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Customer and
Stakeholder Report
Autumn 2021
1
Previous 2 Next
Contents
1.0 Mark Hopwood, Managing Director, GWR 4
2.0 Mike Gallop, Western Route and Strategic Operations Director Network Rail 5
3.0 Railway Restored 6
4.0 Performance 8
5.0 Stakeholder Conference 9
6.0 Supporting our Customers 10
7.0 What our Customers Said 14
8.0 Meeting our Commitment to Sustainability 16
9.0 Sophie Chapman, Business Lead and Director, Heathrow Express 18
10.0 Bristol Rail Regeneration 20
11.0 Transport for Wales 21
12.0 Bus Branch Route 22
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1.0 Mark Hopwood,
Managing Director, GWR
This Customer and Stakeholder report covers the
six month period from April to November 2021. It
includes an update from our Stakeholder Conference
held in Cardiff in October, with links to the
conference sessions so you can watch things unfold.
It is also includes updates from our friends in Network We continue to manage without our full Intercity Express
Rail Wales and Western, Transport for Wales and Train feet and that has led to some short formations and
Heathrow Express. We have again produced it digitally some timetable changes particularly in the Kennet Valley,
so that it is easy for circulation, and of course means that and are also having some performance challenges. We
we reduce our impact on the environment by not printing are working on those with Network Rail and with fellow
hard copies. train operators, including freight in Project Fusion. We
know that a reliable service is key to delivering a switch
You will see from my update to the Stakeholder from private car to train and getting this right is a priority
Conference that while we are starting to recover from the for the industry and for GWR.
impacts of Covid-19, we are still seeing reduced customer
numbers, especially amongst commuters and business I hope you fnd the report useful and thank you for all your
travellers, and we do still have a backlog of driver training. support and encouragement for our teams as we build
That said, we have also seen some of the fastest growing back custom and services.
routes in the UK, and in some areas, customer numbers
are back to pre-pandemic levels. Mark Hopwood CBE
Managing Director
More recently this has of course been impacted by
Omicron. We are now operating the vast majority of
our services and have also been able to add some new
ones, most notably in Devon, where the Dartmoor line
re-opened for regular passenger traffc just nine months
after the DfT approved funding.
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2.0 Mike Gallop, Western Route and
Strategic Operations Director
Network Rail
Two years ago, we worked closer than ever before
with our alliance partner GWR and other train
operators to introduce the largest timetable change
in 40 years.
Now in 2021, change is a constant as we work to adapt We want passengers to continue coming back to the
and evolve the train services being offered depending on railway, as well as new people discovering the joys of
customer demand and government guidance. train travel, and our absolute priority must be running
trains safely on time every time. Performance has
We’ve seen positive news as passengers have returned simply not been good enough. We kept key workers
to the railways; and in November we saw the busiest moving during the pandemic, but too many issues have
day at Paddington since before the pandemic. Though delayed passengers and freight since April. Though in
this demand is heavy loaded towards weekends, which comparative terms, the timetable on Western route is
is starting to question when we do our engineering now operating broadly at the same level of performance
work. Traditionally, we’ve done this on Saturdays, before the December 2019 timetable change.
Sundays, Bank Holidays and over the big holidays such
as Christmas and Easter; as the railway has had fewer Mike Gallop
passengers travelling. But if the shift in passengers to Western Route and Strategic Operations Director
these leisure times becomes permanent, then we will Network Rail
need to re-evaluate this. As governments instruct people
to work from home if they can this winter, we’re not
going to jump into making a rash decision, but it is an
item frmly being discussed.
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3.0 Railway Restored: regular trains to run on Dartmoor Line
for frst time in 50 years
On November 17, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps MP joined
us to help launch the return of the regular weekday and weekend services
to the Okehampton Line in Devon.
This was made possible thanks to over £40 million of Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
Government investment through the Restoring Your Railway
programme. “Improving transport links is essential to levelling up and
spreading opportunity across the country, which is why we
The line links Okehampton to Exeter offcially reopened to the are driving forward our pledge to reverse the Beeching cuts in
public for regular year-round, all-week passenger services Devon today.
on 20 November, with the frst train on the 17 November
carrying local school children, campaigners, railway staff, and “As we reopen the Dartmoor line, we are rightly reconnecting
supporters who all helped make the project happen. communities, giving passengers the chance to choose rail
over the road and travel from Exeter to Okehampton on
The Department for Transport, Network Rail and GWR have greener, cleaner modes of transport.”
