Sustainability report 2012
Taking our
communities places
Where we operate
Our train services transport passengers between London and the South East coast – through South London to
Surrey, East and West Sussex and across to parts of Bedfordshire, Kent and Hampshire.
Milton Keynes Central
London
Victoria
London Bridge
Clapham
Junction
East
Croydon
Sutton
Redhill
Tonbridge
Littlehampton
We run Southern and Gatwick Express train
services for commuter, business and leisure
passengers in South East England. We provide a
vital link connecting places to people, employees to
workplaces and customers to businesses. We pride
ourselves on the way we work in partnership with
our local communities and are focused on making
every journey better for our passengers through
great customer service and punctual trains.
Hastings
Haywards
Heath
Uckfield
Brighton
About Southern
2
East Grinstead
Eastborune
Three
Bridges
Lewes
Portsmouth Harbour
Southampton Central
Horsham
Gatwick
Airport
To
Ashford
2012 highlights
•More passengers travelling with Southern
•Better environmental performance
•More community partnerships
•Year on year reduced crime rates
•Record levels of employee engagement
Key facts
164m
4,053
313
158
passenger journeys
number of employees
trains
stations
Inside this report
2
5
6
7
9
10
12 Message from the Managing Director
Safety
Environment
Passengers
We’re a part of the
Employees
Community
Group
Data table
www.southernrailway.com
www.southernrailway.com
1
Message from Chris Burchell,
Managing Director
Our sustainability and community ethos continues to shape the way we work with our employees, partners and suppliers. We are focused on getting the most out of the resources available to us, minimising any negative impact such as energy consumption and maximising opportunities to improve our service to passengers.
The past 12 months have been an exciting time at Southern. We have
provided more train services than ever before, commissioned 130 new trains,
seen Gatwick Airport station transferred from Network Rail to Southern
management and prepared successfully for the London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games. We also achieved some of our best employee results
ever, including Investors in People Bronze Award and record employee
engagement scores. In February 2012, we were delighted to be named
Rail Business of the Year, a fantastic achievement and a credit to our superb
employees whose commitment ensures that we continue to deliver excellent
customer service.
Working together
Our punctuality continues to improve and we are now running more services
and longer trains – 5,000 extra seats were added to peak services following
infrastructure upgrades on East Grinstead, Sydenham and Redhill routes in
December 2011. As Thameslink works at London Bridge get fully underway
this year, it’s important that we continue to work with Network Rail and
other partners to keep passengers informed and on the move.
We were delighted with the success of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Meticulous planning with the Olympic Delivery Authority and partners
paid dividends and the talent and commitment of our staff shone under the
world’s spotlight. Our stakeholders including local authorities, MPs and local
passenger representatives have also been pleased with our performance this
year, with an overall satisfaction rating of 8.2 out of 10 in our latest annual
survey, an increase of 14% over the last three years.
It’s a privilege to be part of so many communities across the south east. From
art exhibitions to vegetable plots to wild gardens, we have 30 community
partnerships on our network and our stations are providing much more
2
Southern Sustainability Report 2012
than just a gateway to the train service. We have also supported community
events away from the station, focusing on initiatives that support and inspire
young people, such as Crawley’s youth ‘Urban Dance Xplosion’ and Sussex
County Cricket Club’s community programme.
Our local charitable approach has also gained momentum this year with our
employees selecting The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity to join Rockinghorse
as a corporate charity and across the business employees raised money
during our first dedicated charities week.
Investing in the future
Our 2012
performance highlights
164m
3.1%
6.6%
4,053
£49,570
33%
passenger journeys
drop in total CO2 emissions
The New Year certainly gave us something to celebrate when we
announced the order for 130 new Electrostar carriages to help us meet
our target to increase capacity on the Southern network by ten per cent
over our franchise. Our engineering team is also completing a £9million
in-house refresh of our existing Class 377 trains, delivering value for money
improvements to passenger journeys. Work is also underway to refresh our
Class 455 trains inside and out.
