Together Weekly - 05.07.24

TOGETHER WEEKLY

STUDENTS FROM NEW BRIDGE COLLEGE ENJOY DAY OUT ON TPE NETWORK TO LEARN ABOUT ROLES ON THE RAILWAY

Nine students from New Bridge College in Oldham were treated to a tour of different locations on our network to learn more about the roles that the railway has to offer. The students, aged between 16 and 18 from the Activ8 Sports Pathway course, visited key locations as part of the Duke of Edinburgh Gold award expedition.

Our colleagues Driver Assessor Paul Moss and Driver Don Coffey showed them around Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport and Ardwick Depot.

Taking a Class 397 service to the airport, the group got to see some of the different roles that our colleagues do every day, such as working on the gate line, interacting with customers and also the duties of a conductor. From there, they visited the Manchester Piccadilly signalling centre where they were shown how trains are signalled on the network and what a typical day in the life of a signaller looks like. They then visited the Simulator at Ardwick Depot, and all took turns to drive a ‘train’, before touring the workshop, the driver’s cab

of a Class 397 and 185, and the sidings. Huge thanks to Operational Development Manager Andy Dyson-Bell who helped with these tours.

Driver Assessor, Paul Moss said: “It was a pleasure to give the students from New Bridge College a tour of a few key locations on our network and show them some of the roles that our colleagues do. We had a great day and the students really enjoyed it. We’re looking forward to working with the College again in the future.”

Students from New Bridge College enjoyed a day out on the TPE network to learn about different roles on the railway

CELEBRATING OUR NEWLY QUALIFIED DRIVERS

Huge congratulations to newly qualified drivers Paul Wilby and Kate Holmes who have recently completed their driver training.

Sheffield driver Paul is pictured below left with Anita Wright, Operations Development Manager before his maiden voyage, setting off on the 09.11 Sheffield to Manchester Oxford Road Tuesday 25 June. Paul worked as a firefighter for 20 years before joining TPE in 2022.

TPE TV AD WINS TOP AWARD

A huge congratulations goes to our Marketing team and our former creative agency Mfuse, for winning the Video/ Film/Ad: Short Form award for our most recent TV advert at the Prolific North Creative Awards. Well done everyone, including of course our TV ad superstars bucket and spade!

And Liverpool driver Kate Holmes passed out after her extensive training and had her maiden solo journey from Liverpool to Huddersfield on Friday 28 June. Kate has progressed from being a conductor at Liverpool to driver, and will now take up her position in the Link at Lime Street Station.

Well done to you both!

PRESTON DRIVER DAVE ROBERTS TO RETIRE AFTER 32 YEARS ON THE RAILWAY

Preston driver Dave Roberts will leave the business this month after 32 years on the railway.

Preston Driver Manager Tracey Upton, said: “All the best for your retirement Dave, you will be missed and leave big shoes to fill at Preston!”

Enjoy your retirement Dave and thank you for your service!

Sheffield driver Paul pictured with Anita Wright, Operations Development Manager

Liverpool driver Kate with John Roden, Operations Development Manager, just before her maiden voyage

From L-R: Dave Roberts with Paul Marks, Tracey Upton, Preston Driver Manager, and Lee Riley.

Congratulations to our Marketing team for scooping a top accolade at the Prolific North Creative Awards

TRU UPDATE: FIRST WEEK OF MAJOR UPGRADE WORKS THROUGH DEWSBURY GOES WELL

The first of four weeks of Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) engineering work on the line through Dewsbury has got off to a good start, with all eight planned milestones having been achieved.

One key change during this possession is the new rail replacement bus stop for Leeds came into use on Monday 24 June, moving from Neville Street to Wellington Street, following feedback from industry colleagues and customers. To prepare for the change, colleagues from across the industry worked overnight to get the new location and all station wayfinding prepared.

During the first week, engineers from Network Rail have renewed 800 meters of track and installed two cross-track drains, which encourage surface water to run away from the tracks. They also completed four trial holes for overhead line equipment, which are dug to confirm that there are no buried services within the footprint of the proposed foundation.

The blockade through Dewsbury and Morley will continue from Mondays to Fridays until 19 July. In the meantime, our services between Leeds and Huddersfield will be diverted via the Healey Mills diversionary route.

PULLING TOGETHER: Our Managing Director Chris Jackson and volunteers from across TPE descended on Cleethorpes last weekend to support those travelling to the annual Armed Forces Day. The annual event is one of the biggest on our network, with more than 200,000 people attending.

FLYING

THE FLAG FOR TPE

A huge well done to Chris Jeffery, our Accessibility & Transport Integration Manager, who flew to Vienna and represented TPE at the recent World Passenger Festival.

