Great Value Train Travel
Hull Trains is incredibly proud to announce we have been shortlisted in the prestigious Women in Rail Awards 2019.
We have been shortlisted as a finalist for the Highest Gender Balanced and Diverse Workforce Award.
This nomination is in recognition of our significant contribution to improving the gender balance, diversity and inclusion throughout our workforce and within the UK railway industry.
Hull Trains is the only rail operating company in the UK to have a female Managing Director and 50 per cent of our staff are female.
Hull Trains is the UK’s smallest train operating company – but is a Gold Standard Investor In People.
Since our launch in 2000, the team has created an environment that invests in all of its people – irrespective of gender - offering the capacity and skills that enable its 120-strong workforce to deliver safely and deliver well for the +1 million customers who travel with the company each year.
Reports have shown that men hold the majority of executive team positions in most industries, with only 12 per cent of positions held by women in the construction industry, for example.
In contrast to this trend, as well as 50 per cent of Hull Trains employees being female, there is also an equal gender split on our executive team.
The nomination comes not long after we recently announced two new female members of staff have qualified as fully-fledged train drivers.
Both Emma Ramsden, 30 and Sarah Goulbourne, 34, have worked their way up from onboard hosts to train drivers - thanks to their own sheer determination and hard work – as well as the support of the company.
Overall, 30 per cent of Hull Trains’ drivers are also women – far above the average of five per cent seen elsewhere.
These latest appointments reflect Hull Trains’ people philosophy, which is designed to open up opportunities for all, irrespective of age, race, gender or sexual orientation.
One of our drivers, Claire Sonley, became the youngest female driver in the country at the age of 23.
Debbie Birch, Head of HR at Hull Trains, said: “It is important to understand the advantages of a diverse workforce overall – management and the executive board should be diverse in both age and gender.
“At Hull Trains, we are committed to diversity and the creativity, innovation and the entrepreneurial spirit that this engenders.”
There were more than 350 nominations for the nine awards – so we are incredibly pleased to be shortlisted - after consideration from high profile rail industry judges.
We look forward to the ceremony and congratulate our fellow nominees.