worked together to reopen this line ahead of time and under
budget. Beneftting from the application of Rail Project Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said:
SPEED approaches, the Dartmoor Line has been transformed
from a mothballed former freight railway with occasional “By restoring the Dartmoor Line we are undoing 50 years
Summer Sunday services to a full seven days per of damage, reconnecting a community and creating new
week passenger operation in a mere nine months since opportunities for jobs, tourism, education and recreation.
confrmation of funding, coming in more than £10m
under budget. “We have made it our mission to reverse cuts made in the
Beeching era of the 1960s. The passion, nostalgia and
A service will run every two hours, with plans to expand to enthusiasm for that ambition is clear right across the country.
an hourly service in 2022. This will beneft students heading
to colleges in Exeter as well as tourists travelling towards “People love their railways, and rightly miss them when
Dartmoor, easing congestion on local roads and helping boost they’re gone. Today – ahead of time, and under budget –
local economies, we’ve made a decisive step in fxing that, cutting the ribbon
on a line and making a real difference to people’s lives.”
Since 1997, the line has only been open during some Sundays
in Summer after regular services were withdrawn in 1972.
Previous 6 Next
Repairs have also been made to 21 structures along the route
including 4 bridges. Other infrastructure work has included
level crossing improvements and the installation of railway
communications equipment. Vegetation clearance, earth
and drainage works and fencing have also been completed
and further infrastructure work will continue to take place to
increase the line speed to enable an hourly service in 2022.
Michelle Handforth, Network Rail’s Wales &
Western regional managing director, said:
“This marks a signifcant milestone for the railway and the
local community and I am delighted to have been able to
welcome the Secretary of State to Okehampton to mark this
special occasion.
“I am so proud of our engineers whose hard work and
dedication has resulted in this line reopening ahead
of schedule and today enable the Secretary of State,
campaigners and supporters of the Dartmoor Line to enjoy a
frst passenger journey.
“I would like to thank the local community, our partners and
everyone who has supported us in reopening this railway line
and I am excited to think that regular passenger services have
The Restoring Your Railway fund was launched in January now resumed for the frst time in nearly 50 years.”
2020 to reinstate axed local services and restore closed
stations, many of which were cut following Dr Beeching’s The project also hugely beneftted from strong local support
report on ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’ in 1963. spearheaded by Devon County Council, the Devon and
Cornwall Rail Partnership and the Friends of Dartmoor
The fund is focused on delivering schemes that can level up Railway Association, without which it would have taken far
the country, reconnect cut-off communities, improve access longer to reach the point where regular year-round services
to jobs, homes and education and boost opportunity across can be restored after almost 50 years.
the country.
More work will be carried out over the winter including on
The Department and its partners have accelerated the the station buildings to enable the restoration of the café and
reopening of the railway, delivering passenger services in only other facilities.
9 months from the original funding being approved to entry
into service, and saving money at the same time. As the
Government continues its overhaul of the railways following
the Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail, more lines and stations will
be re-opened.
To make the restoration possible, Network Rail’s team of
engineers worked tirelessly to deliver a huge programme of
work to physically reopen the line in just 9 months, including
laying 11 miles of new track and installing 24,000 concrete
sleepers and 29,000 tonnes of ballast in a record-breaking 20-
day period.
Click here to watch a short flm from the launch day.
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4.0 Performance
Mike Gallop, Western Route and Strategic Mark Hopwood, Managing Director GWR
Operations Director Network Rail
Reliable, resilient rail services are essential for our
Getting performance right is even more important and customers. As we have reintroduced more services back
we look forward to Elizabeth line services starting under into the timetable, we have seen a drop in punctuality and
central London in 2022, working towards a through disappointingly an increase in cancellations. Much of this
service connecting Reading, the Thames Valley and West is driven by driver and train crew availability.
London with Central London and the East of England.
