Dominic Carey - **HAS LEFT**

Said the following about Train Planning, Train Service Delivery, Resourcing & Rosters:

“Great Western Railway (GWR) is one of the biggest rail franchises in the UK, part of the First Group of companies, operating the Western network since 1996, rebranding ourselves as GWR in 2015. We employ over 6000 people across our network and we carry more than one and a half million customers over two million single journeys on 10,000 services every week. People are at the heart of our business and our ethos is that we are 'greater together'.

This nomination is to recognise the incredible efforts of three teams, who have worked collaboratively to ensure GWR has been able to deliver excellently for our customers through some of the operational challenges faced during 2021. Specifically adapting and delivering numerous iterations of a revised trainplan for Covid throughout the year, adapting and delivering a revised trainplan for the IET unit issues (under carriage faults) and other unplanned situations.

These teams being: Train Planning, Rosters & Resources and Train Service Delivery. for the category of Accountable for Performance.

All three teams have gone above and beyond throughout the year to deliver the best possible service for our customers, with an unswerving focus maintained on sustaining best possible performance.

These teams are the glue that holds the wider business together and the decisions made have the ability to make or break service delivery for our customers.

Covid had a very significant impact on the teams workload which increased five or six times to the level seen in a usual year and a usual set of circumstances. By working closely together and supporting each other they’ve been able to get through a really a tough time and deliver the best possible performance outcomes.

The following covers some specific examples of how the three teams have performed exceptionally through 2021 and into 2022…

There were numerous timetable changes planned and delivered in short order between January and May 2021. These all required significant work to complete, working together cross functionally to decide the best service provision with Covid absence in play, challenges around traincrew with correct traction/route knowledge and growing customer numbers. The teams were able to work to identify priorities around what was needed and make sure the timetable proposition was as robust as it could be.

In May 2021 they faced one of their toughest challenges for many years. The IET ‘cracks’ identified in early May quickly threw the service proposition into dis-array with day to day uncertainty developing around how many trains we would have available to operate the service.

The three teams stepped up to work creatively and in a synergised fashion to tackle the challenge together, working collectively to take arrangements seamlessly from theroretical into fully planned arrangements as quickly as possible, with support provided in the interim to get services shown correctly in our systems for our customers.

A completely revised trainplan was developed in a matter of days, much quicker than in other disruptive events - a testament to how hard colleagues worked in all three teams to get this done. Regular review of the plan and available set requirements took place to make sure they were robust in their decision making about the plan. Innovative solutions were planned and delivered by the teams including involvement of other TOCs to cover routes and services.

In addition they quickly planned to deploy Class 387s onto routes and services that had not seen their use of before. The plan was refined and adjusted over the summer to take account of stakeholder feedback with a number of key user groups commenting on how well the arrangements had been put together. This had a significant positive impact on the reputation of the business as a result.

The Summer presented a number of wider challenges and the team again went above and beyond to deliver. One primary challenge was the very significant possession at Bristol that affected the whole of the Summer period. This required a focus from the three teams on what we were able to deliver during the block, whilst ensuring we had sufficient crews trained on the new layout for the end of the blockade, all against the backdrop of a high number of crews off with Covid. They regularly reviewed the plans together and reduced the trainplan if required in a timely manner so they were able to offer a deliverable level of service. The three teams have had significant unplanned and late changes to deal with as well at very short notice.

A major rail incident in late 2021 was another example of how the three teams did exceptional work in a short period of time to ensure we were providing a good service. The trainplan was revised and published within just three days - which is exceptional and a validation as to the focus sustained by the three teams. There were also several short notice possessions and other items of work the teams worked on to help get the Railway re-opened again as normal following the incident.

Most recently towards the end of the year, there was a high volume of work again due to the impact of Covid and the new Omicron Variant. This has required considerable revision of timetables throughout the Christmas and New Year Period, and beyond. The teams worked under incredible pressure and exceptionally short timescales to develop and deliver fully effective plans that enabled us to deliver as much of the service as possible.

This work was undertaken cross functionally to ensure they delivered the best possible results for customers, with Train Planning supporting both Train Service Delivery and Resources by providing resilience plans.

Overall the three teams have worked exceptionally hard through 2021 and into 2022 to ensure GWR has been able (whatever the challenge faced) to deliver the very best possible service for our customers.

These teams have had a significant impact on the wider GWR business and have directly ensured we have stayed a strong performer within a National context, in terms of our service performance and industry measures.

The teams are made up of a great collection of talented and dedicated individuals who have bene and remain fully committed to doing the right thing for our customers no matter the effort, time or energy required.

The following stakeholder comments were made in respect of the IET ‘cracking’:

“I understand that GWR has managed to provide some kind of service to almost every station on IET routes, including hire of Cross Country sets between Swindon and Bristol. In the circumstances, it is a great achievement to run trains to practically every GWR station and offer my congratulations” Nigel Bray Rail Future.

“It’s a testament to the quality of the operation which First provides that what could have been a major crisis has been mostly resolved through people and organisations cooperating and focusing on solutions - well done” Cornwall Council.

“Can I take just a moment of your time to congratulate you and your colleagues that despite having lost 90 IEP units with the Hitachi safety recall GWR has still managed to provide a service to just about every station on the GWR network the only station not being served is Pewsey. Pretty amazing work achieved within just a few days and an excellent example of customer service.”. Colin Major Rail Future.

The following stakeholder comments were made in respect of the Bristol East works:

"I would like to pass on our thanks to you and all of the teams involved for a job well done. This was a very significant piece of work, not least all the rail replacement buses, and it has all gone as smoothly as could have been expected". Andrew Wiles – Somerset County Council

"Well done to all at GWR and Network Rail who have worked hard on this important project, both recently and behind the scenes pressing for it to be funded. It will make a real difference. FoSBR looks forward to the new Metro West services, quadrupling of the line from Temple Meads to Parson Street and the work needed for the improvements listed in the recent Bristol- Gloucester strategic study. We hope that GWR will be working with other stakeholders to press for these too!" Rob Dixon – Chair, Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways.

These three teams really do set the standard for others to follow – their level of agile working and synergised dedication is truoly amazing, and we are incredibly proud of them and their efforts. We hope that others also feel that they are deserving of wider recognition, and we see them have their moment in the spotlight at this year’s RSAs.“