Introduction Judges


Steve Agg (chairman of the judges) Chief executive officer of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport


Roy Campbell Marketing programme manager for IBM


Paul Clifton BBC transport correspondent for southern England and Rail Professional contributor


Alan Whitehouse BBC transport correspondent for northern England


Paul Brasington Writer and communications consultant


Giles Fearnley Chairman of the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK


Tony King Former chairman of the Railway Industry Association and director of Jacobs


Sanjay Mistry Public relations consultant


Mark Hughes


Regional manager of Interfleet Technology Ed Wells


Head of assurance at Tube Lines


Chris Daughton Chief executive of the IRO


Peter Plisner BBC transport correspondent for the Midlands and Rail Professional contributor


Alan Marshall Director, Railnews


Bert Blissett Rail and freight consultant


David Hatcher Managing director of Promise Development


Rail Professional magazine has been the main media partner for the awards for many years and we always look forward to the chance to celebrate the best of the railways. The magazine is just one of more than 20 publications produced by our team at Cambridge Publishers. These cover a range of trade sectors including brewing, electrical contracting, building services and shipping. Our experience of reporting on, and


analysing, these sectors puts us in a good position to compare and contrast how the rail industry is performing in relation to other industries. As we have reported in Rail Professional over the past 12 months, there is certainly plenty to celebrate: n Passenger numbers are the highest they’ve been in peacetime since the 1920s;


Whitehouse Page two Alan


n The railways got off more lightly in last autumn’s Comprehensive Spending Review than many of us feared they would – with HS2, Thameslink, Crossrail and some electrification projects all confirmed;


Mike Sewell


Welcome to the 2010 Rail Business Awards


Mike Sewell, managing director of Cambridge Publishers, the publishing house that produces Rail Professional, looks at some of the highs and lows of the last year


n The coalition government has made a policy commitment to award longer, less prescriptive franchises, a move that has been generally welcomed by the industry; and


n On the freight side, Eurotunnel’s purchase of GB Railfreight appears to show a real commitment to driving up freight traffic through the Channel Tunnel. This should give UK rail freight carriers more opportunities than ever before for European business. Continuing with the positives, overall


it’s fair to say that the disruption caused by the cold weather this winter was less dramatic than had been the case the previous year. It’s also worth noting that the trends for train punctuality times and customer satisfaction were largely positive and, most importantly of all, the railways’ safety record has continued to be good. But of course complacency is not an


option – and it hasn’t all been good news in the past year. It’s frustrating, and bad for business, that two major rolling stock orders are still delayed, the Intercity Express Programme and Thameslink. The recent announcement of the


closure of the Wrexham & Shropshire Railway Company is also a great shame. From the passenger point of view, there has been a big increase in rail fares, which has led to plenty of negative publicity for the railways. Finally, I’d like to play tribute to some


of the industry’s most iconic figures, who have announced their retirement in recent months, including Moir Lockhead, Keith Ludeman, Ian Brown and Bill Emery, all of whom have graced the pages of Rail Professional over the years. They will be much missed – but we


all know that, for any industry to thrive, it needs a constant flow of new blood challenging the established order. And this is recognised in this year’s Rail Business Awards.


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