With trains running every two and half minutes in the In common with all other UK industries we are managing
new tunnels, our scope for infrastructure issues being with high absence rates due to sickness and self isolation
fxed is smaller than it’s ever been. And the potential through Test and Trace. This is exacerbated particularly
impact is much larger, with the potential to affect trains among drivers by a backlog in training. This is not simply
from as far afeld as St Erth (Cornwall) and Southend training for new recruits, but is the regular, required
(Essex). competency training that all drivers must keep up to date,
and also training for changes in our rolling stock – for
With GWR and all other passenger and freight train instance the extension of our all electric feet to Bristol
operators we have a plan to improve this performance. and Cardiff. While there is some classroom based
This Christmas we’ll be commissioning 770 axle counters training, drivers must also have some in cab training and
on the key route into London Paddington station. These assessment. Initially because of social distancing this
signalling devices will replace ageing track circuits, was halted altogether, we were then able to work with
providing improved reliability for all trains coming to or our drivers and our trade unions to introduce “bubbles”.
from London. This allowed limited training, and in October we were
fnally able to return to our usual training practice. It will
Between London and West Drayton, the track circuit be a while however before the backlog is cleared. This
technology currently in situ has been the cause of over reduces our spare cover and any further Covid outbreaks,
12,800 minutes of delay over the last year – which or Test and Trace requirements does impact our ability to
means that the frst few miles outside of Paddington are deliver services.
responsible for 56% of track circuit delays on Western
route. Improving the resilience of this stretch of our route Project Fusion
will have immediate benefts for all services into and
out of Paddington and that includes services for South We are very pleased that Barry Milson, our Performance
Wales, the West, South West and the Cotswolds. Director has been asked to join Network Rail’s Project
Fusion, along with Crosscountry Trains, Heathrow
We’ll also be focusing on asset reliability across our area Express and MTR who operate Crossrail services,
by delivering track improvements, including on the Berks and the two freight operators Freightliner and DB
and Hants line between Reading, Westbury and Taunton. Cargo. This group will develop and implement a range
This will allow us to remove temporary speed restrictions of performance improvement actions on the Western
– in simple terms this allows GWR’s trains to operate at Route between Didcot Parkway and London Paddington.
the top speed possible on rail lines, so passengers get to Reducing delays on this busy corridor into London will
their destinations on time. improve punctuality on our South Wales, Cotswolds,
South West and West of England routes too.
On top of infrastructure improvements, I’ve appointed
Barry Milsom (GWR performance improvement director) The project will mean undertaking a detailed analysis of
to lead a cross-industry group to identify what we need the root causes of current performance problems before
to do to improve performance in the Thames Valley. I’ve developing and delivering an Industry Performance
restructured part of the Network Rail team that deliver Recovery Plan while also identifying and mitigating risks
the timetable and working with all six of our passenger for the introduction of Elizabeth Line.
and freight operators we’ll be able to implement the
recommendations when they’re made early in 2022. It will be very much a collaborative whole industry project
I’ll be able to update you further on this in the next developing new ideas and also providing support to the
stakeholder update. delivery of existing performance improvement plans.
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5.0 Stakeholder Conference
This year, we held our frst ever hybrid Stakeholder Conference. Hosted in
Cardiff, and streamed over Hopin, stakeholders from all over the network
were invited to join us. You can watch the events sessions below:
Welcome to Conference and update on GWR’s Inclusion Stations of the Future - Samyutha Bala, GWR Head of
and Diversity work - Ruth Busby, Human Resources Customer Experience and Susan Evans, Network Rail Wales
Director, GWR and Western Head of Stations and Passenger Experience
https://youtu.be/XvmfGxJj5Ow https://youtu.be/UamRUvKeKhw
Welcome to Conference and update on GWR’s Inclusion and Andrew Haines, Chief Executive Network Rail, and Head
Diversity work - Mark Hopwood, Managing Director, GWR of Great British Railways Transition Team
https://youtu.be/O361xlx5SJA https://youtu.be/iRmoAXawR6g
Working in Partnership – how GWR works with Afternoon Q&A with Mark Hopwood, led by Joe Graham,
stakeholders, including a short flm - Tom Pierpoint, GWR Business Assurance Director
Business Development Director, GWR https://youtu.be/iYTuXINGcVM
https://youtu.be/8lMhqP3thRo
Morning Q&A Communities, Education, Inclusion and Cohesion -
https://youtu.be/iWwBsp_MjRA Odis Palmer GWR Inclusion and Diversity Manager,
Emma Morris GWR Community Manager, and Heather
Cullimore, Partnership Manager Severnside Community
Rail Partnership
https://youtu.be/Nfzy5ymZnMo
Bus Back Better - Luke Farley, GWR Development
Manager (Integrated Transport) GWR and Phil Southall
Managing Director Oxford Bus Company
https://youtu.be/cKYYNYhqx4o
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6.0 Supporting our Customers
Passenger Assistance helped equip our staff to better assist all our customers.
