of rapid expansion and projects such as St Peter’s Square, providing untold benefits to the client, Transport for Greater Manchester – but more importantly, the Metrolink customer.
Northern Rail
Northern has assessed and reviewed every aspect of its business to ensure it is doing everything it can to deliver operational excellence through consistency of performance, reliability and customer service, while balancing the demands of growing customer numbers across its network.
Outstanding Project – Large (Over £20m)
Arcadis, Morgan Sindall and Network Rail – Manchester Victoria
Network Rail, Morgan Sindall and their partners have created a striking gateway to the city of Manchester that supports the ongoing network expansion of the Northern Hub, North West Electrification programme and Metrolink’s second city crossing. Arcadis was responsible for designing the refurbished station’s outstanding feature: its complex bespoke roof structure, with steel ribs that span up to 60m clad with ETFE.
Mace – Birmingham New Street station and Grand Central
The construction of a new bigger, brighter, better 24,000m2 concourse has increased the station capacity to 52 million passengers a year, and the response from passengers has been overwhelmingly positive.
Morgan Sindall – Pudding Mill Lane
Pudding Mill Lane was the first Crossrail funded station to be handed over into public use and stands out as a keystone project for Crossrail.
Network Rail – Borders Railway
The £294m Borders Railway Project is the longest new domestic railway to be constructed in Britain for over 100 years.
Transport for London – London Overground Capacity Improvement Programme
The London Overground Capacity Improvement Programme (LOCIP) successfully delivered the first five-car train into passenger service on the East London Line on 6 November 2014, nearly two months earlier than the original (extremely challenging) target.
Outstanding Project – Medium (£3m to £20m)
Alstom Transport – Pendolino modifications
Interior and exterior fleet upgrades, and conversion of some interiors from First to Standard Class. The project has been delivered free of major issues with materials, process and resource, on budget and time due to diligent planning, creating a semi-autonomous team and reactive management of risks.
Kier Construction – Selby Swing Bridge
The successful delivery of this challenging refurbishment has created a smoother ride, resulting in a quieter time for local residents and passengers.
Morgan Sindall – London Road Bridge Replacement, Derby
The design chosen represents an efficient and effective solution within an extremely constrained site, providing improvements in road safety, journey ambience, and future-proofs this transport corridor for generations.
Northern Rail – Burnley and Accrington
The completion of this c. £15m project has enabled Northern and service sponsor Lancashire County Council to introduce a new hourly, seven-day rail service between Blackburn and Manchester Victoria, calling at Accrington and Burnley Manchester Road.
Taziker Industrial Ltd – Royal Albert Bridge over the River Tamar
The bridge’s steelwork has been strengthened to the degree that the bridge will stand for another 50 years, and the paintwork will last for 25 years, negating the need for the regular and intrusive repairs. There were no reportable or non-reportable accidents during the project’s four-year duration.
Transport for Greater Manchester – Deansgate-Castlefield Metrolink stop
The Deansgate-Castlefield stop has been transformed from an exposed, unwelcoming environment with poor accessibility to a brand new ‘green oasis’ in the city.
VolkerFitzpatrick Ltd – Lea Valley Bridge
Reconstruction of the Lea Valley’s bridge 35, a single span structure carrying a two-track, non-electrified railway, was completed safely and on time, on a very constrained and logistically complex site.
VolkerFitzpatrick Ltd – Lea Valley Viaduct
The safe completion of this project has dramatically reduced Network Rail’s maintenance costs. This structurally compromised asset has been strengthened and improved with a 120-year design life.
West Yorkshire Combined Authority – Wakefield Kirkgate station
The restoration of Wakefield Kirkgate’s station buildings, and of the station itself, has received unanimous praise from passengers and local residents, including participants in a video made by the Cabinet Office shortly after the project was formally completed.
Outstanding Project – Small (Under £3m)
London Underground – Cooling the Tube
The project was delivered on time for the start of summer, with the system successfully commissioned in June 2015 and operated in beneficial use on 3 July 2015. To provide the 4°C temperature reduction necessary, an innovative water chiller system needed to be deployed, which had never before been used on the LU rail network.
Merseyrail and Morgan Sindall – Formby station lifts
The collaborative approach to the development of the design enabled the scheme to be delivered to a tight, challenging budget and programme – with all milestones being achieved to the satisfaction of the steering group. The successful delivery of the scheme relied on the management of all aspects relating to environmental, health and safety, as well as the normal constraints of cost, programme and quality.
