Carmarthen rail employee takes the gold

An 'exceptional' rail employee from Carmarthen has taken tophonours at an awards ceremony to recognise outstanding serviceprovided on trains and at stations across Wales and the bordercounties of England.

Cynthia Evans, who is based at Carmarthen Traincrew Depot, hasreceived an Arriva Trains Wales Gold Standard Award for customercare, the company's highest accolade.

Cynthia received the award after taking care of passengers andremaining “cool, calm and collected”in the faceof extreme adversity when a train carrying eight passengerscollided with 21 cows on the outskirts of Carmarthen. Theincident, in October last year, happened after the gate to a levelcrossing was left open close to Bro Myrddin School and the cowswandered on to the line.

Whilst the train was not derailed, passengers remained on boardfor two and a half hours while emergency services secured the sceneand cleared the line for another train to carry them forward. Inthat time Cynthia kept passengers informed about what washappening, kept spirits high despite it being late into the nightand even shared her own sandwiches and flask with those onboard!

Commenting on Cynthia's award, Graeme Bunker, Managing Directorof Arriva Trains Wales, said:

I am always hugely proud to present awards forexceptional service and Cynthia's actions demonstrate how ouremployees are willing to go the extra mile for ourcustomers.

He continued:

The incident itself, although extremely rare, wasfrightening for those customers on board but they have told us thatthey felt reassured by Cynthia as she kept them up to date on whatwas happening and when help would arrive. Presenting Cynthia withan Exceptional Contribution Award is our way of saying thank you toher.

Cynthia Evans said:

I was shocked to be nominated for an employee award andam even more so to walk off as overall winner. It's always a teameffort to get services back on track when things don't go asplanned and I hope that any one of my colleagues would have donethe same to make sure the customers on board were well lookedafter.

In receiving top honours Cynthia was selected from 24 otherArriva Trains Wales employees from all over Wales and the bordercounties of England.

Last year's winner of the Arriva Trains Wales Gold StandardAward for exceptional customer care is also based in West Wales.Jason Holloway, a member of platform staff at Swansea Station,received the award after he ensured that customers who missedanother train operator's service were provided with overnightaccommodation – even driving them to the hotel and picking upthe bill himself until he could be reimbursed by the othercompany.

The Awards, held twice a year, are based on nominations receivedfrom Arriva Trains Wales employees and include categories such as'commitment to delivering a better service' and 'exceptionalcustomer care'.

Ends

Notes to editors

• Arriva Trains Wales employs 2029 people, over 1000 of which ofwork at stations or as drivers or conductors. The company operates910 services a day (Monday to Friday) and on average conveys 55,000customer journeys a day.
• Picture (from left): Jason Holloway, last year's winner ofArriva Trains Wales Gold Standard Exceptional Contribution Award,hands over the crown to Cynthia Evans with Graeme Bunker, managingdirector, of Arriva Trains Wales.