c2c wins two awards at prestigious Rail Awards Ceremony

C2c, Britain's most punctual and reliable railway, and one of the National Express Group's franchises, last night scooped two awards at one of the rail industry's most prestigious events.

At the National Rail Awards ceremony c2c came top in the Best London Suburban Operator category. Only last week rail performance figures for the whole country showed c2c to be the nation's most punctual and reliable train service, with an average performance (punctuality and reliability combined) of 93.7% for the year ( c2c's highest annual average ever), and with peak punctuality standing at 98.3%.

With customer priority, after safety, being punctuality, c2c's performance is addressing customer demands for a reliable service. Echoing the citation at the award ceremony, a jubilant Leila Frances, c2c's Route Director, said: We have achieved this award through careful attention to detail, a close working relationship with Network Rail, and through our 'Commitment to Customer' programme which trains, guides and motivates staff in customer service. This award is a huge reward for everyone who has worked so hard to ensure that the label Misery Line has become and remains a distant memory. But most of all we are celebrating the fact that our customers are now getting the service they demand and deserve - the best in the country - and I will be working with my team, Network Rail and the Maintenance team at East Ham to keep the service at this level and improve still further .

Maintenance has indeed been one of the key factors in achieving such high levels of performance so it is perhaps not surprising that it was c2c's Train Maintenance Depot at East Ham that came top in the category Maintenance Team of the Year . C2c's new trains - the Class 357 Electrostars - were eagerly awaited but were soon beset by a host of deep seated problems. East Ham's Fleet Manager Tony Smith took command of the situation, developed, with Bombardier, a strategy for solving the problems and turned the situation from one where trains were regularly being cancelled or short-formed as a result of faults, to one where 99.98% of trains required to run the service are available each day.