Southern announces Stations Stars and Train Tsars

The best of Southern stations, Conductor and Traincare Depots have been judged for the 2015 ‘Stars and Tsars’ service quality competition.

The Stars and Tsars awards recognise the best of Southern’s service quality each year. Shortlists are created from Southern’s internal quality audits (called EQuIP*) and from these a panel of judges tour the network over two days to decide on the winners.

This year’s winners are:

• Best large station – Sutton
• Best small/medium station – Plumpton
• Best community station – Angmering
• Judges Choice station – Gatwick Airport
• Best Traincare depot – Streatham Hill
• Best Conductors’ depot – Eastbourne

The panel of judges was headed by Southern’s Commercial Director and comprised Southern senior managers and members of the Southern Stakeholder Advisory Board. The judges arrive unannounced and take into consideration every aspects that a passenger would experience, including cleanliness, availability of information and helpfulness of staff.

Southern’s Deputy Managing Director, David Scorey said: “We are proud of every one of our people who work hard day in, day out to make every journey better for our passengers, and all of our winners showed consistent and on-going dedication to provide excellent customer service and facilities. It was a tough task for our Judges, as standards are very high across the network in what have been some very challenging times recently, but they found and recognised the very best Southern has to offer.”

The winning stations each receive £1,000 to spend on something to benefit passengers. Stations and depots also received a cash prize to fund something to benefit the local team.

*EQuIP (Experience Quality Improvement Process) is Southern’s tool for improving passenger journeys. It looks at the whole journey experience that we provide from a passenger’s perspective. It helps us to understand what passengers expect, measures what passengers experience and helps us to make changes to improve the overall passenger experience.

Here’s what the judges said about each of the winners:

Large Station Winner

Sutton - There is rarely a quiet moment at Sutton station yet it is consistently clean and tidy. The recent refurbishment of the main station waiting room has made a considerable improvement to the passenger experience and flowers on the platform make the station feel cared for. This station was spotless on the day we visited, all information was up to date and the staff were friendly and helpful to passengers.

Small/Medium Station Winner

Plumpton - Plumpton is a small but much loved station. There is a strong sense of community seen across the station in the waiting room, waiting shelter and on the platforms where a wild garden and floral displays looked immaculate. We found the station clean and tidy and were impressed with Mick Newman’s customer service skills, helping passengers get the cheapest tickets for their journey and helping them with luggage. It’s evident both Mick and the local community take great pride in their station.

Best Community Station Winner

Angmering - The Angmering station team always goes the extra mile and has a great rapport with its customers. The station has a strong partnership with a local school who regularly put up artwork and every year decorate a Christmas tree donated from a local garden centre. The ticket hall/waiting room is a comfortable space with community notice boards. We noted that the flower baskets and team certificates added to the charm to the station, giving it the feeling that the team are a little community of their own recognising each other’s achievements. The flower pots on the platforms and the use of the limited space incorporating colourful posters is a lovely additional touch – the station is full of pride.

Judges Choice Winner

Gatwick Airport - Gatwick Airport station won this category because it’s evident the team has worked hard to turn the station around following its upgrade works and its efforts to initiate community work which is further helping to establish the Gatwick Express brand in the local community. The station team has to deal with passengers in vast numbers. We noted that the team were friendly but also very functional in managing the flows of people. There is no such thing as a quiet time at Gatwick Airport; the team were continuously busy yet the station was clean and tidy. The artwork and flowers on the station platforms had really made a difference to the passenger experience.

Best Traincare Depot Winner (Result based on EQuIP scores)

Streatham Hill - Streatham Hill is a key depot for all train service quality activities. Year on year this depot is consistently a strong performer, cleaning and servicing a wide range of the Southern fleets. The team regularly checks, challenges and follows up on audit reports in order to keep delivering good EQuIP results. This year the depot has significantly improved staff sickness and attendance rates and helped support quality improvements in addition to usual high volume of work. They have continued to provide great support to Stewarts Lane for the Class 442 fleet’s daily cleaning and servicing, especially exterior hand bashing whilst the major pit work projects were being completed. As usual the team provides regular support for graffiti cleaning and is an excellent specialist service for train fatality cleaning. The team has had some outstanding staff engagement results, has strong team camaraderie and achieves consistently strong audit results.

Best Conductors’ Depot Winner (Result based on EQuIP scores)

Eastbourne - The team at Eastbourne has a strong customer service ethos and a commitment to ‘making every journey better’ for its passengers as it continues to perform well in its EQuIP surveys year on year. Eastbourne has attended every Stars and Tsars awards ceremony as they have always been in the top two scoring depots. They have delivered high scores within all areas of the EQuIP process and their standard of work demonstrates a great level of service to our passengers. They won depot of the year twice consecutively and both times given their prize money to charity, confirming they care about community spirit. Consistency is a word that comes to mind when Eastbourne depot is mentioned, as well as a strong passion for making every journey better. Eastbourne has an admirable team with a great work ethic and is the conductor depot of the franchise.

The Southern Stakeholder Advisory Board

Southern’s Stakeholder Advisory Board ensures that Southern’s decisions and business practices properly take into account the interests, aspirations and concerns of stakeholders, including passengers.

The Southern Stakeholder Advisory Board was formed in February 2003 to promote a better understanding of customer issues and of problems encountered by Southern employees and their management.

The Stakeholder Advisory Board includes seven passengers from different parts of the network to represent passengers’ views and one member who represents disabled users, who is also a frequent user of Southern services. Three staff representatives provide feedback from employees.

Three members joined the Stars and Tsars judging panel to select the final winners.