National Express East Anglia wins two prestigious awards

Added: 03/03/2008
Category: National Express East Anglia

National Express East Anglia has won two prestigious awards – one for its environmental strategy and the other for its service to customers at London Liverpool Street station.

The first accolade for the regional train operator was the Environmental Innovation of the Year award at the Rail Business Awards 2008, recognising the company’s comprehensive action plan to improve energy efficiency.

The proactive and rigorous strategy has included the commissioning of regenerative braking reducing electricity consumption for its fleet of Class 360 trains and a training programme for all drivers in energy-efficient driving practices using state-of-the-art driving simulators located at the company’s Customer Service Academy. Other key actions implemented to help reduce energy usage include: improved efficiency of heating and lighting controls on trains; station-specific action plans to reduce energy usage and station energy audits; an internal campaign, backed up with posters and publicity, to make everyone aware of energy efficient practices; work to recycle more newspapers left on trains and stations; appointment of energy champions for each route, and a review of non-passenger train workings to minimise energy usage.

The second major award was Rail Station of the Year for London Liverpool Street at the London Transport Awards 2008 in partnership with Network Rail. This prize recognised the significant improvements made at the station in the last 18 months including:

> A new digital departure board
> New platform information screens
> An upgraded public address system
> More customer service staff on the concourse to help passengers
> A new central customer information point
> Enhanced communication links to help provide better information in the event of disruption

These enhancements have improved customer satisfaction ratings in the National Passenger Survey.

National Express East Anglia also received commendations for work to improve punctuality in partnership with Network Rail at the London Transport Awards and for its internal communications and public relations work at the Rail Business Awards, where Managing Director Andrew Chivers was also a runner-up in the Rail Business Manager of the Year award. Commenting on the awards, Andrew Chivers, Managing Director for National Express East Anglia said:

I’m delighted that the work of our team at London Liverpool Street to provide a better service for passengers at not just our busiest station, but one of the busiest on the UK rail network, has been recognised.

They have improved the quality of assistance and information offered to passengers at this crucial gateway for the capital and the region.

I’m also pleased that our proactive and rigorous approach to energy efficiency and the environment has been recognised. Across our all parts of our business our dedicated strategy is reducing energy usage, maintaining and enhancing rail’s position as an environmentally-friendly mode of travel.

These awards and commendations reflect our focus on performance, customer service and the communities we serve, always trying to make travel simpler for our passengers and stakeholders. We will continue to work to deliver an even better service for customers and the region. ”