Chris was invited to talk about the great strides TPE has taken to make our network accessible for people with hearing impairments.

Well done, Chris!

Colleagues Kieran Jarvis (left) and James Taylor (right) went out of their way to replace signage

Chris presented at the recent World Passenger Festival in Vienna

Chris spoke about how TPE is working to make our network more accessible for people with hearing impairments

Congratulations to Paula from Adelaide Primary School in Hull, who was the winner of our Rail Safety Week poster competition to encourage children to keep off the tracks.

The poster will be displayed in station poster cases and on digital screens across our network.

LONG SERVICE MILESTONES FOR MAY AND JUNE

Congratulations to the colleagues who celebrated long service milestones in May and June.

MAY

Five years

• Stacy Lough, HR Advisor, BWH

• Marie Palmer, Customer Service Team Leader, Leeds

• Liam Elliott, Driver, York

• Sophie Walker, Rail Contract Manager, Bridgewater House

• William Reilly, Driver, Glasgow

• William Carroll, Driver, Glasgow

• Martin O'Donnell, Driver, Glasgow

• Adrian McLaughlin, Driver, Glasgow

• John Mullen, Driver, Glasgow

• Ian MacIver, Driver, Glasgow

• Mark Graham, Driver, Glasgow

• Mark Smith, Driver, Glasgow

• Andrew Gay, Operational Development Manager, Glasgow

• Scott Thomson, Driver, Glasgow

• David Bruce, Driver, Glasgow

• Damien O'Kane, Driver, Glasgow

• Frank Malone, Driver, Glasgow

• Richard Hemphill, Driver, Glasgow

• Stuart Roach, Driver, Glasgow

• Gary Mcnaught, Driver, Glasgow

• Philip Muir, Driver, Glasgow

• Simon Moore, Driver, York

• Stephen Greer, Driver, Manchester Piccadilly

• Neil Parker, Driver, Manchester Piccadilly

• Daniel Owen, Performance Delivery Manager

- South Route, BWH

• Sau-Moi Tam, Data Project Manager, BWH

10 years

• Paul Marks, Driver, Preston

• Ian Jessop, Conductor, York

JUNE

Five years

• Grant Powell, Operational Development Manager, York

• Ian Fennelly, Driver, York

• Eleanor Mintram, Duty Control Manager, The Roc

• Robert O'Neill, Driver, Glasgow

• Yvonne Harvey, Conductor, Preston

• Katherine Dorries, Conductor, Liverpool Lime Street

• Andrew Mitchell, Conductor, York

• Stuart Cottrell, Driver, Scarborough

• Lee Marshall, Driver, York

10 years

• Edward Cockburn, Conductor, Manchester Airport

• Iain Edmondson, Conductor, York

• Carolyn Smith, Customer Service Supervisor (RSA), Scunthorpe

• Warren Fontana, Conductor, Preston

• John Sultana, Driver, Preston

25 years

• Daniel Clarke, Conductor, Newcastle

GOING THE EXTRA MILE!

Our customers are always sending us amazing comments about our colleagues, and in fact, we received 64 positive comments praising our fantastic people in period 3 –the highest we’ve received in a long time! Here are just a few of the comments we’ve received recently:

“Excellent service in 1st class carriage. Greeted everyone & kept all tables clean. Lovely friendly service. All staff on board friendly but in particular Sarah. A member of staff to be proud of.”

“Lorenzo has been very attentive and engaging with customers while serving the whole carriage, with patience and a smile. He has probably made me want to use First Class more as I travel regularly on Glasgow trains to North West. He is a credit to your company.”

“I just wanted to send some praise to the ticket inspector on my train who dealt really well with a man who hadn’t bought a ticket before boarding. She was calm and dealt well with a difficult situation!”

“As a wheelchair user, I changed my travel to 1 hour earlier from Scarborough to York. Martin was very helpful sorting Passenger Assist and making sure York Station knew I would be there earlier. Excellent service from TransPennine colleagues.”

“My friend and I would like to compliment the staff member that dealt with the verbally abusive passenger on Sunday He handled the situation very well, calmly and very professionally. The passenger concerned was very verbally aggressive to other passenger. Very well done He is a credit to your company”

“Hello, the man wheeling the catering trolley was absolutely fantastic on the 16.14 Newcastle to Edinburgh TransPennine Express service today (19/06/2024). Please send him my warmest regards and a big thank you for how superbly he looked after me today. A top man. Thank you very much.”

Steve O’Callaghan, Safeguarding and Crime Prevention Lead, with Paula from Adelaide Primary School