1 Great Western Railway Annual Stakeholder Report 2015-16 2 3 Contents 1.0 Managing Director Foreword 5 7.0 Keeping Our Communities Prospering 34 7.1 Customer and Communities Improvement Fund 35 2.0 Mark Langman, Network Rail, Route Managing Director, Western 6 7.2 Train named after last trenches survivor 38 7.3 Prostate Cancer UK 38 3.0 Our strategic priorities and GWR Business Wheel 8 7.4 Bristol pound available for use at Bristol Temple Meads 39 7.5 Community Rail Partnerships 40 10 4.0 Delighting Our Customers - Severnside Community Rail Partnership 41 4.1 Becoming GWR 11 - Heart of Wessex Community Rail Partnership 42 4.2 Highest ever passenger satisfaction 12 - Devon & Cornwall Community Rail Partnership 44 4.3 Network Rail and GWR Alliance 14 - TransWilts Community Rail Partnership 46 4.4 New footbridge and lifts at Chippenham 15 - Three Rivers Community Rail Partnership 48 4.5 Kingham Car Park 16 7.6 Corporate responsibilities 49 4.6 Cornwall Freight 16 4.7 Pewsey Footbridge 17 8.0 Driving Business Growth 52 4.8 Trowbridge Station Improvement 18 8.1 East North Cotswolds and North Downs 53 4.9 Brompton Dock Reading 19 8.2 West Speed to the West 56 4.10 Cornish Wine on the Pullman 20 8.3 Wales Rugby and Wales 58 4.11 Success for Assisted Travel 20 8.4 Central Taunton Station update and Bristol Temple 59 Meads Masterplan 5.0 Disciplined Operations 22 5.1 Performance 23 5.2 Silver RoSPA Award 25 6.0 Great People 28 6.1 Golden Whistle Awards 29 6.2 Rail Business Awards 29 6.3 HR Awards 30 6.4 Excellence Awards 31 6.5 Prince’s Trust Get into Railways Scheme 32 6.6 Employable Me documentary 33 4 5 1.0 Managing Director Foreword Welcome to our annual report to stakeholders which looks back over our first year as GWR. We are proud of our new name and our new ethos. Together with our staff, our customers and our partners we are harnessing the spirit of Brunel; recreating his innovation and drive for improvement to the Great Western railway. This is not a return to a heritage rail service. This is a changes, but we are willing to innovate and work with renaissance of rail looking clearly to the future. A leap the DfT and Network Rail to maintain momentum and to forward to a new level of service with brand new trains, deliver for our customers. We will let you know if there an electrified railway and a total commitment to the are any changes in the delivery dates, but for now, we communities we serve. continue to work to our previous timetable. We could not do it without you and we are pleased This year’s report contains our first ever update on our that over the last year we have been able to deepen Customer and Communities Improvement Fund. We our partnerships, and to make new, strong links with were delighted with the bids we received and with the communities right across our business. We recognise our quality and range of projects now funded. This fund is role in economic regeneration and we are more than willing all about levering finance for schemes that would not to play our part in giving back to the regions we serve. normally receive rail funding; schemes that support areas of social need. It has worked better than we ever Last year we published a separate report “Our new expected and we are looking for a second bumper round Great Western franchise” detailing the benefits this new of entries for next year. franchise brings for every area of the network. Many of those commitments are repeated here and we are More than ever this franchise is about partnership, it is continuing to work with you to deliver profound changes about engaging with the communities we serve, keeping in capacity and comfort for our customers. people moving and finding solutions for an increasingly congested world. We know we do that better when we It would be wrong for me not to temper this by noting the work together with you, and my team and I would like recent report to Government by Sir Peter Hendy, new Chair to say “Thank You” for another great year of delivering of Network Rail. Sir Peter’s report, and revised delivery for customers, communities and the local and regional plans for Network Rail’s work on the Great Western have economy. It is a pleasure working with you. been the subject of a Department for Transport (DfT) consultation that has not yet reported back. We don’t yet know the full impact of this on our Best wishes commitments. However, you have my assurance that we are determined to deliver as much as possible as close as Mark Hopwood, possible to the original timescales. There may need to be Managing Director 6 7 2.0 Mark Langman, Network Rail, Route Managing Director, Western The Western Route is undergoing the biggest period of investment since it was first built, over 175 years ago. This is excellent news: it's recognition of the vital role that the rail network plays in the functioning of the country after a long period of post-war neglect. However, it's also a formidable challenge to those of Ultimately, our plans are about improving the things that us who are involved in the work. Passenger numbers matter to rail users: more seats, greater capacity, faster are higher now than at any time since the 1920s and more reliable services for everyone – commuters, and much of the infrastructure and rolling stock is business or leisure travellers, and the freight services on showing its age. which our economy depends. The future of the railway in the Thames Valley, We could not hope to achieve those goals without a close West of England and Wales is bright. Electrification partnership with Great Western Railway; both in the represents a huge step forward for the network and delivery of major infrastructure enhancements and in will have a transformational effect on everyday travel, day-to-day performance improvements. Over many years, especially when allied to the other programmes Mark Hopwood and his team have proven to be reliable which are underway: Crossrail, the Western Rail Link and robust partners in all our undertakings, and we have To Heathrow and the route-wide signalling upgrade enthusiastically worked together to improve passenger amongst others. outputs and raise standards. It was with this in mind that we moved to formalise our joint working arrangements in Whilst we look forward to delivery of those projects, March by signing an alliance agreement. passengers rightly expect performance improvements today. So we are also devoting time and effort to fixing I am confident that this ever-closer working relationship some of the problems which have plagued the service will continue to provide benefits for rail users for many in recent years. One of my first actions following my years to come, and I look forward to the future of the appointment was to introduce enhanced maintenance western route’s railway. regimes and rapid-reaction repair teams for those Best wishes parts of the network which were worst affected by poor reliability. This has already begun to reap Mark Langman, rewards in terms of daily performance measures and I Route Managing Director, Western confidently expect this trend to continue. Network Rail 8 9 3.0 Our Strategic Priorities ds D Delighting our customers dar ed an ica Bringing improvements to our business for st g te t perin d the long term benefit of our customers and s os Di to he pr sci managing the factors that impact customer g es pli sa i ti ne f satisfaction and analysing customer research. h i PartnershipsMeaningful e n d t e u op y th m e m ra g o t n c Reputation i i r o t u n Disciplined operations Safety t o s e g Finding ways to improve our service delivery S in and manage the factors that impact customer p e Train Service satisfaction, while maintaining and developing e Environmental Performance our commitment to safety. K Impact Capacity S Re-value rail in u Great people p A Recognising that our goals will only be delivered p c Compliance the hearts and Colleague o c with our colleagues’ commitment and seeking r G o Development t D r out new ways to deliver the best customer minds of the i u e r v experience possible. i a n v e t t i n travelling public p a Colleague o g e b f o b Engagement l e e u p a l Keeping our communities prospering s e f i Profitability Transformation c Working to engage with the wider o n h r e o communities we serve to deliver a p s s Agenda t e h sustainable future in a socially responsible g ExperienceCustomer r e r f r way, so we become integral to their o o r w Securing infrastructure and a preferred partner with m th Investment solutions for their local needs. a n c Customer e Satisfaction s er Driving business growth tom cus Driving the revenue and profitability of our Delighting our s business, meeting our franchise obligations and er tom securing more third party investment for the C cus benefit of our customers. ommitted to our 10 11 4.1 Becoming Great Western Railway Delighting Our On 20 September 2015 First Great Western was renamed Great Western Railway (GWR), marking the biggest investment in the railways since Brunel.