Greater Anglia staff recognised for innovations that improve service for customers

Greater Anglia has recognised staff who came up with innovative ways to improve the train service for customers.

The train operator gave out awards at its annual Innovation Conference, naming the company’s Head of Performance and Planning, Keith Palmer, as ‘Innovation Catalyst of the Year’ for his tireless efforts to explore new ways to improve train performance and for the support he gives to his teams and colleagues.

Also recognised as ‘Ideas of the Year’ were the installation of free water fountains at Ipswich, Cambridge, and Chelmsford rail stations for reducing plastic waste - already saving over 10,000 single use plastic bottles from being thrown away - and the Virtual Reality events held across the region which enabled people to experience Greater Anglia’s brand new fleet of trains in advance of them arriving in the UK next year.

The company’s new ViTa ticket machines, that connect you to a real person who can help, won the ‘Making Life a Little Easier’ Innovation Award.

Greater Anglia’s Managing Director, Jamie Burles, said, “Behind all these brilliant innovations that are improving passengers’ experience are our employees, who are continually coming up with ways to improve the service for customers.

“When we hear great ideas, we’re always willing to explore how we can put these into practice and have an innovation fund set up to achieve this, as part of continually improving the service we provide.”

During the conference Greater Anglia was also presented with a Silver Accreditation for Innovation by external auditor, Ideas UK, for the way it focuses on innovation to improve its service.