Carla Watts

Said the following about Steve and Alison Melanophy and Kramer:

“Electric education

Western route reaches out to more than 30,000 students ahead of line electrification

Western community safety managers have reached out to 30,200 young people in more than 65 schools within 4,000 metres of a newly electrified part of track to talk about safety on the railway in just 4 months

Network Rail is electrifying the Great Western Main Line (GWML) and community safety managers have been working tirelessly against very tight deadlines to educate young people about electrification and how they can keep themselves and others safe on the railway.

Steve Melanophy and Alison Kramer, community safety managers in Western, delivered talks across schools between Tilehurst and Didcot using Learn Live video technology to deliver real-time safety lessons to schools remotely.

Their hard work ,dedication and planning that went into talking to so many children and young people about safety has reaped benefits as they successfully delivered the plan ahead of the energisation date (2 July) and is the largest undertaking of any type around rail safety

Trespassing and safety

Trespassing on the GWML takes place every day and some of those incidents involve young people and teenagers.

Their work with the schools is helping educate our young people about the dangers of trespassing and ensuring they use the railway network safely by using level crossings and foot crossings properly and staying off the tracks.

As a company that puts safety first they we're really pleased to be given this opportunity inform the young people more about the project and how they can keep safe on the new electrified railway.

Both have been instrumental in making a real difference to the communities that they work in and although schools have been their principal focus it is brilliant that they have been able to arrange, attend and demonstrate superb NR values and their achievement has been remarkable.

Steve and Alison are extremely professional and positive about all their interactions with young people and communities and their continuous focus in making sure that everyone they meet are clear and educated about the dangers of the railway and in particular electrification.

They are set to continue this terrific work and throughout the project 1215 schools will have been informed about the dangers.

Both Steve and Alison helped train the employees of Balfour Beatty to deliver the Crossrail school programme and their energy and passion has shone through and they have delighted a huge number of community groups including Scouts, Cubs, Guides, Asian Womens Network, and numerous other groups that are too many to mention.

They work brilliantly together and their huge contribution to the electrification project cannot be underestimated.

Fantastic work and such great feedback from all those young people and communities they engage with

Excellent teamwork and fantastically deserving of this nomination.“