ScotRail is up for several top awards at the upcoming Scottish Transport Awards 2020.
Projects ranging from accessibility on Scotland’s Railway, to the train operator’s communication with customers, have been shortlisted for awards at the ceremony, which is due to be held at the Crowne Plaza in Glasgow on Thursday, 24 September 2020.
Now in its 18th year, the prestigious Scottish Transport Awards 2020 brings together the transport community to recognise and celebrate industry achievements across Scotland.
Among the nominations is ScotRail’s rollout of a digital information tool on board its trains, in the Excellence in Technology and Innovation category.
Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-R is an international wireless communications standard which allows ScotRail’s signalling control centre to make customer announcements through the trains on-board PA system.
The digital communication system, which was previously only used as a secure and dependable way for train drivers and signallers to communicate, was rolled out to ScotRail’s fleet of electric trains in Strathclyde as a customer information tool in 2019.
ScotRail’s communication with its customers during a complex period of engineering works at Haymarket in late 2019 has also been shortlisted in the Excellence in Travel Information and Marketing category.
Improvements to accessibility have been recognised in Excellence in Transport Accessibility category.
During 2019, ScotRail took a number of steps to make Scotland’s Railway more open and accessible including the rollout of Grace’s Sign - bathroom sign that symbolises people with invisible conditions - at its accessible toilets, installation of a new Changing Places facility at Dundee station, reducing the notice period for assisted travel bookings to two hours, and the rollout of the Interpreter Now App - a ground-breaking app for deaf and hard of hearing customers.
Network Rail’s improvements to access Kilwinning station under the Access for All scheme has also been shortlisted in the Excellence in Transport Accessibility category.
ScotRail’s partnership with Network Rail, Transport Scotland, BAM Nuttall and Siemens Mobility during the Aberdeen to Inverness Improvement Project is up for Transport Team / Partnership of the Year Award.
The project, which has been completed in phases, has seen the delivery of a new station at Forres and more than 10 miles of new rail which has transformed journeys for customers, bringing more services and more seats in the north east of the country.
The delivery of Robroyston station, along with a new park and ride facility has also been shortlisted in the same category.
Alex White, ScotRail Chief Operating Officer, said:
“I’m thrilled to see so many projects, delivering countless benefits for our customers, shortlisted for these prestigious awards.
“Beyond the effect that the COVID-19 outbreak has had on our services, Scotland’s Railway is so much more than running trains from A to B - we provide freedom to travel, connect people with jobs, business with customers, tourists with destinations.
“I wish our teams the very best with their nominations because these projects have helped to deliver a railway that we can be truly proud.”