GBRf celebrate wins at Golden Whistles Awards 2021

GB Railfreight are celebrating two wins at this year’s virtual Golden Whistles Awards, following the announcement that GBRf has won the Silver Whistle award in the Freight Performance and the Delay Minutes Award categories.

The Golden Whistles Awards are organised by Modern Railways and the Institution of Railway Operators and have taken place throughout the week.

The Silver Whistle is awarded to the “most improved” freight operator in the Freight Performance category and is based on ‘A2F’ (Arrival to Fifteen) moving annual average scores of freight operating companies. The Minimising Delay Minutes award meanwhile takes into account all routes and assesses them for delay minutes caused to all operators, moving the annual average to end of Period 9. GBRf was also awarded the Silver Whistle in this category.

GBRf Production Director Ian Langton said:

“Huge congratulations to all the GBRf team for another awards win. These two awards are a reflection of the work the team does across the business, showing us to have been the most improved in both the Freight Performance and the Delay Minutes Award categories. 

“What these awards also show is the deep resilience of our business model, and our constant focus on improving and innovating. As a company we always strive to do better and these two ‘most improved’ awards are a testament to the hard work done by the amazing GBRf staff.”

GB Railfreight are celebrating another successful day at this year’s virtual Rail Business Awards following the announcement that GBRf Human Resources Manager Gemma Platt has won the Richard Hope Award.

The award marks an outstanding personal contribution in the rail sector and is named after the former Railway Gazette Editor Richard Hope, who died in October 2019.

Gemma’s drive in setting up a mental health and wellbeing programme has helped sustain the morale of her colleagues during the COVID-19 crisis. The project involved the creation, training and appointment of ‘wellbeing champions.’ These were volunteers from within the business who were trained by Suffolk MIND and act as support and listening ears to staff should they need to talk to someone in confidence. The Champions work has also led to the launch of a Mental Health support App and creation of other virtual entertainment activities aimed at improving overall wellbeing and allowing people to stay connected on a more social level during the pandemic. The timing of the launch during the pandemic has meant GBRf had support available to staff when they needed it most during some of the uncertain times the country has faced in recent memory.

Gemma was motivated to create the programme off the back of her own tragedy, after suddenly losing her husband in 2019, which is testament to her dedication, commitment and character.

GBRf Managing Director John Smith said:

“I want to extend my sincere congratulations to Gemma for winning the Richard Hope Award for her Outstanding Personal Contribution over the last year. Her success is something the whole GBRf team can be proud of.

“Gemma’s passion, professionalism and dedication, has empowered her to set up the ‘wellbeing champions/need to talk project’ and in turn has enabled GBRf to provide support surrounding mental health issues to their staff 24/7. Gemma has changed the focus of wellbeing within our company, and by using and drawing on her own personal adversity for the benefit of others, she has removed any stigma that may have existed around this very real topic.  Gemma has dedicated herself to encouraging awareness of wellbeing and mental health, and I couldn’t be prouder of her.”

Richard Hope Award winner Gemma Platt said:

“It is such an honour to win this award and I want to thank the rest of the Wellbeing Champions at GBRf for making the Mental Health project the success it become. I couldn’t have done this without your passion and commitment.

“I look forward to working with this group to continue to help normalise conversation around mental health and provide the best support possible to our staff.”

GBRf celebrates success at the National Rail Awards

GB Railfreight celebrated a successful night at Thursday’s (17 September) National Rail Awards with the company taking home two awards and receiving special mentions for two others.

The team scooped the ‘Great Place to Work’ award recognising the business’s reputation as a great employer and the rollout of the ‘Wellbeing Champion’ Mental Health Concept across GBRf.

Former GBRf employee Chris Hopcroft MBE was awarded a lifetime achievement award, to mark a 60-year career on the railway and a commitment not just to the railway, but to the community, with a particular focus on educating young people on rail safety.

Chris provided outstanding dedication in all his roles, most recently as one of GBRf’s Train Managers. His passion for, and service to, the railways was recognised in 1994 with an MBE for services to the safety of young people.

GBRf were also highly commended in the Freight and Logistics category for their impressive 2019 performance which saw them maintain value for money for customers by increasing efficiency despite increasing operating costs as well as the expansion of their intermodal service, with four new services having been launched last year.

A special mention was given to Paul Taylor in the Outstanding Personal Contribution category. Paul, a GB Railfreight General Manager, has worked on the railways for over thirty years and for over a decade has been running Charity Tours which have raised hundreds of thousands of pounds.

GBRf Managing Director John Smith said:

“Our success at the National Rail Awards underlines what a great team GBRf has and the amazing work they do with our customers and partners.

“To be recognised by the National Rail Awards for being a great place to work means a lot to me, having founded this company over twenty years ago and having always tried to foster a great team spirit throughout the business. I am so proud of the GBRf family.

“I am also delighted for being commended for our 2019 performance. Last year was an incredibly strong year for GBRf, continuing the success story of the previous year by winning more business and retaining highly valued customers. GBRf has delivered not only growth but also consumer choice in the market with a further four Intermodal services starting in 2019 from major deep-sea UK Ports.

“I was particularly proud of the final award for Lifetime Achievement. This was given to our own, recently retired, Train Manager Chris Hopcroft MBE following his 60 years of service to the industry. As well as the special mention to Paul Taylor a highly regarded and much-loved member of the GB Railfreight team who has worked on the railways for over three decades.”

“Engagement with the communities we operate in has ways been something that GBRf believes is important. In 2019 the team raised a staggering £185,000 for charity through a number of team-wide initiatives.”

GB Railfreight are celebrating a successful night at Thursday’s (27^th Feb) Rail Business Awards with the business taking home a haul of three awards.

The team scooped the ‘Training and Education Excellence award’ recognising the value that the business’s £1 million investment in two class 66 simulators in Peterborough has brought both to GBRf’s training programme and the availability of training simulators for the whole rail freight sector.

GBRf were also given the accolade of ‘Rail Business of the Year’.  This is the third time the business has won the award, which is a recognition of GBRf’s long term commitment to innovation and excellence in customer service.

Former GBRf employee Chris Hopcroft MBE was awarded a lifetime achievement award, to mark a 60-year career on the railway and a commitment not just to the railway, but to the community, with a particular focus on educating young people on rail safety.

Chris has provided outstanding dedication in all his roles, most recently as one of GBRf’s Train Managers. His passion for, and service to, the railways was recognised in 1994 with an MBE for services to the safety of young people.

GBRf Managing Director John Smith said:

“Our success at the Rail Business Awards underlines the quality and dedication of the GBRf team and the strong relations we have with our customers and partners.

“The Training and Education Excellence award’ for the class 66 simulators at Peterborough marks the first step of our investment towards creating a world class training centre which is transforming our ability to develop the next generation of GBRf Train Managers, but will also act as resource in training the next generation of rail professionals, supporting the growth of the rail freight sector.

“I am proud of our success in taking home the ‘Rail Business of the Year award’ for the third time.  I know that the GBRf team prides itself in delivering continued excellence in the service we deliver.  The business has enjoyed rapid growth over the years, but we remain true to our key values of delivering for our customers and a supportive environment for all those who work for the business.

“More important than either of the above was the final award for Lifetime Achievement. This was given to our own, recently retired, Train Manager Chris Hopcroft MBE following his 60 years of service to the industry.”