The success of London’s Elizabeth Line was a central feature at the annual Golden Whistles event, organised by Modern Railways magazine and the Chartered Institution of Railway Operators.
The brainchild of CIRO luminary and now West Dorset MP Chris Loder, the Golden Whistles event was founded in 2010 to promote best practice and celebrate excellence in railway operations. Awards are handed out for the best operators based on statistics over the past year as well for individuals and teams who have gone the extra mile to deliver examples of outstanding operations.
Keynote speaker at this year’s Golden Whistles was MTR UK CEO Steve Murphy, while a morning conference on operational issues included presentations from Network Rail Chief Executive Andrew Haines.
The Special Award was presented to the teams from Transport for London and MTR Elizabeth line which successfully launched London’s new Elizabeth Line last year. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Award was also a reflection of the Elizabeth Line’s success, and was presented to TfL’s Elizabeth Line Director Howard Smith. He follows in the footsteps of Chris Green, Chris Gibb and Gordon Pettitt, who were previous winners of this award.
The stellar work of operators was reflected in a strong field of entries in the awards for individuals and teams, judged by a panel from the CIRO. The Gold Whistle for outstanding operating team went to those involved in co-ordinating rail services during the Commonwealth Games, while the award for outstanding operations by an individual was presented to West Midlands Trains Head of Planning, Access and Timetable Strategy Mike Hoptroff.
Prior to these prizes, a range of awards were presented to passenger and freight operators, Network Rail Routes, London Underground lines and Irish Rail routes for best performance based on operating statistics. Gold awards were presented for best in class, and silver awards for the biggest improvement over the last year.
The full list of winners is detailed below.
Passenger Operators (based on On Time Moving Annual Average statistics)
London and South East: Gold – Greater Anglia; Silver – West Midlands Trains
Regional: Gold – Merseyrail; Silver – ScotRail
Long Distance: Gold – Greater Anglia; Silver – CrossCountry
Freight Operators (based on Arrivals to Fifteen (A2F) measure)
Gold – Rail Operations Group; Silver – DB Cargo
Minimising Delay Minutes on Self (passenger and freight operators)
Gold – Greater Anglia; Silver – DB Cargo
Network Rail Route (minimising delay minutes)
Gold – Scotland; Silver – North West
London Underground (based on the ‘services operated all week’ metric)
Gold – Northern Line; Silver – Circle and Hammersmith Line
Irish Rail
Right Time Punctuality: Gold – Maynooth Commuter
Minimising Delay Minutes: Gold – Maynooth Commuter
Outstanding Individual Operator
Gold: Mike Hoptroff, West Midlands Trains
Silver: Christopher Thompson-Warner, Southeastern
Highly Commended: Simone Carter, West Midlands Trains
Outstanding Operating Team
Gold: Cross-Industry Teams delivering services for the Commonwealth Games
Silver: South Western Railway on-train service, safety, disorder team for three-way radio deployment
Highly Commended: 21st Century Operations team, Network Rail
Special Award
Elizabeth Line launch – Transport for London and MTR Elizabeth line
Lifetime Achievement Award
Howard Smith
