11 November 2019
The Railway Industry Association (RIA), the voice of the UK rail supply community, has announced the winners of its inaugural Rail Industry Supplier Excellence Awards (RISE). The winners, who were announced at the RIA Annual Conference dinner on 7 November in a ceremony presented by renowned transport broadcaster Simon Calder, were awarded for the value they bring to the rail supply industry, whether in innovation, exports, environment and sustainability, safety and wellbeing or diversity and inclusion.
Incremental Solutions receiving the Unlocking Innovation Award
Winners included:
- SME Exporter in Rail Award: Rail Products UK
- Growth in Rail Award – Micro Business: Railway Project Services
- Growth in Rail Award – SME: AEGIS
- Environment and Sustainability Award: Siemens Whyteleafe South Substation Renewal
- Diversity and Inclusion Award: Costain Skanska JV
- Unlocking Innovation Award: Incremental Solutions
- Safety and Wellbeing Award: Siemens Health & Wellbeing Strategy
- Future Leader Award: Emily Shaw, TSP Projects
- Client of the Year Award: John Halsall, Route Managing Director South East, Network Rail
Darren Caplan, Chief Executive of the Railway Industry Association, said: “Congratulations to all of the winners of the Rail Industry Supplier Excellence Awards! This is the first year of holding these awards, which seek to celebrate the valuable contribution RIA’s rail supply industry members make to the UK. It really has been great to see the many fascinating and innovative projects, and to recognise so much excellence from RIA organisations and individuals. Well done to all!”.
Winners
SME Exporter in Rail Award: Rail Products UK – Sponsored by Unipart Rail
Judges Comments: “Rail Products demonstrated a strong rise in exports growth, quadrupling sales in the last year, with a shift away from the saturated UK market, to European and Australasian markets, manufacturing road/rail Mobile Elevated Work Platforms (MEWPs), to meet many international technical and legal requirements.”
Growth in Rail Award – Micro Business: Railway Project Services – Sponsored by Rail Products
Judges Comments: “RPS has grown from one person in 2017 to eight in 2019, with healthy sales figures and growth targets. RPS’s accolades and client testimonials cite them as industry-leading, unique, refreshing and ‘what the industry needs’.”
Growth in Rail Award – SME: AEGIS – Sponsored by Siemens
Judges Comments: “Growing from 5 to 50 people, and more than trebling the number of clients, with early achievement of growth and profit targets achieved, AEGIS Engineering present a strong and compelling demonstration of sustainable growth, built on remaining true to their core values – Do the right thing; Passionate; We care; Excellence and Respect”
Safety and Wellbeing Award: Siemens Health & Wellbeing Strategy – Sponsored by Costain
Judges Comments: “We know that organisations are safer where people trust their line manager, a great initiative!”
Environment and Sustainability Award: Siemens Whyteleafe South Substation Renewal – Sponsored by Viper Innovations
Judges Comments: “An example of a project delivered with environmental impact in mind and with cost savings.”
Diversity and Inclusion Award: Costain Skanska JV – Sponsored by XRail
Judges Comments: “Costain Skanska JV’s initiative called Our Diversity Our Strength (ODOS) was highly effective in solving business challenges using EDI (Equality Diversity and Inclusion). It had impressive outcomes that chose to tackle an issue that is embedded in the construction culture. An amazing initiative, which shows that if you are focused, what a difference you can make.”
Unlocking Innovation Award: Incremental Solutions – Sponsored by Thales
Judges Comments: “The judges thought this a good example of collaboration, it uses existing means of collecting image data and it meets Network Rail’s goal of moving infrastructure sensing technology onto service trains.”
Future Leader Award: Emily Shaw, TSP Projects – Sponsored by Sopra Steria
Judges Comments: “Emily has demonstrated leadership skills by taking her ideas and incorporating it into a business as usual environment”
Client of the Year Award: John Halsall, Route Managing Director South East, Network Rail
Judges Comments: “John was nominated because of his bold vision of a true partnership between Network Rail and their key suppliers, delivering value for all stakeholders. Using the “putting passenger first” vision to unite the Region and its suppliers to deliver better outcomes”
-Ends –
About RIA: The Railway Industry Association (RIA) is the voice of the UK rail supply community. We help to grow a sustainable, high-performing, railway supply industry, and to export UK rail expertise and products. We promote and represent our members’ interests to policy makers, clients and other stakeholders in the UK and overseas. RIA has 290+ companies in membership in a sector that contributes £36 billion in economic growth and £11 billion in tax revenue each year, as well as employing 600,000 people—more than the workforce of Birmingham. It is also a growing industry with the number of rail journeys expected to double over the next 25 years and freight set to grow significantly too. RIA’s membership is active across the whole of railway supply, covering a diverse range of products and services and including both multi-national companies and SMEs (60% by number). RIA works to promote the importance of the rail system to UK plc, to help export UK expertise around the globe and to share best practice and innovation across the industry. www.riagb.org.uk