Following the success of this, we have produced disability
Passenger Assistance requests have rebounded strongly awareness refresher training for all our front-line colleagues.
after the lockdown earlier this year and we saw a high This builds on the learning points from the previous training
demand for assistance requests within the summer and helps further position the importance of assistance
months. This peaked within August and September where provision and the support we provide our disabled
we received 12,311 assistance requests, up from 4,133 passengers. This has started to be delivered from October,
requests the same period last year. Although, the fgures with an aim to have the majority of front-line staff re-trained
are encouraging and disabled passengers are returning to by March 2022.
our network, we are still below pre covid levels of assistance
requests. Our focus over the next 12 months, will be to We understand the importance of improving the physical
encourage more disabled people back onto our services and infrastructure, to help better suit the needs of all passengers.
promote the beneft of travelling via rail. This was recently demonstrated with Network Rail’s level
access improvements made to Dorchester West Station,
We have fully incorporated the Passenger Assist system which now allows step free access to platform 1. We have
into our operations. This includes access to the Passenger also had all our non-fully step free stations audited, and
Assist staff application on all work phones. The app provides changes outlined are being targeted for future improvements
all staff access to real time information on every assistance in collaboration with various industry partners.
request, allows us to input assistance details for passengers
who have not prebooked into the Passenger Assist system, We have produced several documents to make travelling a
records actions to each assistance request and provides little easier. One of these is an assistance card that helps
access to the industry phone directory “station connect”. passengers who are anxious about
Through fully incorporating the staff app into our operations, talking to staff or cannot communicate as
on average, 93% of assistance requests are actioned by easily, by allowing them to write where
using the app. We continue to work with Rail Delivery Group they travel to and from and what help
PLEASE DO
on improving the functionality of this technology, to ensure they require. We have also produced a NOT SIT ON
it is the best and most effective operational tool we have in reservation label that helps passengers THIS SEAT
My assistance dog is
delivering assistance. who use an assistance dog to let underneath.
Thank you for
customers know their dog is sat next to understanding.
From the 1st of April 2021, the booking window for an them. This gives the guide dog more room,
assistance request was reduced to a minimum 6 hours’ and improves understanding and makes
notice. This will be reduced further to a minimum 2 hours’ conversations easier. More information can
notice from 1st of April 2022. This has allowed more be found on gwr.com/passengerassist
fexibility for disabled passengers in getting the reassurance
of booking assistance ahead of travel, while booking at a As covid restrictions lifted, we have been visiting l
time more suitable for them. The further reduction to a community groups and charities to deliver “Travel Training”
2-hour booking window, will allow further fexibility and sessions, and “try the train” events. These sessions aim to
convenience for passengers and we expect to see more build confdence and understanding of travelling by train, for
“same day” bookings as a result. those who may be apprehensive about train travel or have
never travelled before. We have run 10 of these sessions
Our Accessibility Panels consisting of disabled and elderly in a 4-week period and continue to see requests for more
stakeholders across the network meets quarterly. The sessions.
panel helps consult on new and existing initiatives that
affect disabled customers on the GWR network, as well as
suggesting improvements to our services. The panel has
been invaluable in providing frst-hand experience of the
challenges across the network and we continue to listen and
incorporate the advice into how we operate.
All staff receive disability awareness training. Our bespoke
package was devised and created alongside various disability
stakeholders and is now embedded as part of the induction
training for all new staff. This course has helped develop a
stronger awareness of disabled passengers needs and has
Previous 10 NextCustomer Services • We aim to close 95% of all received complaints within 20
days of receipt
We aim to provide a full response to any queries or
complaints we receive, resolving the matter positively, • We investigate every complaint fully and fairly
and ensuring that any compensation that may be due is
provided, and any failure of our service is acknowledged • We address every point made with us
without any fuss, and that we learn from mistakes to
provide a better service in the future. • We correspond in plain English to avoid any confusion
We have made a number of commitments about how we • We pass on any complaint that involves a third party
handle our complaints in particular. We use the Offce (such as another train company) and tell you when we’ve
of Rail and Road (ORR) defnition of a complaint ‘any done this
expression of dissatisfaction by a customer, or potential
customer about service delivery, or company or industry • We give our teams the tools they need to resolve
policy’. complaints on the spot, so you don’t need to contact us
formally
• We use complaint data to identify the root causes of
complaints • We will let you know how you can appeal if you think we
haven’t dealt with your complaint very well
• We take action to reduce them happening again
Further detail on our approach can be found here www.
• We review our performance when dealing with gwr.com/help-and-support/making-a-complaint
complaints where you can also fnd our Complaints Handling Policy
documentation.
