Joe Graham

Said the following about GWR External Communications Team:

“The GWR External Communications Team have relished in and delivered excellently the PR activity for the new fleets of trains; customer information for major railway possessions particularly when London Paddington was closed over Christmas; and playing a major role in the communications for the Champions League Final. They have proved to be a great asset to the company and the industry in an important time of change.

With great enthusiasm, they have worked closely with their industry partners at Network Rail, Hitachi Rail Europe and the Department for Transport to drive forward an ambitious yet achievable communications plan for the new Intercity Express Train (IET). This was shown through the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the first monarch to travel by train, where HM Queen Elizabeth II boarded a new IET to make the journey from Slough to London Paddington, and then to name the unit in front of the national and international media.

They are committed to making sure that all parts of the network are involved in the telling of this story, which is why they helped push for an IET to run from London Paddington to Penzance for an event, with the two videos from the day generating a combined total of 43,000 views organically.

Sam Fisk from Hitachi Rail Europe has been working closely with them on IET, “We really enjoy working with the GWR team on major communications projects because of their creativity and commitment to collaborating with industry partners. From hosting the Queen to social media campaigns – the GWR team have been great work with.”

The team have packaged it as the ‘biggest fleet upgrade in a generation’, with two new train fleets being introduced, as well as other fleets moving to other parts of the network – it has been a story has been told through PR activity from London to Bristol. In alliance with Network Rail – who have built newly electrified wires to Maidenhead, they have promoted the new Class 387 with a platform showcase at Paddington, a launch event at Maidenhead station and PM Theresa May opening the new sidings at Maidenhead.

Russell Neilson from the Department for Transports adds, “The GWR comms team have worked with a cross section of the Department to identify and seize the PR opportunities of their new fleets. Ensuring it reflects on the step change the investment will have for passengers now and into the future with great enthusiasm and creativity; testament to the strong relationship we have with the communications team and always good to see in this industry.”

All the material has been captured in short videos that have been pushed through social media to engage with customers, promote the new trains and create general excitement for everyone involved. Through organic reach, their Maidenhead extended service launch video reached 8.1k views and the Sleeper refresh video achieved 7.4k views, to name a couple.

Social media plays a key part in this team and its success. GWR proudly boasts one on the biggest followings for a Train Operating Company, and over the past 16 months, positive sentiment has increased by 117%, on average 6.5% increase period on period. In addition, twitter impressions averaged at 5 million per period year to date with Facebook reach was 77k per period on average year to date. Around 80% of messages were responded to within 10 minutes year to date where we receive 24k messages a period.

The team is committed to delivery strong customer information during major improvement work – most notably the closure of London Paddington over last Christmas. It proposed a challenge that had the Department for Transport and Network Rail nervous – using Ealing Broadway as the London rail-head. Learning from the Finsbury Park fiasco of 2014, the team pulled together documentation that showed key messaging and operational differences to the errors made at Finsbury Park, allaying initial concerns. There was a detailed webpage with alerts on the GWR and National Rail Enquiries websites, and publications across the network. The team pushed messaging to change customers’ behaviour and go against the journey results in the planners due to accessibility constraints at Ealing.

Richard Griffiths, Head of Communications for Network Rail Crossrail who worked on Ealing project with the team said: “Working in alliance with the GWR team is always a pleasure. Whether we are celebrating the good news of new trains and upgraded infrastructure; or advising passengers of service changes due to our improvement work, they are always keen to work closely with us so that we talk as one railway for the benefit of passengers.”

Major events on the network are regular; the biggest one that the communications team had worked on was the Champions League Final in Cardiff. With 170,000 people expected in the city on a Saturday night, GWR worked collaboratively with Arriva Trains Wales, Network Rail, Cardiff Council and the Football Association of Wales to create a one voice for travel advice. Operationally, there were changes to the ticketing which needed to be communicated to travellers, some of which were implemented for the first time – including hourly time slots for travel. Other key messaging was around managing background demand, making customers aware that services would be busy that day, and deterring any non-essential travel. The successful delivery of this was a proud day for everyone associated with GWR.

Jon Foley, who represented the FAW says, “The event proposed a massive challenge to the rail industry. The GWR team set about learning from the lessons from the Rugby World Cup, to deliver communications as part of our travel demand management team that gained deserved acclaim from the Welsh Government and UEFA.”

It certainly is a busy time at GWR, and what impresses me about the communications team is that they are zealous to seize every opportunity to make railway history where they can. The changes on the Great Western are a once in a generation occurrence, and the team is driven and proud to help celebrate the investment in their region.“