London Underground Named Train Operator of the Year
London Underground (LU) received major recognition at the Rail Business Awards in central London by winning the biggest award of the night.
The organisation picked up Train Operator of the Year, one of the most coveted awards in the rail industry. In announcing LU's success, the judges singled out the commitment to service, and communication with customers, as demonstrated by:
- Reducing average train journey times by 13 % since 2002/03
- Modernizing the Tube network with a focus on reliability, further improving accessibility and the increased comfort experienced by customers on LU's new air-conditioned trains
- Delivering an overall customer service satisfaction score of 85 last year, matching the all-time high achieved in 2014
These improvements have been driven by the Mayor of London's relentless focus on improving Tube services. By driving forward the innovation and modernization of services, delays on LU services have fallen to the lowest ever level. This has been achieved while carrying record levels of customers on the Tube, with 1.3 billion journeys made in 2014/15.
Nick Brown, managing director of London Underground, said, "We're delighted to receive this major accolade in recognition of our Tube services but also for our commitment to customer service, which is at the heart of everything we do. Our aim is to give our customers the very best service possible, while building a modern and efficient network that is capable of meeting the needs of London's growing population. Our huge Tube modernization program is at the heart of our work to deliver on this commitment and we are always striving to improve the service we provide."
LU is carrying out a huge program of modernization with major stations, trains, track and signalling being updated or replaced to provide more capacity and reliability for a growing city. The next major phase of this work will bring faster, more frequent and more reliable journeys to millions of passengers who use the Circle, District, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines.
A vital modernization of the signalling and train control systems for those lines is expected to begin later this year and the main benefits will be delivered by 2022.
An extension of the Northern line to Battersea is underway, alongside re-development work to increase capacity at key stations and make them step-free. This includes major modernization of Victoria, Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street stations.
More than half of LU's 270 stations have now been modernized or refurbished to make them brighter and easier to use, with improvements such as tactile strips, better CCTV and help points, electronic information displays in ticket halls and on platforms and improved seating and lighting.
In addition to customer service, the Rail Business Awards judges looked for excellence in the following areas: development and introduction of new services and products, performance improvements, safety and security achievements, and integration with other transport services.
Also shortlisted at the awards were the Pan-TfL Asset Management Training team for excellence in Training and Development.
