Southern and Thameslink staff shortlisted for six awards in National RailStaff Awards

Details of finalists in the prestigious National RailStaff Awards have just been released and Southern has been shortlisted for six awards.

The National RailStaff Awards recognises the great work of the people who work in the rail industry. They show appreciation for the people who deliver the railway - from drivers to cleaners and engineers to station staff. Often these are stories of lives saved, careers turned around and adversity conquered.

Southern and Thameslink staff have been shortlisted as finalists in the following categories:

Project Manager of the Year – Rob Bastow – based at Southern’s HQ in Croydon

Rail Manager of the Year – Tony O’Grady – Group Station Manager, Thameslink

Station Staff of the Year - Darren Towers and Mark Andrews from Hassocks station

Train Driver of the Year – James Beckingham – based at Selhurst Train Care depot

Trainer of the Year Richard Constable – based at East Croydon station

Training Team of the Year – Southern’s Driver Training Team based at Selhurst Train Care depot

Rail staff are nominated by their peers throughout the industry and below, there is a flavour of what was said about each finalist.

Winners of the awards will be announced on 10th October.

Project Manager of the Year – Rob Bastow

“As a Project Manager for Southern, Rob is uncompromising when it comes to the standard of projects under his control. Timescales, cost and quality objectives are small fry for someone who goes the extra mile as standard and his personality motivates contractors to invest themselves in their work in a way that they would previously not have considered. He has proven that he can bear workloads that would break the spirit of most, and he does it with a smile ion his face. His reputation for delivering the highest quality is well founded and he is an absolute credit to the profession.

“His attitude toward getting projects completed inspires and encourages all those working with him to give 100% to the project’s completion. He respects the knowledge and opinions of his peers and his staff, and inspires the best practices when working with him.”

Rail Manager of the Year – Tony O’Grady

“GTR Group Station Manager Tony O’Grady ran the hugely successful 'Get in to Railways - Princes Trust programme' for First Capital Connect and has continued to champion it under GTR.

“The programme helps young people across the community we serve, find training and employment opportunities in the railway industry and beyond. This scheme has allowed us to draw on new talent through diverse means and it’s clear from the enthusiasm with which our team have taken to ‘Get into Railways’, that it’s had an enormously positive effect.

“Thanks to Tony's efforts, commitment and dedication to the scheme, over 50 people have stayed on to pursue a career with GTR and one candidate, Mike Tyler, even won the ‘Flying Start’ national award at the Prince’s Trust Celebrating Success Awards as well as the East England winner of the Prince’s Trust Celebrating Success Awards. His support for the scheme has been incredible.”

Station Staff of the Year - Darren Towers and Mark Andrews

Darren

“Darren is a breath of fresh air! He is always extremely cheerful and friendly and administers help to commuters at Hassocks patiently and with a terrific sense of humour - even at 6.30am!

“Rail users at Hassocks are not always as polite as they should be, but Darren deals with every eventuality with poise and professionalism. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of tickets and train connections and his advice has been invaluable on many occasions where journeys have not been straightforward.

“It makes a big difference to buy a ticket from someone who engages in friendly conversation (and occasionally banter!) and he can reduce a long queue seemingly effortlessly without rushing or losing his personal connection with each commuter.

“Darren has a superb understanding of how to deal with people, including in pressured situations. He genuinely seems to enjoy his role and he deserves unreservedly this recognition for his hard work and wholehearted commitment to his role at Hassocks station.”

Mark

“Mark Andrews is the mainstay of Hassocks Station - he always knows what's going on, greets all of us commuters cheerfully everyday and is invaluable when the inevitable train crisis hits.

“I remember earlier this year after the train derailment at Brighton the following morning was absolute chaos on the platforms with no one being informed of anything and very fed-up commuters building up on the platforms. Mark arrived armed with information about the situation and order was restored.

“He is completely unflappable. He can often be seen very early in the morning emptying the rubbish and having a general tidy up and seems to take great pride in the station and his work.

“If only all station workers were like him!”

Train Driver of the Year – James Beckingham

“James is not your normal railway man, using his ability to talk (several years as a DJ taught him how not to shut up) he gets across vital even if not good news to customers. He has gained such a following that he is now a Twitter star and gets 100s of tweets a week for his 'Chatty Trains Driver' comments.

“Since passing out as a driver last year, his passion for keeping the customer informed has grown and grown, showing an even bigger passion for customer service.

“James has joined working groups within Southern Rail; He is an engagement champion for the integration of Southern & Thameslink, a member of the staff magazine editorial board and is a member of the IRO completing a degree course to enable him to add even more to the journeys of thousands of commuters who travel on his trains every week.”

Trainer of the Year - Richard Constable

“Richard was asked to take up the position of Lead Union Learning representative for the RMT union last year.

“The role meant that he had to ask staff what they wanted to learn then set up a programmes to enable the staff to undertake the learning, he was also tasked with asking all of the train carers (cleaners) within the company if they wanted to progress, and if they did set up with an outside training company assessments for functional skills, if they came up to a certain standard they could then progress onto a cleaning apprenticeship, if they did not come up to the necessary standard they would be offered a short course to bring them up to the standard required.

“The programme of work to enable this to happen meant that Richard had to visit each site to talk to the staff of which some only did night shift, so Richard would have to leave his house in the evening to go to the depots to talk to the staff to encourage them to come and do the assessments.

“He was also present for when the assessments took place to ensure that everything went smoothly with the staff and outside training company, this also meant leaving his house in the evenings when assessments were being done for the night staff.

“Richard also opened up a learning centre in Croydon to enable staff to do courses in the MS office suite of programmes of Word, Excel and PowerPoint, also doing e-learning courses in foreign languages of which there is a constant flow of staff enjoying the opportunity to upgrade their knowledge and skills in work related programmes or learning a foreign language.

“Without all of his hard work and commitment in obtaining relevant materials and dedicating his time inside and outside of work hours none of this would of been possible, and I cannot stress to highly the amount of time and effort Richard has put into this and think he is a worthy nomination for this award.”

Training Team of the Year – Southern’s Driver Training Team

“Southern’s Driver Training Team has revolutionised driver training, modernising a model that has been largely unchanged since the 1970s and bringing to life industry research undertaken by RSSB (Rail Safety and Standards Board).

“Teamwork and technology combined have delivered impressive results in challenging circumstances, with an increase from around 24 to over 80 trainee drivers per year going through a programme that has at least 20% more one to one versus group formal learning activities (that’s about 70 hours more than the conventional programme). This team really is leading Southern and the wider industry forward in the field of operational training.

“The introduction of this driver training programme has required the team to develop new skills, working more collaboratively with each other and other parts of the business. It’s not just been a question of delivering one short self-contained programme over and over again; it is a complex blend of learning and assessment activities which are tailored to suit the needs of individual learners, requiring considerable initiative and application from the training team.”