More stations have undergone refurbishments this year, improving the
station environment. Balham benefited from £1million National Station
Improvement Programme, funding improving access, enhancing cycle parking
and providing better integration with London Underground services. Station
facilities have also been upgraded across the network, including waiting
rooms, toilets and information systems. Later this year, major renovations at
Horsham and Epsom are due for completion; brand new buildings planned
at East Grinstead, Hassocks and Ashtead; and Brighton, Gatwick and East
Croydon are set for significant upgrades.
www.southernrailway.com
drop in crime
employees
invested in the community
reduction in SPADs
3
We continue to work closely with local authorities on these projects. For
instance West Sussex County Council has contributed £165,000 towards
Horsham forecourt upgrades and £50,000 towards cycle and walking
improvements at East Grinstead station. Collaborating with partners on
these projects ensures that we are able to deliver value for money. All
enhancement works aim to create welcoming, accessible stations ready for
the demands of current and future rail travel. We are determined to improve
passenger satisfaction next year and although disappointed with a slight dip in
performance in the National Passenger Survey this year we are confident that
our continued investment will make a significant difference.
Smart travel
Southern’s smartcard ticket, the key, was launched this year giving passengers
a quick and easy way to buy weekly and monthly tickets. As the key develops,
different ticket types will give our passengers more choice and by the end of
2012 PlusBus tickets will be available in some areas, helping to better integrate
rail travel into local transport networks.
Technology has also played its part in reducing energy consumption with
the continued installation of energy efficient lighting and voltage optimisers
at large sites in Brighton. We also continue to minimise our impact on
the environment with regard to waste, water and carbon by improving
working practices.
We are now halfway through our franchise and our commitment to our
vision of Making Every Journey Better is resolute. Our plans for the year
ahead continue to focus on running a responsible, reliable railway delivering
value for money improvements through partnership with the communities
and stakeholders on our network.
Chris Burchell, Managing Director
4
Southern Sustainability Report 2012
Safety
Our 2012
safety highlights
Keeping our passengers safe and secure
Security
Our commitment to safety and security on the railway continues to pay off
with a 6.6% drop in reported crimes compared to 2011 and a 27% reduction
since 2009. This year saw the extension of Eyewitness, Southern’s award
winning antisocial behaviour reporting tool, from employee use to passengers.
A simple email system, Eyewitness supports Southern’s Safer Travel Team to
tackle crime on the network.
6.6%
33%
drop in crime
fewer category A SPADs
The team also works closely with the British Transport Police to reduce crime
and help passengers feel safer. This year, the Safer Travel Team has also been
working with local authorities to raise awareness amongst school children
about travelling safely. Attending safety days, the team has reached around
1,000 school children across the network ensuring that children feel confident
to use rail travel safely.
Safety
Our 2012 Safety Culture survey showed an improved level of feedback from
employees compared to previous surveys. Whilst there is always room for
improvement, the result is strong evidence that safe ways of working and
operating are firmly embedded in the business.
Industry partnerships are essential in the prevention and management of
incidents. Network Rail is a key partner in our safety strategy, and our work
with them strengthens our performance and this year saw a focus on level
crossing safety, traincrew and signaller liaison, and cross-functional working
between Network Rail Mobile Operations Managers and Southern’s
Competency Development Managers improving responses to incidents.
We have also seen encouraging results in relation to SPADs (signals passed at
danger) with risk reduced to historic lows. This has been supported by our
Driver Learning Framework and a focus on human factors and non-technical
skills that support behavioural aspects of safety in train driving. Continued
engagement of our traincrew safety representatives strengthens our approach
and the number of SPADs reduced by a third this year.
Suicides on the rail network can cause significant disruption to journeys
so we work with partners to prevent incidents from occurring and minimising
the impact on passengers and employees. Southern actively supports The
National Suicide Prevention Strategy and station employees attend Samaritan
training courses to help them identify individuals at risk and manage incidents.
Traincrew also receive training to help with post-event chain of care. Working
with Network Rail, additional suicide prevention measures have also been
installed on platforms including motion sensor lighting and fencing.
www.southernrailway.com
5
Our 2012
environment highlights
Environment
Driving energy further
Energy
Engineer and Environmental
Champion Andrew Bourne
showing biodiversity is alive
and kicking at Brighton
Depot where a pond is
teeming with life
3.1%
72%
3.51%
drop in total CO2 emissions
waste recycled
reduction in CO2 emissions
per passenger journey
Southern supports owning group Go-Ahead’s target to reduce carbon
emissions per passenger journey by 20 per cent by 2015. Carbon reduction
initiatives, known as Driving Energy Further, are a key component of our
environmental approach and combined site energy consumption CO2
emissions fell by 4.28% this year. Our franchise goal of 25% reduction in
domestic electricity use also remains on target with a 21% reduction to date.
This reduction is supported by a range of initiatives such as energy efficient
lighting and the installation of a PowerPerfector at Brighton, one of our
biggest stations.