Merseyrail – James Street platform 2 and Water Street exit
The refurbishment of Water Street and platform 2 has exceeded all expectations, with the drab, damp passageway being transformed into a ‘spectacular cacophony of colour’, combined with heritage features, posters from a bygone time and a cladding system that provides both protection and functionality.
Northern Rail – Eaglescliffe station
The project was completed in eight months (September 2014 to May 2015). Good partnership working between the contractors, Northern Rail and Network Rail minimised the impact on customers. The project resulted in vast improvements to the station environment.
Selectamark Security Systems – Reducing metal theft
SelectaDNA provided Network Rail with an extremely cost effective solution to marking and protecting valuable infrastructure, without compromising on quality.
TfGM and Mott MacDonald – Rochdale station underpass
A reopened underpass linking Rochdale station and its new car park has reduced journey times, while retaining the heritage features of the underpass from the 19th century and adding value for the client (Transport for Greater Manchester) and users of the station.
Virgin Trains – M-Tickets
Around 100,000 thousand journeys have been made using M-Tickets in the last six months, with an average growth year-on-year of 46%.
Passenger Safety
Arriva Trains Wales – ‘Participate Engage Challenge’ strategy
A new safety culture programme is already starting to reveal strong links between enhanced staff safety attitude, employee engagement and workplace safety. Arriva Trains Wales has also found that a safer working environment is naturally a more sustainable, passenger focused and eco-friendly place.
Heathrow Express – Reducing stepboard accidents
Between 2012 and 2014 Heathrow Express experienced 68 stepboard incidents. Since platform gap-fillers were installed at Terminal 5 in March 2014, not a single stepboard accident has occurred where the new gap-fillers are in place.
Northern Rail – LNE level crossings
In one year, the partners closed or significantly reduced the risk at five high-risk crossings: Thorne South, Poppleton, South Milford, Crowle and Cattal station. The risk of a train striking a person has been reduced to zero at some locations and ALARP at others.
Sperry Rail – Early detection of internal rail defects
The Sperry system is unique in its ability to test continuously for hundreds of miles without stopping. Once the probes go down, they stay down and the whole line is inspected, recorded and classified, regardless of track conditions.
Transport for Greater Manchester – TravelSafe Partnership
The TravelSafe initiative has already yielded great results and is fast proving to be an invaluable crime fighting tool across the network.
Product Innovation
Amberg Technologies – High-precision manual surveying
Revolutionary IMU technology replaces the tachymeter for measuring track geometry, reducing the number of workers needed on the tracks by 50%.
Amey – High output track renewals efficiency
Improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the high output track renewal process achieved a sustainable increase in the period of maximum productivity per shift from 40 minutes to an average of 100 minutes. The recurrent saving achieved to date equates to circa £42.5m a year.
C.A.T.E.R (Centre for Advanced Transport Engineering & Research) – Rail flaw detection system
HANDWave rail inspection instruments offer the versatility of a portable mechanical frame based on proven technology specifically designed for rail inspection applications, whilst maintaining superior rail flaw detection (RFD) performance.
Dura Composites – New platform material
A lightweight, non-corrosive fibreglass composite station platform that can overcome uneven terrain and reduce disruption, while offering clear and measureable benefits versus traditional alternatives.
Flotec Industrial – New clamp system
Using the Bluestripe EPDM – 10 times more resistant to water permeation than the silicone alternative – and PowerGrip Clamp together increases reliability by eliminating leaking hoses.
Lucid Communications – Depot induction system
SiteSentinel creates a site induction audit trail and reports on visitor and contractor numbers for a given time period and provides users per company information. This helps make site safety briefings timely, easy to understand, high quality, relevant, up to date, and measurable.
Selectamark Security Systems – Reducing metal theft
SelectaDNA provided Network Rail with an extremely cost effective solution to marking and protecting valuable infrastructure, without compromising on quality.
Trelleborg Industrial AVS – Fire-resistant coating
Springs coated with DragonCoat improve passenger safety, significantly extending the safe evacuation period in the event of a fire.
Unipart Dorman – LEDs in rail signals
Over 110,000 LED modules are now installed on the UK rail infrastructure, and the September 2015 Network Rail SigMod document means a significant number of them no longer require maintenance visits, driving increased savings and increased safety.
Vysionics ITS – Level crossings safety
The company developed a world-first, using a scanning radar to detect and track target vehicles. The system is non-invasive to the rail network, provides a visual deterrent and changes driver behaviour.
