York station receives top award at National Rail Awards

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Train operator East Coast is celebrating after York station picked up two awards at the National Rail Awards 2011.

The station, which is managed by East Coast, was named as the best Large Station of the Year in its category before going on to scoop the ceremony’s top honour, the overall award for Station of the Year, beating 2,500 others to achieve the title at the prestigious awards ceremony in London last week.

The National Rail Awards recognise excellence and achievements in the UK rail industry – and are seen by many as the equivalent of the industry’s ‘Oscars’.

The ‘Station of the Year’ award, which is judged in three sections – small, medium and large – looks for stations that excel in providing a smooth, efficient and pleasant departure and arrival point for their customers.

The judges summed up the station’s winning qualities, commenting:

“York is a fine station that benefits from its architecture and has stood the test of time. It is a very efficiently run station and is as good as it can be: basically, it’s got it all.”

East Coast Managing Director Karen Boswell said:

“We are absolutely thrilled at the double achievement of our team at York station, and it is testament to their hard-work and commitment to delivering the highest standard of service to our customers that we have scooped this fantastic accolade.

“We’ve made major improvements to the station, including expanding the retail offer and working with partners to install better cycling facilities, including recently opening cycle access ramps at the north and south ends of the station. These have been a long term aspiration for many people across York.

“York is one of the most visited places in the UK. It now has an award-winning station to be proud of that gives visitors a fantastic first impression of the city.”

The awards follows a successful re-launch of the East Coast First Class complimentary food and drink service on 22 May, which resulted in a rise of 29% in passenger numbers in the four weeks to 23 July – the biggest rise seen on the East Coast route in the last five years.

22 May also saw the introduction of a new timetable to the East Coast Main Line, the biggest in 20 years, bringing an additional 19 extra weekday services, more seats and faster journey times.

East Coast managed stations, Durham, Doncaster and Retford were also shortlisted at the ceremony for the Large and Medium station awards, whilst its skilled maintenance staff at Craigentinny depot in Edinburgh and shunters in Bounds Green depot in London, were shortlisted for the Outstanding Teamwork Award and Safety Award respectively.

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