Waste
Our focus on waste continues to deliver results with further reductions
in the amount of waste sent to landfill. From the 4,583 tonnes of waste
generated, 3,295 tonnes or 72% was recycled, an improvement of 11%
compared to last year. We plan to improve this further next year as we work
closely with tenants and suppliers to improve disposal processes with several
locations sending zero waste to landfill.
Making every journey better
Several major improvement projects got underway this year including the
£9 million refresh of our biggest train fleet Class 377 Electrostars. As the
first project of its kind to be done in-house by Southern, special consideration
was give consideration to the air quality, noise and light impact of these works
as well as taking into account the additional energy being used. Selhurst
Depot in south London is producing high quality passenger trains with
minimal environmental impact.
Partnership
The drought announcement in 2012 brought our water management
processes into sharp focus. Working with Southern Water we have reviewed
our water consumption, checking how water is used at each of our sites and
creating contingency plans for drought periods. Our proactive approach is
helping to reduce our water consumption, shown by a 31.15% drop which
can be attributed to fault-fixing and good housekeeping.
Over the past year our employee environmental champions have focused
on building local awareness about environmental working practices with their
colleagues and their dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed scooping top prizes
at both the National Rail and Rail Business Awards. Next year the team will
look to extend their work building community partnerships, such as planting
projects, to enhance biodiversity at stations.
6
Southern Sustainability Report 2012
Passengers
Our 2012
passenger highlights
Making every journey better
Smart fares
Smartcard ticketing offers passengers a simple, quick and safe way to travel.
Southern’s smartcard, the key, was launched by Transport Minister Norman
Baker between Brighton and Seaford in November 2011 and has since
been introduced at stations between Brighton and Bexhill and Brighton and
Worthing. The key allows passengers to buy their season tickets directly at
ticket machines or online with just one touch, ready to be collected at the
station, making rail travel more convenient and seamless.
The key will also give passengers access to cheaper fares, adding to the range
of value fares making rail travel a cost-effective option. This year we plan to
introduce PlusBus ticketing, flexible season tickets and early-bird discounts
on the key, offering passengers value for money options. A 2012 Passenger
Focus report showed that Southern had the most satisfied Advance Fares
ticket-buyers in the UK with a massive 87 per cent of passengers saying they
are satisfied with value for their money on its Advance tickets over the last
12 months.
Journey planning
Southern runs more trains than any other UK commuter operator with more
than 2,300 services planned every weekday and in December 2011, 5,000
additional seats were added to peak services. Good performance is essential
on such a busy network and, despite introducing more services, performance
has improved this year with nine out of ten trains on time.
Haywards Heath Cycle Hub:
more cycle parking is making
access to the station easier
164m
1,000
passenger journeys
new cycle spaces
Improved cycle parking is helping to make rail travel more accessible and
the opening of Southern’s first cycle hub at Haywards Heath with 300 cycle
spaces marked the 1,500th new parking space on the network since 2009;
the £300,000 project included £26,000 funding from West Sussex County
Council. Cycle parking at Purley station, which received £90,000 funding
from Seltrans, was also recognised when it took a top prize at the Cycle Rail
Awards this year, acknowledging the outcomes of Southern’s Travel Plans,
which also included improved signage and an electric car point.
Another outcome of travel planning has been the launch of a dedicated
car-sharing website for Southern passengers and a partnership with charity
Living Streets, to promote walking routes to and from stations. Our 30
Station Travel Plans aim to make it easier for passengers to use rail services
and to encourage integration between different modes of transport.
Stakeholders such as local authorities, passenger representatives and
community partners were consulted as part of the travel planning process
and their ideas incorporated into improvement plans. Next year, Southern
plans to increase the availability of car parking on the network with over
1,000 new spaces planned to help improve access to rail travel.
www.southernrailway.com
7
Southern has also been improving information on the move and is now
updating passengers through Twitter, complementing existing information
channels such as southernrailway.com. We are also developing technology to
make live announcements on trains from remote locations, which will help to
improve information.
Good relations
Southern values the input of stakeholders and regularly meets and consults
with groups across the network. Our Stakeholder Advisory Board formed
of passengers and employees approaches its tenth anniversary in 2013 and
continues to add value to our business. The Board continues to challenge and
feedback its experiences, helping to shape business strategy.
Meet the Manager sessions take place at central locations every month giving
passengers on the move the opportunity to give instant feedback on their
journey. Southern’s online Passenger Panel has also gone from strength to
strength with over 5,000 passenger members invited to regularly participate
in live chat forums with managers and in surveys on topics related to services
such as passenger journey plans during the London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games.