Complaints received 2021/22
GWR complaints received P1-P8 Complaints per 100k passenger journeys P1-P8
6000 140
119
5450
5000 120
4216
3719 100
4000
80
3000 2377 83
60 71
2000 64
2515 60
1203 40
721 885
1000
20 30 32
28
0 0
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8
Period P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8
Complaints recieved 721 885 1203 2377 2515 5450 4216 3719
Complaints per 100k pax journeys 28 30 32 64 60 119 83 71
As the number of passengers increased from early Summer This increase was also refected in the volume of
through to early Autumn, we saw a steady increase in the complaints received per 100k passenger journeys.
volume of complaints received, peaking in Period 6 with
5.5k received.
Previous 11 NextComplaints received – subject
GWR - Top 10 complaints P1- P7
1 Crowding on board 3249
2 Punctuality/reliability 1738
3 Ticketing & refunds policy 1128
4 Your personal safety on-board (Covid issues) 1074
5 Facilities on-board 959
6 Ticket buying facilities - other 697
7 Helpfulness of on-board staff 688
8 Problems with GWR website/app 676
9 Helpfulness of station staff 583
10 DR claim rejected 567
IET crack issues impacted our services from May and was Complaints – response times
one of the main drivers for complaints due to cancellations
and crowded service as a result of short-formed trains. Complaints closed within 20 days
101%
100%
Elsewhere, refunds and concerns about COVID19 led to an 99%
98%
increase in complaints. 97%
96%
95%
Although the number of passengers travelling has continued 94%
93%
to increase, complaint volume in total, and complaints per 92%
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8
100k passenger journeys have seen decreases in October as Complaints closed within 20 days of receipt Target
the IET feet issues start to dissipate.
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8
% complaints closed within 20 days of receipt 100% 99% 97% 96% 97% 98% 96% 96%
Despite pressure on our resources we have consistently Complaints – Ombudsman referrals
exceeded the ORR measure for complaints handling,
GWR Rail Ombudsman appeals
responding to over 95% of complaints within 20 days of the
60
complaint being received. 45
50
50 56
40
30
17 16
20 14
11
7
10 16
0
P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9
Periods cover four weeks, starting from 1 April 2021
P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 P8 P9
GWR Rail Ombudsman appeals - volume 17 14 7 11 16 16 45 56 50
Previous 12 NextCustomers who do not feel we have resolved their compliant Ticket offce opening hours
can ask for a review through the Rail Ombudsman. Appeals
raised with the Railway Ombudsman tend to track two Emergency rosters were introduced during the pandemic.
months behind complaint volume trends as customers need As much as possible we tried to keep our published hours,
to allow all 8 weeks for us to try and successfully resolve however, over this period sickness and COVID absence has
their complaint hence, we’ve seen an increase in Period had an impact. We have also had colleagues leave over
7, and 8, but expect this increase to fall in Periods 9 and this period. We now catching up with our recruitment but
beyond. continue to be impacted By COVID and sickness.
Complaint Handling - the future
GWR Schedule 17 - Moving Annual Average
Following an extensive period of consultation, the ORR are
due to release updated guidance on how Train Operating
Companies should deal with complaints.
Once that updated guidance is published, we’ll take those
recommendations on board and update our Complaint
Handling Policy and procedures accordingly.
Elsewhere we will continue to review how we manage
complaints through reviewing our internal processes on
complaints handling and making sure we are providing
complaint data to internal GWR managers in an accessible
way that enables them to make informed decisions on
service improvements.
Previous 13 Next7.0 What Our Customers Said
As restrictions have eased, customers have started to
return to rail. Predominantly this has been to locations
and areas of the network that afford them space,
reconnecting to the area they live in as well as the wider
region and the people they have missed. While our
traditional commuting and to some extent our business
journey markets remain suppressed, the leisure journey
market has been recovering more quickly. Within this we
are seeing fux to the demography of our customer base,
as segments of the leisure market react and balance their
desire to reconnect against their wider concerns about
Covid. We are monitoring this closely to ensure we are
supporting customers with reassurance about the actions
we are taking and the new products and services we are
delivering to improve the customer experience.
As customer volume increased we forecast that this
would put pressure on Customer Satisfaction scores,
although we have sustained a score above the forecast
we set. However, we recognise that while away from
the railway or indeed experiencing a railway with
fewer customer on it, our customer expectations have
adjusted. Nevertheless the core elements that infuence
satisfaction remain consistent; Performance, Frequency,
Station environment.