Recruitment Excellence
Advance Training & Recruitment Services
Advance-TRS offers increasingly popular specialist and tailored recruitment services to the rail engineering sector that go above and beyond the basics to help reduce safety risks and workplace incidents.
Linbrooke Services
Ntrs have been instrumental in effectively integrating 100% of all military trainees who complete their courses back into a more comfortable civilian life with the abilities to provide for themselves and their loved ones.
McGinley Support Services Ltd
As part of its commitment to recruit a strong and diverse workforce, McGinley has offered certificates in equality and diversity, middle management, continuous staff training and a growing apprenticeship scheme.
Morson International
A single source, cost-effective recruitment solution for the Crossrail and Great Western Route Modernisation project – a centralised recruitment solution for a project that spans four regions and 164 miles.
Sulzer
Across the country, Sulzer’s Service Centres continue to produce aspiring new engineers that have started their learning experience with a great foundation on which to build.
Service Innovation
Aspin Foundations – New way of working on embankments
The Long Reach GI rig allows for adjacent line open (ALO) working, reducing the requirement for possession work and minimising delays. A recent project at Carnforth Flats was completed in a fraction of the time a conventional weekend possession would normally need, and was completed in six mid-week daytime shifts instead.
Cabfind – Private hire journeys for rail customers
The company has introduced innovative and dynamic software to streamline the booking and invoicing of private hire journeys for rail staff and customers.
Virgin Trains – Automatic Delay Repay
Virgin Trains delivered an end-to-end unique solution from concept through to implementation in eight months. Analysis suggests that the compensation costs will be offset against increased passenger growth and repeat journeys and also the benefits of channel shift from customers booking on virgintrains.com.
Cyberhawk Innovations – Remotely operated aerial vehicle inspections and surveys
In the last 12 months, Cyberhawk Innovations has undertaken more than 20 remotely operated aerial vehicle (ROAV) projects for Network Rail. The outcomes support the aims and objectives set out: safety, cost reductions and quality.
Selectamark Security Systems – Reducing metal theft
SelectaDNA provided Network Rail with an extremely cost effective solution to marking and protecting valuable infrastructure, without compromising on quality.
Unipart Rail – Offsite factory
Unipart Rail has invested in a radical change in the way it supplies materials to its customers, a big investment in facilities and the development of a safe, reliable and commercially viable proposition for its customers.
Houghton International – Traction motor insulation
HiTRAX is an insulation system proven to extend the life of DC and AC traction motors for over 12 years, reducing in-service failure.
RSK Orbital – Web-based collaboration
Over 6,000 users, particularly engineers, now use Routeview daily. The web-based collaboration tool assists in the planning and management of the rail network, using the thousands of aerial images taken regularly by Network Rail’s helicopter team.
Tasty Plant Sales – Road rail attachments
Tasty Plant Sales has been instrumental in the rolling out of the use of attachments across the UK as a whole.
Signalling & Telecommunications
Aspin – Stafford Area improvement
Aspin used an innovative approach to design and install the twin-track cantilever at the same site of expired equipment, improving reliability on tangled Stafford routes.
Balfour Beatty – Consistent renewals
A holistic approach to signalling planning allowed staff to be aware of site conditions, location of relays and associated feeds before delivering competent and traceable renewals.
Network Rail – Whole life product management
This programme develops product strategies for the entire lifecycle of critical infrastructure assets, helping enhance interoperability, reduce maintenance burden and meet ORR improvement targets.
Subcontractor of the Year – Micro
HearFirst – Disability and deaf awareness training
Nearly two years of hands-on training sessions with Chiltern Railway staff helped cultivate professional skills to improve the experience of disabled passengers.
Lucid Communications Ltd – SiteSentinel
A high-quality depot induction system created to make site safety briefings timely and easy to understand has delivered almost 10,000 inductions at six Bombardier sites – and counting.
RSK Orbital Ltd – Aerial Routeview
A cloud-based map and collaboration tool allows over 6,000 Network Rail constructors, regulators and contractors to virtually visit locations, improve site safety and manage disruptions by accessing aerial footage.
Senceive Ltd – Wireless Sensor Networks
Low power monitoring systems enable rail staff to understand how an asset is affected by major construction or maintenance works to fix issues in congested environments without needing external cables.
Tasty Plant Sales Ltd
Over 150 road rail attachments of various shapes and sizes have pioneered safe, effortless and cost-effective means of lifting, excavating and transferring sleepers, water and ballast.
