A wide range of green achievements has been celebrated at Network Rail’s 2008 Environment Awards which took place at London’s Natural History Museum on Thursday 3 July.

The awards, presented this year by keen conservationist and BBC's Springwatch presenter Bill Oddie, highlight best practices across the rail industry and promote the importance of environmental and social responsibility.

This year’s winning entries include the regeneration of Chester railway station, the protection of a Site of Special Scientific Interest at Great
Stukeley and the innovative use of recycled polymers in rail engineering.

With over 20 short-listed entries the judging panel, including Network Rail’s chief executive Iain Coucher and other board members, had a challenge to choose the best schemes and projects in each of the seven categories.

Iain Coucher said: “This year’s nominations have once again demonstrated the rail industry’s commitment to protecting and enhancing our environment. Network Rail puts sustainability at the forefront of everything it does and is proud to showcase and recognise the work of industry partners with the same values.”

The seven categories and winners in each are:

Biodiversity British Trust for Conservation Volunteers - Weekday
Conservation Team

Great Stukeley Railway Cutting is a Site of Special Scientific Interest near Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. The Weekday Conservation Team worked over a two-year period to provide an improved environment on the site for biodiversity to flourish.

Community Partnership: Cheshire County Council

The Chester Station Gateway project is the regeneration and renovation of Chester station and its surroundings as a major gateway and economic hub to the city. The partnership includes Arriva Train Wales, Cheshire County Council, Chester City Council, Merseyrail Electrics, Merseytravel, Network Rail, North West Development Agency, Railway Heritage Trust, Virgin Trains and Visit Chester and Cheshire. Over the past five years the partnership has worked to secure £10 million of planned investment and many parts of the scheme are already underway.

Efficiency: Southern

Southern established an energy saving awareness campaign to reduce environmental impacts and costs of energy use. In 2007 the company achieved a reduction in gas usage of 39 per cent, electricity usage of 13% and a reduction in its carbon footprint of 17 per cent.

Individual: South West Trains

Dave Smith from South West Trains maintenance team reduced the consumption of electricity at Fratton Traincare Depot through the introduction of light sensors and a ‘save power’ scheme. Through the ‘Switch it off’ campaign Dave encouraged his colleagues to save 130,000kWh of electricity over the course of a year.

Innovation: Trojan Services Ltd

Trojan has developed TroTrof made from recycled polymers which can be used as a replacement for concrete troughing in cable ducting. TroTrof requires four times less transport,  thus reducing carbon emissions. No damage occurs during transportation and installation eliminating the additional transport for disposal and replacements of rejected troughs.

Rail Crime Prevention: Arriva Train Wales and Cardiff Youth Offending Service

Arriva Train Wales in conjunction with the Cardiff Youth Offending Service delivered a series of five station environmental enhancement projects as part of their community reparation. Projects focused on stations which suffered from vandalism and overgrown vegetation and highlighted that with the dedicated support of supervisors and the opportunity to prove their ability, young offenders can make a real difference in their communities.

Team Contribution: May Gurney

A dedicated in-house environment team was formed to tackle the environmental challenges faced in the work the company delivers for Network Rail. The team have implemented internal projects to reduce, reuse and recycle; engaged Global Action Plan to help audit and manage the company’s carbon footprint; and established an internal initiative ‘Making A Difference’ to influence the behaviour and culture within the company.