The RailStaff Awards 2024

Jeff Anderson

CrossCountry Trains

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Nominations for Lifetime Achievement Award

Richard Thackray

Said the following about Jeff Anderson:

“At the end of August 2018, Jeff Anderson retired from his role of Senior Traincrew Diagramming Specialist at CrossCountry Trains after 43 years as a diagrammer. Following just under 4 years on British Rail (Scottish Region), 14 years both at Paddington and Swindon (Western Region), Jeff has been part of the Cross Country operation for the last 26 years, through BR, Virgin and finally with Arriva.

During his career Jeff has seen numerous timetable changes and has consistently been able to work with the wider business and industry to identify the best solutions to any diagramming challenge. His ability to work fairly and communicate with all of those around him has allowed him to always bridge the gap between office and front-line functions, generating significant respect from those around him for in exchange for the respect he gave them alongside his encyclopaedic knowledge of diagramming. Even in his final year Jeff played a key role in the delivery of the traincrew diagrams for the 79-day Derby Blockade, and has been a major part of a Train Planning team with an excellent record of meeting both deadlines and accuracy measures.

Jeff's ability as a diagrammer has seen him excel in his role on the railway, but it is with his general persona and demeanour that we realise how important he has been. He has trained an incredible number of new entrants to the world of diagramming, with even the last few years the success demonstrated with 3 of the last 4 CrossCountry diagramming placement students returning to the role following the completion of their studies. His ability and willingness to communicate the complexities of traincrew diagramming to people from all walks of life has made him a unique asset to CrossCountry and the railway in general.

His approach to his work has always been positive and has made the challenging times much more manageable than they may at first seem, with his dedicated approach helping with major infrastructure issues over the last few years such as the collapse of the Dawlish Seawall and the Harbury landslide being specific examples. His dedication to his work was a key factor in ensuring that plans were amended and reissued and disruption to passengers was minimised.

Jeff has given wonderful service to the railway over the last 43 years through his traincrew diagramming and has done so whilst winning the admiration and friendship of countless numbers of colleagues. He has inspired those around him to work to a very high standard whilst ensuring they enjoy their day to day lives.“