Through our mature research work we are actively
engaging and listening to our customers and testing new
ideas with them to help us better meet these adjusted
needs, delivering the right experience at the right time.
Key Stats as at P2208
90 14 87 90
JOURNEY % NPS* STATION % TRAIN %
*Net Promoter Score. Calculated using the standard Net Promoter recommendation question.
Source: GWR Customer Satisfaction monitor P2202 -P2208 n= 7 568
Previous 14 NextPrevious 15 Next
8.0 Meeting our Commitment to Sustainability
Our services are a vital part of society – transporting With the focus on COP26 through the latter part of 2021
customers for business, education, health, social or leisure and sustainability clearly captured in the Williams-Shapps
purposes. We are committed to help deliver a more Plan and the Rail Environment Policy it is clear there is a
sustainable future for the communities we serve and help signifcant opportunity for the rail industry to contribute
accelerate the transition to a net zero carbon world. towards reducing the impact of climate change and
achieving Net Zero by 2050.
We are working hard to ensure sustainability and social
value is embedded at the heart of our business. We want We have begun to work on our Decarbonisation Strategy
to understand our material impacts and what matters to bringing all functions of the business together to focus on
our stakeholders. We want to put rail at the centre of our how we reduce carbon emissions from the business. While
communities, the essential services we provide are critical there is huge opportunity to reduce carbon emissions from
to delivering wider economic, social, and environmental our trains, stations and depots we know we also play an
goals. We have a clear social purpose providing easy important role in societal decarbonisation. Attracting people
and convenient mobility and improving quality of life by back to rail and increasing our modal share will help reduce
connecting people and communities. emissions from road transport, reduce congestion and
improve local air quality.
As society seeks to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic to
‘Build Back Better’, we know we play a key role in providing As we go in to 2022 we will be fnalising our roadmap to
more environmentally and socially sustainable, value for Net Zero setting targets with the Science Based Targets
money journeys across our network. Initiative.
• Environmental Impact Targets – and how we have done
Previous 16 NextWe have seen a further reduction in our carbon emissions
compared to 2019/20 (used as a comparison to remove the
impact of COVID-19 travel restrictions in the last fnancial year).
We have run more trains on electricity, reducing our diesel
consumption.
Electricity consumption at stations has reduced following the
installation of LED lights and lighting controls. Using lighting
controls allows us to maximise natural daylight only turning on
lights when required.
We have begun to use our Building Management System to
charge retail tenants for their actual energy consumption, this
has helped to recover costs, reduce GWR’s carbon emissions
and encourage behavioural change with regards to the use of
lighting and refrigeration.
Following COVID-19 we have seen a change in the
composition of the waste produced across the network. We
have continued to segregate waste in to single streams at our
engineering depots and at Plymouth Station. We are currently
recycling 60% of our waste. Waste collections across the
network were reduced during the pandemic and were
reinstated as customers returned to the network and station
retail reopened.
In 2019 we partnered with Olio, a community food sharing
organisation. Local Food Waste Heroes collect near expiry
catering stock to redistribute amongst local communities. The
partnership has continued through the current year and we are
proud to have supported over 400 local families ensuring 1.7
tonnes of food was in bellies not bins.
Our work to implement sustainable procurement procedures
continues and we have assessed our current approach
against ISO 20400, the International Standard for Sustainable
Procurement. Through this process we have begun to
engage various key suppliers to understand their approach
to sustainability and how we can work together to reduce
environmental impacts such as reducing packaging waste,
consolidating deliveries to reduce carbon emissions, and
improving the recyclability of products. Our commitment to
Net Zero will require further collaboration with our supply
chain and we look forward to driving more positive change.
We continue to be audited against ISO 14001, 50001 and
55001 for Environmental, Energy and Asset Management
and are proud to have maintained our certifcations to each
management system. The various management systems
are an excellent framework to manage our risks, reduce
our impact, monitor performance and push for continual
improvement.
Previous 17 Next9.0 Sophie Chapman, Business Lead and
Director, Heathrow Express
Since 2018, GWR has run the operational aspects
of the Heathrow Express (HEX) service under a
management contract with Heathrow Airport.
