TransPennine Express named Train Operator of the Year and Rail Business of the Year

TransPennine Express, which runs rail services between Stockport, Sheffield and Cleethorpes, as well as other long distance routes across Northern England, has been named named Train Operator of the Year and Rail Business of the Year at a national awards ceremony.

The rail operator also won the Marketing and Communications Excellence Award and was highly commended in the Education and Training Excellence category at the 24th Rail Business Awards.

TransPennine Express was recognised at the awards for its progress is rebuilding trust and confidence with customers. Despite the pandemic, the company grew passenger numbers during 202 and now has performance back at over 90%; franchise-holder, First Group, was at risk of losing the TransPennine franchise over poor reliability in early 2020.

In the Marketing and Communications Excellence category, TransPennine Express picked up the award for deploying a marketing and communications campaign reassuring customers that train travel was safe as the country emerged from the pandemic. The campaign was a success with 82% of customers feeling reassured, 71% feeling positive about rail travel and 75% were encouraged to use trains.

In the Education and Training Excellence Category, TPE secured a highly commended for their work undertaken at the Learning and Development Hub located in Huddersfield where the Mission Room, a state-of-the-art facility of which offers interactive and immersive display systems is located. The facility is also home to the TPE apprenticeship programme which currently has the highest conversion rate ever into full time employment.

Matthew Golton, Managing Director for TransPennine Express, who attended the awards ceremony at London’s Royal Lancaster Hotel on 23rd February, said:

“I’m delighted that we have been named Train Operator of the Year and Rail Business of the Year as well as picking up the Marketing and Communication Excellence Award, it’s a fantastic achievement.

“I’m thrilled to see that the hard work of our colleagues has been recognised at this level and it feels particularly special given the challenging backdrop of the pandemic over the past couple of years.

“At TPE we want to be at the heart of delivering positive change for rail customers and for the communities that we serve in the North of England and into Scotland and I’m looking forward to building on our success and working with our colleagues and stakeholders to realise that.”