The people making a real difference to transport across the UK were recognised at the prestigious National Transport Awards at the Westminster Park Plaza in London last night. Hosted by Rory Bremner, the awards attracted over 800 senior transport professionals to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the event including Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin MP who gave the keynote address.
Ealing took the prestigious Transport Local Authority of the Year award in recognition of a host of initiatives promoting safety and sustainable travel. Recent achievements include a complete redesign of Southall Broadway using shared space principles and a "boulevard concept" which has increased pedestrian and cycle priority without adversely affecting other traffic. The council has worked with bus operators to identify bus route delay hotspots and find solutions and lobbied successfully to maximise the benefits of both HS2 and Crossrail in the borough.
Merseytravel was named Integrated Transport Authority of the Year, sponsored by National Express, following successes in introducing new tickets and in setting out long-term plans. Merseytravel's five-year Transport Plan for Growth takes a new perspective, seeing transport as a driver for economic growth. Within the last year they have seen success in reducing the cost of bus travel for young people through the introduction of MyTicket as well as the launch of smart ticketing. Merseyside's smart ticketing scheme is already the most active outside of London.
Arriva Yorkshire were awarded Bus Operator of the Year. In 2014 they completed a year of investment and innovation. In partnership with First Group and CPT they have developed a next stop announcement smartphone app specifically for blind and visually impaired bus passengers providing users with real-time audio and visual alerts. Plymoth Citybus was highly commended in this category.
The much coveted Rail Operator of the Year, sponsored by Thales, went to London Underground for their commitment to continuing to make improvements while focusing on efficiency and driving down costs. Improvements to reliability mean the average Underground journey is 13% shorter than in 2002, in turn allowing more services. As the huge modernisation programme continues, the Jubilee line has a third more capacity, and on the Victoria line in the peaks 34 trains run every hour. When the Northern line upgrade is complete at the end of the year, capacity will have increased by 20% and journey times cut by 18%.
c2s Rail, recently awarded a new 15-year franchise, and First Hull Trains, which boasts one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry at 96%, were highly commended.
United Biscuits Logistics was the inaugural winner of the Freight Operator of the Year category. The 300-strong team improved customer service in 2014 and introduced a range of cost-saving projects. In the warehouse, narrow aisle staffed operations were replaced with unmanned cranes, taking the warehouse to 90% automation. Like-for-like carbon emissions from transport in 2014 were 43.5% lower than in 2005. Using 62 long trailers removed 450,000 truck miles last year. Waste vegetable oil from the company's own manufacturing processes, of which 500 tonnes is generated annually, is used to power the company's fleet.
Train manufacturer Bombardier took the honours in Transport Supplier of the Year category with London Underground's new Sub-Surface line fleet. In the largest rolling stock project undertaken in the UK, Bombardier is supplying 191 new trains for the Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines.
The trains provide improved capacity, accessibility and comfort. The fleet replaces A, C and D stock, some of which date back to the 1960s, with the first air-conditioned trains on the Underground network. The new trains provide an immediate capacity improvement (25% for the Circle Line), are cheaper to maintain, and with regenerative braking save the equivalent of two months of electricity each year.
Glasgow Airport took the honours in the Airport of the Year category, sponsored by Worldline. The Commonwealth Games, the Ryder Cup and the MTV European Music Awards contributed to the airport's busiest year since 2008, with more than 7.7 million passengers. The £20m terminal investment programme was completed, including modernisation of the main check-in hall, landscaping of a new public space at the front of the terminal, and new heating and ventilation systems. The airport secured 20 new routes and services. Ryanair opened a new Glasgow base, and Virgin Atlantic and Thomas Cook introduced direct flights to Las Vegas.
London Southend Airport, which has expanded from just over 4,000 passengers a year to over a million following a redevelopment programme, was highly commended in this category.
Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin MP said:
"Britain is on the move. Whether we are commuting to work, visiting friends and family or just heading out to the shops to put food on the table, we all depend on transport. On average, we each travel over 6,500 miles every year. And it's as a result of personal travel and the movement of the products we buy and sell that we keep our economy growing.
That is why the Government is investing record amounts in transport, and why those nominated for the Transport Times National Transport Awards are so deserving of recognition. They represent some of the 1.4 million people who work in transport and logistics, in countless companies, local authorities and other organisations, whom we have to thank for getting us wherever we need to be.
And we need many more like them. The Government has a long-term plan to renew our nation's transport infrastructure. We are investing in new roads and new railways, and our ports and airports are receiving investment from the private sector, too. As a result we need thousands of new transport engineers, drivers, and signallers.
