The RailStaff Awards 2024

Nominations for Lifetime Achievement Award

Lynn Crump

Said the following about Jon Bunyan:

“Jon Bunyan joined Freightliner in November 1984 as a Supplies Clerk. Since then he has undertaken various roles culminating in his current position as General Manager, UK Operations Projects.

Jon’s knowledge of the Freightliner train plan and the wider network is unsurpassed. He deals with it like a living breathing animal. It’s thought that Jon has memorised all of Freightliner’s train plan data for around 150 services daily - which includes, not only head codes and arrival/departure times, but also the routes, train length, train weights and type of loco required.

One of Jon’s biggest assets is his ability to build partnerships and consensus – and quickly. He always manages to bring all the stakeholders to the table without coercing regardless of department, be it operations, engineering, commercial teams or external rail partners. He gets things moving effectively.

He has the ability to generate consensus when required or more definitive decision-making when necessary, that always seems to gain support and win over the teams involved.

Further to his rail data knowledge mentioned above, Jon’s contacts, both senior and at ground level, are also impressive. He knowns who to deal with to get things moving, whether that’s a senior director, a site manager, Network Rail or the shunter out in the field.

Jon, over the last 25 years, has directly contributed to the success of Freightliner as a business. His skills and knowledge have allowed Freightliner to move more trains, move longer trains, improve train plan efficiency and has provided better fluidity and connectively between all our departments and areas.

Jon’s projects are never-ending. There is always a new challenge to deliver or an existing process to improve. Most recently, in the last year or so, he has unlocked the wider potential of our Southampton operation with savings in the region of £1 million by helping implement a better train plan, taking our wagon requirement down by approximately 120 wagons per day nationally with more to come, without any loss of business.

Further, his development work with each individual site this year has seen efficiency improvements that either reduce cost or open up sites to allow growth.

Finally, Jon is universally respected in the rail freight industry, but, most of all, Jon is simply a top man who can be trusted and relied upon in every situation.

A very worth nominee for the RailStaff Lifetime Achievement award.“