Subcontractor of the Year – Small
dorsaVi EU – ViSafe sensor
Consultants fitted TfL emergency response workers with wearable sensors to track movement and muscle activity in order to recommend safer repair vehicle designs and reduce harm risks.
Mechan
Over the past year, the heavy lifting specialist delivered innovative products to four sites integral to the IEP as part of its multimillion-pound contracts to supply rail depot equipment.
Mission Room Ltd
By bringing immersive site footage into a 3m arena workshop, rail staff can actively engage with content to better recognise the safety hazards of real working scenarios.
Victa Railfreight Ltd
Since launching its rail freight support service in 1995, VRL has amplified both its turnover and staff pool and now provides resources at key freight and Crossrail locations.
Subcontractor of the Year – Medium
Cabfind
The company created an innovative on-demand booking and billing platform that handles around 30,000 high-volume corporate, logistic and disruption travel solutions for major rail and freight operators.
Linbrooke Services
Supporting Siemens through all five commissionings of the Great Northern – Great Eastern project enhanced and accelerated freight operations on the 85-mile route to free up capacity on the ECML.
Merson Signs
Re-signing the incredibly complex St Pancras station by developing a consistent set of symbols and listening to passenger and stakeholder input drove up satisfaction with wayfinding by 8%.
Pod-Trak Ltd
Originally launched as a specialist supplier for DLR conductor rail renewals, Pod-Trak now operates as a multi-discipline contractor on schemes such as Thameslink, Manchester Metrolink, NW Electrification and Ilford Crossrail Depot, being involved in several industry firsts along the way.
Track Technology
Aspin Foundations – TEAM
The Trackbed Enhanced Axial Micropiles developed with Network Rail offered a cost-effective solution to deep excavations, allowing works to be carried out without signalling disconnections or track removals.
Balfour Beatty – Plastic trackform
Designing, testing and installing a new ‘plastic’ trackform with the high fixity benefits of slab track and lower cost of ballasted track increased a mainline tunnel speed by 20mph.
London Underground – Track configuration
A new track configuration policy led to sleeper pads and reduced sleeper spacing being installed on over 2,000km of track, providing long-term ballast protection and durability and improving track resilience.
London Underground – Victoria Line
Designing, integrating and installing a remote condition monitoring system that performs real-time analysis of voltage and frequency in the 45km network empowered maintainers to better respond to possible failures.
Sperry Rail – Eddy currents
Complementing its four ultrasonic test units with eddy currents technology revolutionised the way Network Rail plans, approaches and manages rolling contact fatigue to guarantee rail integrity and passenger safety.
Traction & Rolling Stock
Alstom – Class 180s
Along with three TOCs, Alstom overhauled an unreliable and inconsistent 14-train fleet to improve and stabilise its performance, allowing units to be re-leased for another 10 years.
Arriva TrainCare – Class 150 DMU
The full external repaint of 72 DMUs, alongside the effective management of corrosion issues far worse than originally anticipated, maintained the vehicles’ structural integrity while creating a fresher travelling environment.
Arriva TrainCare – C6 Examinations
The two-year C6 examination of 74 Turbostar vehicles rectified longstanding issues on the fleet by maximising downtime efficiencies, improving door system reliability and enhancing passenger and train crew travelling environments.
Houghton International – HiTRAX
An insulation system created to repair, maintain and extend the life of AC & DC traction motors has run for 12 years in the UK without a single failure.
Turbo Power Systems
A static converter solution achieves more on-board electrical power from the highly variable, poor-quality single phase input derived from the overhead supply to optimise performance and enhance passenger comfort.
Unipart Rail
Developing coordinated activities across Unipart Rail’s engineering, procurement, customer service and marketing functions helps identify operators’ needs to design cost-effective solutions to rolling stock reliability, performance and obsolescence issues.
Training & Development
ADComms – Remote assessments
In response to the industry’s skills shortage, AlanDick launched a live rail trackside simulator so IRSE candidates can undertake simulated assessments without needing to work on real network disconnections.
Arriva Trains – Passenger Accidents
When regulation compliance was not enough to keep passenger injuries at bay, Arriva drew up an improvement strategy to address safety culture and its effect on behavioural safety by empowering staff.
Atkins India – Signalling engineering
Atkins has successfully converted 55 UK graduate engineers into signalling engineers in the last few years by proactively going to colleges and offering continuous training and development programmes.
DB Regio Tyne and Wear – Accelerated Learning
When the existing driver training programme became unsystematic and overwhelming, DB Regio developed a regime that dramatically improved services by doubling training capacity and slashing teaching times by 25%.
