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“Over the last 5 years, the railway from London Paddington to Cardiff has been undergoing the biggest transformation since Brunel, with massive investment in infrastructure and the largest fleet upgrade in a generation.
The result of this huge upgrade programme enables Great Western Railway (GWR) to run a staggering extra 140,000 trains per year operating a transformational timetable - delivering thousands of extra seats, more frequent services and quicker journeys.
2018 and 2019 have been pivotal in the transformation of the railway with the delivery of crucial infrastructure works on an unprecedented scale, including: electrification from London to Cardiff and Newbury, upgraded signalling systems around Bristol and throughout the west of England, remodelled track layouts at Oxford and Bristol, and important flood alleviation work near Exeter, all against a background of a maintenance and renewals programme which would have presented a significant set of challenges in their own right. Furthermore, GWR has replaced its entire High Speed fleet with brand new trains during this time, and this in turn enabled a network-wide rolling stock upgrade to take place simultaneously. The past two years have seen an absolutely unprecedented amount of change.
To deliver the Greater West Programme there have been 537 weekend possessions of at least 27 hours in length and 35 major possessions in the last two years alone. From Penzance to Paddington – there has been a blockade somewhere on the route almost every week.
The communications teams at Network Rail and GWR have worked collaboratively to minimise the impact; proactively informing passengers, communities and stakeholders every step of the way, and helping to keep customers moving by delivering a timely and comprehensive communications package intended to raise awareness, explain the benefits and provide clear and concise journey solutions.
To manage this service disruption with minimal negative feedback from passengers and lineside neighbours is remarkable. To have worked in true alliance – two comms teams working as one to inform passengers, communities, media and stakeholders – is what makes it all the more outstanding.
Our co-working approach is now part of our day to day communications way of working and is one that we have built on for 2019 and beyond.
It has truly been a year of transformation for the railway and this Alliance comms team has delivered on every challenge set in front of it.“
“I just wanted to say a personal thank you to you and your excellent team! I was really pleased to be awarded the Highly Commended award on Saturday night and can't thank you all enough. I have really been grateful for your backing and have been heavily supported by everyone at Rail-Media during my first year of trading and this topped it off. I was very proud to receive the nomination and making the top three was incredible, I believe strongly that this is down to the team I have around me in advance-TRS but also the external teams such as Rail Media that have offered me advice and direction whenever called upon. I must offer a big thanks to Lianne for her kind words on the night, I was really impressed with the whole evening and think she deserves a big pat on the back (and some throat sweets). I must also thank Asif and Paul for their continued backing and availability on the phone whenever we are in need of deadlines and advice. I look forward to working with you all for many years to come, Thanks again,”
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