Danny Hawkins, formerly a station manager at Stratford and Ebbsfleet and now a Facilities Delivery Manager in Network Rail High Speed has been awarded a British Empire Medal (BEM) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
One of four people in Network Rail to receive an award this year, Danny is being recognised for his work with local schools and charities, including devising a programme to educate school children on how to stay safe near the railway.
Danny’s extensive work focused on bringing together the local community and the station staff to improve safety and build lasting ties with local charities.
Danny worked with local schools and the British Transport Police to put together a programme to educate local school children about safety on the railway. He arranged visits for eight local schools to the HS1 stations, with approximately 200 children visiting the station.
He also worked The Gr@nd in Gravesend, a healthy living organisation to put together a Health and Wellbeing award scheme for the stations. He arranged for healthy living machines to be brought in and created a reflection room for people to be able to pray or have time for themselves. Following Danny’s hard work, Network Rail was awarded a local preferred employer and presented with the award by the mayor of Dartford.
Danny said: “I’m really proud to receive this award and big thanks to the people that nominated me. Thanks especially to the teams in Ebbsfleet and Stratford who came together to help make a real difference to the lives of many local people. Congratulations too to the other Network Rail winners, John, Rajinder and Simon on their awards.”
Danny also created and developed a Management Development course, helping the Stratford and Ebbsfleet teams to realise their potential and giving them key skills for their professional development. The course included interview preparation and CV writing skills; it was such a success that it was rolled out to include local train operating companies.
Anthony Barnes, Managing Director (Interim) of Network Rail High Speed, said: “I’m really happy to see that Danny has been recognised for all of the hard work and effort he put into local schools and the community during his time as station manager. He went above and beyond to educate local children about the dangers of the railway which is so important in this industry. His work to improve the health and wellbeing of those around him is outstanding, well done Danny.”
