Northern scooped the top award at last week’s National Transport Awards, winning the accolade of Transport Operator of the Year 2011 in the Rail category.
The judges were full of praise for the way Northern has improved performance and reliability, its approach to working with stakeholders and its success in attracting 38% more passengers since the start of the franchise in 2004.
Professor David Begg, chair of the judging panel, said:
“Northern’s franchise is unrecognisable from the original ‘steady state’, with no growth, no station investment and no rolling stock, it was supposed to be. Reliability of its fleet has improved by 45%, and Northern provides its passengers with real value for money.”
Ian Bevan, Managing Director of Northern Rail, comments:
“This is the second time we have won this award in the last four years and we are obviously delighted to be recognised for our efforts in this industry.
“As the judges commented, we have achieved fantastic business growth despite being awarded a franchise of no investment and this is great recognition of all our employees who work hard to provide the best service possible to our customers.”
The awards were held at the Lancaster London Hotel on Thursday 6 October.
