The Golden Whistle Awards are an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate exceptional performance within the railway operations sector. The awards aim to recognise the achievements of outstanding operators and teams who contribute significantly to the industry.
Established in 2010, the annual programme consists of a morning conference, guest speakers, a networking lunch and a prestigious awards ceremony.
Most of the Golden Whistle Awards are determined through objective analysis of industry-generated statistical data. This year, the Gold Whistle for Best Individual Operator/Operating Team was adjudicated by a panel of CIRO judges to recognise exceptional contributions that exceed standard expectations.
The awards ceremony, hosted by Modern Railways, was held on Friday, 7th March. Our CEO, Phil Sherratt interviewed Network Rail’s CEO, Andrew Haines as part of the morning conference, it was an insightful and valuable conversation to witness firsthand.
Winners in each category were presented with a gold whistle for best-in-class performance and a silver whistle for most-improved performance.
The 2025 award recipients are listed below:
Gold – Greater Anglia
Silver – West Midlands Railway
Gold – Merseyrail
Silver – Transport for Wales
Gold – Greater Anglia
Silver – TransPennine Express
Gold – Greater Anglia
Silver – Freightliner Heavy Haul
Gold – Scotland
Silver – Wales and boarders
Based on arrival to fifteen moving annual averages scores of FOCs.
Gold – Rail Operations Group
Silver – Freightliner Heavy Haul
Gold – Northern
Silver – Jubilee
Right time – Limerick to Galway
Delay minutes – Cork to Mallow
Gold – Ian Brightmore, Network Rail
Silver – Simon Rawlings, Chiltern Railways
HC – Jamie Geraghty, National Rail and John Badrock, National Rail
Gold – Mendip Rail Recast Project (Freightliner, Network Rail, Mendip Rail, Heidelberg Materials, Aggregate Industries)
Silver – Christmas 2024 Strategic Co-ordination and Passenger Handling Teams (Network Rail, Rail Delivery Group, Department for Transport, East Midlands Railway, Govia Thameslink Railway)
HC – Coffee Cup Run (LNER, Network Rail)
Dick Fearn
We congratulate all the winners and look forward to witnessing their continued contributions to the advancement of railway operations.
