In this issue
Welcome to the Red Letter
A message from Amanda Hines, General Manager (EBW)
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
New café bar opens at Virgin Trains’ Stoke Station
New transport partnership in the West Midlands holds first meeting
HS2 works
Virgin Trains supports the launch of the Bear Grylls Adventure at ‘Bearmingham International’
Virgin Trains holds Employability Academies with offenders in the West Midlands
CRP Corner
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
Future projects
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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