David Ross

Said the following about Graeme Bulloch:

“The ScotRail communications team won widespread plaudits for its work during the Beast from the East – a once in a generation weather event, which caused significant transport disruption across Scotland. The team worked tirelessly 24/7 for the duration of the storm to communicate effectively with customers during a very fast-moving and challenging situation.

During the five days of the storm, the ScotRail Twitter team dealt with 26,000 incoming messages – more than four times the average figure for five days. The ScotRail app server dealt with 35,000 individual requests in a single minute and our website received 4.79 million hits between 27 February and 4 March – an increase of 398 per cent compared to the same time last year.

The ScotRail Twitter account increased its follower by more than 12,000 people in just five days and ScotRail social media posts reached the timelines of more than 25 million people.

The media team dealt with hundreds of requests, with senior figures from the ScotRail Alliance appearing on a number of Scottish national TV and radio programmes over the course of the five days. A number of videos and photographs shared on ScotRail’s social media account were also used on prominent news websites and TV programmes.

The ScotRail Twitter received plaudits from the media https://bit.ly/2CRYtDI and many customers took to social media to praise the work of the ScotRail communications team.

The work of the communications team

The communications team worked round the clock to keep customers informed during the Beast from the East.

This covered a series of channels:

- Social media, notably Facebook and Twitter

- The media

- Internal communications

- Key stakeholders

- The ScotRail website

- The ScotRail app

- Customer information outlets (for example information monitors at stations)

The calm before the storm

Ahead of the Met Office’s red weather warning, the ScotRail communications team advised customers to prepare for the worst. We advised customers that our Integrated Control team was gearing up for the Beast from the East - https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/968096350352105472.

We also provided customers with top-tips for travelling during major disruption. This was to ensure customers knew exactly where to turn to access the most up to date information about services. Customers found this very informative and a useful guide to travelling during the Beast from the East - https://www.scotrail.co.uk/plan-your-journey/passenger-disruption

Service information

During each day of the storm, we provided detailed updates to customers about what was happening with their services.

This included not only operational service information, but commentary around the challenges faced by the ScotRail Alliance. This significantly improved the understanding of customers, the media, and other key stakeholders about the challenges we faced.

These updates were drafted by the media relations team, and then communicated through various channels. Examples of these regular updates on social media include: https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/969218703299661824

The social media team also provided vital public service information for customers, directing them to other transport providers to ensure they had the most up to date information. An example of this can be found here: https://twitter.com/ScotRail/status/968560120043945984

Going above and beyond

The social media accounts were covered from 5am until late into the evening – with members of the team working until midnight dealing with customer inquiries. One member of the social media team was unable to travel home for two nights in a row. He stayed with a friend the first night and ScotRail provided him with a hotel the second night. He and another colleague both walked for more than an hour on multiple days through very heavy snow to get into the office and cover the social media and media desks during the disruption.

The media relations team was also on-call 24/7 to handle the hundreds of media enquiries during the storm.

Employee thank you messages

A key factor in developing the understanding and support of customers was to praise the work of the thousands of ScotRail Alliance colleagues across the country working flat out to get the railway back open again. These thank you messages, posted on social media, generated a lot of goodwill with customers and key stakeholders.

Photographs and videos

The use of photographs and videos was key to providing the media, customers, and other key stakeholders with an understanding of the challenges ScotRail faced during the Beast from the East. These photographs and videos made it clear to people just how treacherous the conditions were, in a way that words never could.

The photographs and videos that we published were shared thousands of times by customers on social media, and were used frequently by the media – including the national TV news.

Media

During each day of the storm, the ScotRail media relations team adopted a very pro-active approach to dealing with the media. Rather than acting in a defensive manner, as can often be the case with organisations during challenging times, we reached out to the media and offered access to senior figures within the ScotRail Alliance. Our managing director Alex Hynes did a number of print and broadcast interviews at stations in both Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Alliance infrastructure director, David Dickson, also conducted numerous interviews from stations. These interviews featured prominently in the news bulletins of both TV and radio outlets during each day of the Beast from the East.

An example of one such interview can be found here: https://twitter.com/STVNews/status/970000973115592704

The pro-active approach of the media relations team won favour with the media, and was key to communicating the major challenges faced by the railway during the storm.

The work of the ScotRail communications team during the Beast from the East was praised by customers, politicians, and the media.

The Sunday Post, a major national newspaper with a large circulation, wrote an article praising the social media team’s handling of the storm.

The story can be read here: https://bit.ly/2CRYtDI

Leading industry commentator Nigel Harris, editor of RAIL, praised ScotRail’s ‘non-stop PR to enable understanding’ - https://twitter.com/RAIL/status/970252594059927553

Here is some feedback from customers on Twitter:

• Thanks to all @ScotRail staff for keeping things going as long as you did today. You're all a bunch of stars.

• From my experience today...

Can I just say that @ScotRail have done a really good job despite the huge problems.

Communication was top notch at Haymarket. Kept us all well up to date. Train was a tight squeeze but cosy 😄

Home now & thanks 👍

• @ScotRail thank you ScotRail staff for being conscientious going to work, ultimately allowing people to get home safely today. Hope they are all appreciated and that they got home safely too.

• @ScotRail Thank you for getting my son back to Glasgow tonight. Five hour taxi trip from Perth, but he’s now home 11 hours after setting off from School in Aberdeen. Wish we knew name of taxi company to thank them too. #thankyou #epicjourney

• Heroes - thank you. Was tough going from Edinburgh to York on the 13:00 at Dunbar but thank you to those freezing outside @ScotRail for getting us there safely. Hope you are home having a good warm cup of tea or a pint now!

• @ScotRail I usually give Scotrail a lot of grief, but take me hat off to them for getting people home safely yesterday. Thanks guys 😁

• @ScotRail You guys are by far and away the best Twitter response team about. Keep up the good work. 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

• You have been brilliant! You’ve kept us all informed and the photos have been fab!

The then-Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, wrote to ScotRail Alliance managing director Alex Hynes to praise the work of all those working on Scotland’s railway for their hard work during the Beast from the East. In a private message the managing director, the minister also specifically praised the work of the communications team.

This was a once in a generation event, and the ScotRail communications team worked 24/7 for the duration of the storm to keep customers informed. The team did this with professionalism, good-humour, and dedication at all times, despite a very difficult situation. The praise the team received from customers and the media highlights the excellent job it did.“