South Western Railway has announced that the team in charge of delivering passenger services during the London Waterloo upgrade works has scooped the Special Award at the  Institution of Railway Operators / Modern Railway’s Golden Whistles on Friday 26 January.

The Golden Whistle Awards are dedicated for those who work in railway operations and recognises individuals and teams who go beyond expectations in terms of delivering a service.

The awards were presented by Dick Fearn, who is former CEO of Irish Rail and Fellow of the Institution.

He was joined by Tim Shoveller, who is Managing Director, UK Rail, Stagecoach.

SWR won the Gold award and beat the Old Oak Common Open Day to the award, who went away with silver.

What did the officials say?

Chris Loder, speaking on behalf of the delivery team which included Network Rail and South Western Railway, said “It was an honour to collect this Special Award on behalf of everyone involved in the project delivery. The £800million Waterloo upgrade programme in August 2017 involved a huge effort from a number of teams to ensure things went as smoothly as possible.

“This meant keeping stakeholders closely informed about the upgrade plans and at the same time ensuring that our passengers were always at the forefront of our thinking. Changing franchises in the middle of the works was a significant challenge but we managed to overcome this with the support of our colleagues at Network Rail and also with operational continuity.

“The Waterloo upgrade programme will ultimately provide the biggest package of improvements to London Waterloo since the 1930s. We have already extended platforms 1 – 4 to allow longer 10-carriage trains to run to London suburban stations. By December 2018, the former Waterloo International Terminal will be brought back into use with modern facilities, new track and signalling, and a layout that meets the needs of passengers.”

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