Throughout the pandemic, Heathrow Express kept its service As a result of the pandemic, we have restructured the
running to ensure that customers, who had to fy, had a fast, business to both futureproof and differentiate the brand
clean and sustainable route between the UK’s hub airport and transform employee and customer experiences and we
and central London. were keen to ensure colleagues felt COVID-safe at work and
remained engaged. We appointed consultants Ethos Farm to
We worked closely with GWR to introduce airport modifed help scope out and develop digital solutions to revolutionise
Cl387 AIRs in service on 29 Dec 2020. Since then both employee engagement. The resulting initiative underpinned
parties have been working together with Alstom (formerly Heathrow Express’ ethos that even in a pandemic, a great
Bombardier) to bring reliability improvements which customer experience can only be delivered by employees’
included upgrading the software to PVI 4.0 in May 2021 and own great experiences and could be accessed by colleagues
upgrading the EDOR Firmware version in Nov 21 to resolve on furlough, uses avatar customers, scenario-based learning,
the issue of Transition Failures in the new feet. bespoke video content and real-life stories; all of which
can be accessed through the bespoke built employee app.
Further software upgrades are planned to introduce running We were proud to win three awards at the UK Employee
of short formations (PVI 4.1.0 planned for Jan 22) and Experience Awards – the Gold Award for Employee
addressing outstanding faults (PVI 5.0 planned for June 22). Experience in a Crisis - Staying Connected: the Gold Award
for Employee Training and Development - Continuous
Regular meetings are taking place between parties to assess Learning and the Silver award for Use of Digital Technologies
progress of the feet reliability improvement programme. and Transformation.
As quarantine-free travel resumed from 19 July, the In October, we launched our ‘Tranquil Train’ campaign to
second half of 2021 passengers began to return in force highlight how we could ease passengers’ anxieties about
and the growth in passengers even outstripped recovery travelling on public transport again by hosting live yoga
at Heathrow. This year, the mix has swung more towards classes with yoga infuencer Celest Pereira - who has
leisure passengers – a challenge Heathrow Express is happy developed a 12-minute seat-yoga and meditation session to
to embrace, with its permanent kids go free policy. help travellers relax following the pandemic.
Previous 18 NextWe’ve always aimed to provide a premium service which
is easy and straightforward, while giving passengers all the
facilities they need. But we’re only one part of the journey
– many passengers have already spent hours on trains or
planes before they travel on our service, by which point they
can be feeling quite tense and exhausted.
To get passengers in the right frame of mind, the ‘Tranquil
Train’ carriage hosting the sessions was decorated with fresh
eucalyptus and lavender to fll the carriage with soothing
aromas. Going forward, seat yoga is available through
onboard screen QR codes.
In October we also launched a new partnership with Google
Maps to offer information on journey times and fast access
to tickets between central London and Heathrow within the
Google Maps journey planner.
Work is underway to launch Heathrow Services Signatures
at Heathrow Express (the Heathrow way of giving excellent
customer service) to ensure customers have a seamless
service experience when travelling with us.
Previous 19 Next10.0 Bristol Rail Regeneration
Over the Summer, Bristol Temple East Junction was replaced by
Network Rail paving the way for more train services to move more
people, more reliably.
The work was part of the Bristol Rail Regeneration Metro Mayor Dan Norris helped dispatch and travel on
programme that will see improvements to the iconic one of the frst of the new services. He said:
Bristol Temple Meads station over the next three years,
supporting the city’s Temple Quarter development. “This is the frst important piece in the MetroWest
jigsaw. The MetroWest initiative will reopen two lines
The junction renewal programme, started in July and and up to seven new stations by 2024. It’s going to give
completed in September delivered new railway tracks 80,000 more people access to train services.
and signalling in and around Bristol that increased
capacity in the area allowing more trains to run on the “Having a good public transport network is crucial in
network. helping our region thrive. Helping more people to get
about more easily is another good sign that our region
In August Rail Minister Chris Heaton Harris MP visited is on the up. People want and deserve a great railway in
the £132 million investment while work was underway the West. All aboard!”
and said:
Keith Walton Chairman of Severnside
“This will mean more regular services and more regular Community Rail Partnership said:
trains as we increase opportunities and better connect
communities across the region. This is another great “The Severn Beach Line provides vital links for commuting,
example of how we are building back better in Bristol and attending local schools, universities and reaching leisure
levelling up the South West.” activities, for example exploring the rich natural heritage
of Severn Beach and the Lower Severn Vales”.
The frst of the extra services saw the launch of
MetroWest initiative backed by the West of England
Combined Authority, with more services on the Severn
Beach Line.
Previous 20 Next11.0 Transport for Wales
Transport for Wales (TfW) works closely with GWR, including invitations
to our regional stakeholder forums and more specifc workshops around
timetable engagement. These are key opportunities to share information,
provide discussion and identify further ways of working closely together.
