NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR ENVIRONMENT AWARDS - DEADLINE NOW EXTENDED TO 19th MAY

Tuesday 13 May 2008

NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR ENVIRONMENT AWARDS - DEADLINE NOW EXTENDED TO 19th MAY

Region & Route:: National

The search is on across Britain to find first class environmental practice within the rail industry. Network Rail has opened nominations for its annual Environment Awards and is looking for organisations and individuals who are making a difference in the rail environment.

The awards are open to all organisations and individuals involved in the rail industry including local authorities, community groups, suppliers and contractors. Rail has an important role to play in building an environmentally-sustainable future and the awards have been recognising best practice in the industry since 2000.

The winners will be chosen by Network Rail Chief Executive Iain Coucher with members of the executive board and announced at a special awards dinner in July at Natural History Museum.

Iain Coucher said:

“As the most environmentally-friendly and sustainable form of transport the rail industry has high standards to maintain. The Network Rail Environment Awards recognise and encourage industry-wide best practice and we look forward to a great response highlighting projects across Britain.”

The seven award categories are biodiversity protection, efficiency, community partnership, rail crime prevention, innovation, individual contribution and team contribution.

Last year’s winners include Dean and Dyball for preserving the habitat of the endangered large blue butterfly; Lawmuir Primary School in Bellshill, Scotland for introducing rail safety representatives to educate their fellow pupils about the dangers of playing on the railway; and Porterbrook Leasing and Hitachi who collaborated on a project to convert a high speed train into the world’s first high speed hybrid train.

Notes to editors

Notes to editors: Nominations close on Monday 19 May, for further information on how to apply visit the Network Rail website at http://www.networkrail.co.uk/environmentawards Network Rail’s environmental policy: Our aim is a sustainable railway industry that seeks constantly to minimise the environmental impact of its operations and to maximise the efficient use of resources, and that works in partnership to deliver our corporate responsibilities to our customers and the nation. To support this aim, we will: • apply challenging environmental standards • enhance our systems for management monitoring and reporting • seek continual improvements in our environmental performance • ensure that protected heritage features under our care contribute to the national quality of life • play a major role in the delivery of integrated and sustainable transport for Britain • work to sustain the environmental advantages that the railways have over other forms of transport

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About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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