Transport for London in partnership with Kallidus and Interact – Immersive blended learning
In partnership with Kallidus and Interact, Transport for London created and delivered an immersive training programme with experimental practice-based learning and cutting-edge interactive gaming to prepare TfL staff for imminent service transformations.
PAULEY and NTAR – Digitised training
PAULEY has partnered with NTAR to convert heavily technical rail engineering information into 25 fully-immersive, interactive modules by combining virtual reality simulations, gamified training and 3D modelling.
Transport for London – BIT
The Business Improvement Teams’ programme has been changing the way TfL’s asset development department manages major projects across its estate for three years, supporting income-generating schemes and keeping fares down.
VGC Group – Promotions
VGC has empowered its 1,000-strong workforce through up-to-date, multi-skilled training programmes that have allowed for several promotions ideal for boosting staff morale and supporting business continuity.
Workforce Safety
Amey – Target Zero
To renew the plateaued momentum of its ambitious ‘zero workplace harm’ strategy, Amey motivated employees to sign health and safety pledges that knocked accident rates down to their lowest level.
Arriva Trains – Safety culture
Since launching a strategy designed to address safety culture and its behavioural effect, Arriva saw an 81% reduction in employee accidents and a 93% drop in days off post-injury.
BBR Thameslink – Incidents averted
Balfour Beatty built on previous contributions to the behaviour safety culture of the Thameslink programme to encourage staff to make safe choices and contribute to a ‘zero harm’ aspiration.
dorsaVi Europe – Wearable sensors
Consultants fitted TfL emergency response workers with wearable sensors to track movement and muscle activity in order to recommend safer repair vehicle designs and reduce harm risks.
Kier Construction – Selby swing bridge
Through careful planning, Kier identified key risks embedded in the complex Selby swing bridge project to provide appropriate resource, training and information to successfully mitigate them.
Linbrooke Services – Actions On
Linbrooke’s injury-free ‘Actions On’ training has so far supplied over 90% of site-based operatives with the confidence to deal with potential real life scenarios through in-depth first aid training.
Network Rail and initiate Consulting – Deptford Creek Bridge
Using a UVA to survey the bridge’s condition through HD video examinations directly reduced on-site risks by removing all hazards and decreasing personnel exposure to unknown conditions.
Morris Line Engineering – MLE isolator
As well as requiring minimal maintenance, the Morris Line Load Break Isolator with integrated earthing allows trackside workforce to work on the OLE quickly, confidently and safely.
Young Rail Professional
Sarah Beck – Amey
Since joining Amey three years ago, Sarah Beck has established herself as a forward-thinking, progressive engineer who is engaging with industry and professional institutes to continually improve the representation of women in the rail sector and engineering profession. She has managed a number of important projects for Amey, including the detailed examination of Britannia Bridge.
Kyle MacNeill – Northern Rail
Kyle MacNeill is an ambitious, enthusiastic, intelligent and driven environmental professional committed to seeing change and development in his specific area of expertise in the rail industry – environmental management systems (EMS). Since joining Northern in 2013, he has been responsible for taking the corporate EMS and continually improving it to a very high, leading-edge standard.
Vinay Patel – Turner & Townsend
Vinay Patel, assistant cost manager at Turner & Townsend, has led important cost and contract management work relating to Midland Main Line electrification. He has educated, encouraged and supported colleagues in making the transition from estimating into cost management, and has a positive influence on everything he does.
Mohanakrishnan Sarvepalli – Atkins India
Since joining Atkins as a trainee engineer at age 19 in 2005, Mohanakrishnan Sarvepalli’s journey has been an inspiration to all the company’s young engineers. As technical lead for Cardiff Area Resignalling Renewals and on other projects, his performance has been described as “phenomenal”.
Shadi Shekarrizi – London Overground
Shadi Shekarrizi is a passionate project manager who demonstrates confidence and professionalism at every level. She is a natural leader who is known for continually demonstrating her passion and commitment by constantly following up with her stakeholders. She has had an integral role on the London Overground Capacity Improvement Programme to prepare the infrastructure for the conversion of the fleet from four-car to five-car running.
Dominic Trueman – London Underground
Dominic Trueman, principal track engineer at London Underground Ltd, joined predecessor company Metronet as a graduate mechanical engineer. He has made a “significant impact” on the rail industry and demonstrated accountable, active, collaborative, direct, fair and consistent professional behaviour across the roles and projects he has been involved with.