Attendees at the TfW Regional Stakeholder Forums include representatives
of many organisations which are also strategic partners of GWR.
In addition to the regional stakeholder forums, we run a TfW attended and spoke at the GWR stakeholder
twice-yearly Transport Liaison Group meeting. Amongst conference recently and contributed to various
those attending these meetings are representative breakout sessions.
organisations like the Severn Tunnel Action Group, who
also have relationships with GWR. Several of the forums that we attend - Forest of Dean
Economic Partnership and the Marches LEP Transport
GWR and TfW are members of the monthly Joint Offcers group, etc. – have remits that include areas
Communications Board, chaired by us and attended by served by GWR. TfW are also directly involved with the
industry partners including Network Rail and BTP. This Gloucestershire Community Rail Partnership.
group works on proactive solutions to communications,
major event and extreme weather planning, and Finally, GWR recently supported us in producing a
opportunities to work together on campaigns and safety video to promote the £7.5 million Swansea station
related initiatives. improvement project.
Previous 21 Next12.0 Bus Branch Route
We’ve been working closely with our Local Authority partners to better
integrate rail with bus services. This work is a key objective of the
National Bus Strategy which will lead to bus industry reform from April
2022. Our Integrated Transport strategy identifed three key bus routes
where partnership working with bus operators and local authorities would
maximise the benefts of enhancement schemes:
Totnes to Kingsbridge and Salcombe
In partnership with Devon County Council (DCC) and Tally
Ho Coaches (THC) , we offcially launched the upgraded
164 linking Totnes with the South Hams area of Devon on
17 September. We worked with DCC and THC to ensure
that the bus timetable provided good connections our
Paddington services. DCC’s funding enabled the frequency
of bus services to be increased to a basic hourly pattern,
matched with the hourly pattern of the train service.
We supported the initiative by funding and planning
marketing and other methods of making the service as
Kingsbridge bus station showing the integrated
visible as possible to potential customers. This included
branding on the bus shelter and bus
branding on the buses, branding at Kingsbridge bus station,
adding announcements advertising the route at Totnes
station and on-board trains, leafeting, media releases along
with adding the service to the our network map. We also
repositioned the bus stop at Totnes station to ensure that
buses were as close to the station entrance as possible and
are the frst option that customers see when leaving trains.
We continue to work with DCC and THC on ensuring the
integration is as robust as possible, and we are working
on the introduction of through ticketing from stations on
the National Rail network to Kingsbridge and Salcombe,
improving visibility of the service along the route’s bus stop
infrastructure by supporting new signage and stickers.
The launch of the upgraded 164 service, with Totnes to Salcombe now featured on the GWR
representatives from GWR, Cllr Andrea Davies from network map
Devon County Council and Tally Ho Coaches
Previous 22 NextOkehampton to Tavistock
Working again with Devon County Council, we were keen
to ensure that passengers of the reopened ‘Dartmoor
Line’ from Exeter to Okehampton had a sustainable
onward travel option available to them from the frst day
of operation.
We supported bus operator Dartline Coaches to provide
good visibility of upgraded route 118 by funding the
application of an eye-catching livery to the route’s buses
designed to link trains and buses as a single travel option.
Devon County Council has funded the bus operator
to provide good connections between rail and the 118
which includes some attractive fare discounts available ‘Rail Link 118’ added to the GWR Network Map
to holders of rail tickets. Providing a rail bus service
between Tavistock and Exeter. Bourne End to High Wycombe
We have also ensured visibility of the 118 on trains and This bus route is slightly different to others in that it
stations by introducing new announcements, supporting provides infll between two railway stations not served
the installation of advertising at the route’s bus stops and directly by train.
a marketing campaign highlighting the through journey
opportunities between Tavistock and destinations on the We’ve been working with Buckinghamshire Council to
National Rail network. Tavistock has also been added to enhance visibility of the route and highlight its integration
the GWR Network Map as a connecting bus service. with rail to potential passengers. This includes funding the
installation of railway branding to key bus stops along the
route along with ongoing development work to improve
bus interchange facilities at Bourne End station and work
towards acceptance of through rail tickets between
Bourne End and High Wycombe stations in the future.
‘Rail Link 118’ branded buses for the Okehampton to GWR sponsored signage to be installed at bus stops
Tavistock service between High Wycombe and Bourne End
Previous 23 Next24 14177/1221/redrocket.co.uk
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