In this issue
Welcome to the Red Letter
A festive message from General Managers Gaynor Stewart and Michael Stewart
Business news
Virgin Trains scraps Friday afternoon peak restrictions
Investment in bodycams by Virgin Trains sees staff assaults drop by more than half
Businesses set to benefit from Virgin Trains and Eurostar collaboration
Virgin Trains launches ‘It's A Wonderful Line’ Campaign
All aboard! Virgin Trains holds ‘Rookies Academy’ at stations during half term
Virgin Trains wins ‘Training Team of The Year’ and ‘Rail Safety Team of The Year’ at Rail Staff Awards
Virgin Trains gets prisoners job-ready with innovative training programme
Virgin Trains launches exclusive Runcorn car parking tariffs
Inspirational quotes on station platforms prove a hit with passengers
Virgin Trains supports Lancashire Day
CRP Corner
Conwy Valley CRP update
Crewe – Manchester and South East Manchester CRP Update
Virgin Trains celebrates 170th birthday of Alsager Station – the Jinty Project
Moving Pictures Fun Palace on the North Staffs Line
Donna Louise art work at Crewe and Tutbury and Hatton Stations
Duke Street Walking Group take the train
Investment in bodycams by Virgin Trains sees staff assaults drop by more than half

We have become the first UK train operator to provide body-worn cameras to cover all our frontline people, resulting in assaults on staff falling by more than half.

 

Following a pilot scheme, we rolled out 275 cameras across the entire network. Assaults on our staff have reduced month by month in 2018, from 20 in March to 6 in September.

 

Results from a survey revealed that more than 80% of our staff felt safer at work while wearing bodycams and nearly 90% would recommend them to colleagues.

 

We have also given the British Transport Police (BTP) direct access to footage from the cameras, if needed, thanks to our state-of-the-art cloud-based system that allows them to view the footage when the cameras are docked – speeding up investigations and possible prosecutions. This has already led to one conviction so far, following an incident in April this year on a train in Wolverhampton.

 

Work is now underway between rail companies and the BTP to develop a joint rollout of the technology across the country.

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