HS2 alone is expected to create almost 25,000 jobs during construction and over 3,000 permanent jobs in operation. So it is right that when transport professionals excel, they are recognised. Every person and organisation nominated for a National Transport Award deserves to be proud. The awards are a prestigious annual opportunity to raise the profile of Britain's transport professionals. I offer the nominees my congratulations and thanks."
The full list of award winners and those who were highly commended is as follows:
Transport Local Authority of the Year
Winner: Ealing Council
Highly Commended: Southampton City Council
Integrated Transport Authority of the Year
Merseytravel
Improvements to Bus Services
Winner: National Express West Midlands
Highly Commended: South Gloucestershire Council, Improvements to Bus Services - South Gloucestershire Council
Transport for Greater Manchester, Partington Local Link
Excellence in Cycling and Walking
Winner: Brighton & Hove City Council, Lewes Road Sustainable Transport Corridor
Highly Commended: Luton Borough Council, Excellence in Walking & Cycling
Road Safety, Traffic Management & Enforcement
Winner: Glasgow City Council, Transport Scotland, Police Scotland, and Glasgow 2014 Ltd - Commonwealth Games Route Network and Traffic Management Plans
Highly Commended: Transport Scotland, A9 Interim Safety Plan
Rail Operator of the Year
Winner: London Underground
Highly Commended: c2c; First Hull Trains
Bus Operator of the Year
Winner: Arriva Yorkshire
Highly Commended: Plymouth Citybus - Citybus celebrates a year of success
Ferry Operator of the Year
Merseytravel – Mersey Ferries
Freight Operator of the Year
United Biscuits Logistics
Rail Station of the Year
Winner: HS1 Limited - St Pancras International
Highly Commended: Northern Rail - Blackburn Station
Port of the Year
Winner: Associated British Ports - Port of Southampton
Airport of the Year
Winner: Glasgow Airport
Highly Commended: London Southend Airport
Transport Supplier of the Year
Bombardier - delivery of the new sub-surface line fleet
Contribution to Sustainable Transport
Winner: Centro (West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority), Smart Network, Smarter Travel
Highly Commended: Integrated Transport Planning Ltd, Lowestoft Local Links for Business; Nottingham City Council , Nottingham City Council Electric Bus Project
Most Innovative Transport Project
Winner: Cubic and TfL – Bringing contactless to London
Excellence in Technology
Winner: uTrack Software & National Express – Punctuality and Reliability
Transport Team/Partnership of the Year
Winner: West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Tour de France
Highly Commended: Borough of Poole, Generating the biggest passenger growth in the country through the South East Dorset Quality Bus Partnership;
Department for Transport , The DfT-Highways Agency Roads Reform Team for the two year work programme to successfully reform the delivery of national roads
Travel Information & Marketing
First Bus, South Yorkshire Young Persons Fares Campaign
Frontline Employee of the Year
Joint Winner: David Ellam, Bus Station Supervisor, Centro
Joint Winner: Melanie Horwood, Terminal Duty Officer, London Luton Airport
Commended:
Kevin Bayley, Southern Railway
Glyn Derbyshire, Northern Rail
Ian Evans, Arriva Aylesbury
Christian Horn, First Cymru
Gus Iandi, First Wessex
Brian Keenan, Heathrow Express
Emma McLean, Hertz Rent a Car
Michael Mitchell, Southeastern
Bill Morgan, Arriva Yorkshire
Zachary Narvaez, Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company
Construction and Engineering Project of the Year
Winner: Heathrow Airport – Heathrow Terminal 2 – The Queen's Terminal
Highly Commended: GNGE Alliance – The GNGE Project
Somerset County Council – Access for Muchelney
Transport for Greater Manchester – Manchester Airport Metrolink Line
Outstanding Contribution to Transport
David Middleton, Chief Executive, Transport Scotland
Notes to editors:
Judging panel chaired by Professor David Begg, Chief Executive, Transport Times
Judges include:-
• Graham Pendlebury, Director - Local Transport, DfT
• Andy Southern, Managing Director of Transport and Planning, Atkins
• Anthony Smith, Chief Executive, Passenger Focus
• Stephen Joseph OBE, Executive Director, Campaign for Better Transport
• Louise Ellman, Chair, Transport Select Committee
For further information contact:
Contact Grant Poulton
Tel: 0207 828 3804
Fax: 0207 828 3803
Email: [email protected]
Photographs can be purchased at www.simply-photography.co.uk
