East Midlands Railway (EMR) and its partners have been awarded a Golden Whistle Award for their work in introducing the EMR Connect fleet.
The project team which includes members from EMR, Network Rail and Siemens won the award on the category of Outstanding Operator/Operating Team.
The award recognises the project as it helped resolve a key issue with the certification of Network Rail’s overhead power lines that EMR Connect uses.
EMR worked with Network Rail to overcome numerous hurdles to be able to fit special equipment to a 12 car Class 360.
The judges were impressed with the way EMR worked to solve problems and worked collaboratively with Siemens and Network Rail.
Paul Barnfield, Operations Director at EMR spoke on the work done to win the Golden Whistle Award.
Mr Barnfield said: “We are delighted to win this award.
“It highlights the hard work and dedication of our team to quickly and efficiently collaborate with other partners to meet deadlines.
“[This was] critical to bring our new EMR Connect service to customers.”
Steve Hopkinson, East Midlands Operations Director for Network Rail commented on the awarding of the Golden Whistle Award.
Mr Hopkinson said: “Winning this award is testament to the fantastic alliance we have with EMR.
“By working together, we’re able to provide passengers with a forward-thinking, safe railway.
“Many of our teams worked incredibly hard to make this happen.
“It’s great to see them being recognised.”