Stakeholder Forums bring together key influencers on the Southern network
and is an opportunity for Southern to provide key business updates and for
stakeholders to share experiences and voice aspirations. This year, Southern
held two forums with discussions ranging from environmental performance
and train refurbishments to timetables and community support.
Partnership is integral to the way we work. The aim of enhancing station
and train environments is to improve the passenger experience and also to
encourage more people to travel by train. Working in collaboration with
Network Rail, local authorities and community groups, we are able to deliver
valued improvements that meet the needs of passengers and communities.
This year, over £750,000 of third party funding has helped improve station
facilities, from cycle parking to waiting shelters to forecourt improvements.
8
Southern Sustainability Report 2012
Employees
Our 2012
employees highlights
Making Southern a great place to work
Investing in people
In 2011 Southern gained Investors in People accreditation and in 2012 this
status was upgraded to the Bronze award. This achievement demonstrates
our ongoing commitment to learning and development with positive
feedback about our management approach. This year, Southern also
took away the top award for Training and Development at the Croydon
Business Awards with judges commenting that Southern’s ‘commitment and
investment to training and development with both their own staff and within
the local community is innovative and of an impressive standard which really
stands out.’
Investors in People
Bronze Award
8,228
4,053
training days
employees
Engagement
Our annual employee engagement survey helps us understand our
employees’ connection to Southern. The 2012 survey saw a record number
of participants taking part and importantly an engagement score of 66%,
an 8% improvement on last year’s survey. Improvements were seen in
commitment to customer service and people management. As a result of
previous surveys a new employee recognition scheme was introduced this
year called ‘Exceptionally Southern’ which sees passengers and colleagues
nominating staff for their commitment to customer service.
Southern employees
excelled during the
London 2012 Olympic and
Paralympic Games
Employee achievements
As well as winning business awards, several Southern employees also
achieved high accolades from the rail industry. Heather Neely, a Train Care
Supervisor at Brighton Depot, won ‘Depot Staff of the Year’ at the RailStaff
Awards in recognition of the commitment she displayed during bad weather
in winter 2011, when Heather walked for hours to get to work to support
her cleaning colleagues. At the 2011, National Rail Awards, Southern Safer
Travel Team member and British Transport Police officer Steve Jarvis took
the top prize for Outstanding Personal Contribution. The Judges said that
Steve was inspirational, commended his enthusiasm and commitment and
commented that his core belief is that ‘it’s not enough to go through the
motions’. Southern also won top awards for Brighton station, environmental
innovation, safety and security excellence, Southern and Gatwick Express
marketing and Loo of the Year for Class 377 trains and Lewes Station. All of
these achievements are testimony to the commitment and excellence shown
by Southern employees this year.
www.southernrailway.com
9
Our 2012
community highlights
30
£49,570
station partnerships
invested in charities and
community sponsorships
Community
A part of community life
Community partnerships
Working with the Sussex Community Rail Partnership, Southern’s Station
Partnerships continue to flourish. Many partnerships have added bedding
plants bringing colour to stations, and Brighton’s London Road Partnership
has really inspired local residents with their community garden, turning a
small disused space into a vegetable plot. There are now dozens of charity
bookshelves in waiting rooms where for a small donation passengers can pick
up a read for their journey and community boards are displaying useful and
interesting local information.
Art at stations
Southern has partnered
with FotoDocument to
display striking imagery at
Brighton Station
Southern has partnered with social enterprise FotoDocument to host an
environmental photography exhibition at Brighton Station. Launched in May
2012, the exhibition features international documentary photographs focusing
on positive responses to key global, social, cultural and environmental issues.
As well as being displayed at Brighton Station, the photo essays will also be
used in a programme of educational workshops for schools, colleges and
universities accompanied by additional web-based resources, slide talks and
panel debates. The exhibition is free to view at the station and will also visit
other Southern stations.
There have also been several art displays from school children this year. At
Horsham station college students created locally inspired works which have
been displayed during station improvement works. Littlehaven Primary
School has also displayed pictures at their local station and Bexhill benefitted
from school artwork unveiled by the local Mayor. Eastbourne and Chichester
have also hosted exhibitions.
Local charity
Charity begins at home with Southern’s two chosen charities Rockinghorse,
a children’s charity and The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. In June 2012,
Southern employees held their first ‘Charities Week’, with the aim of having
fun whilst raising money and spreading the word about the good work they
do for communities on the Southern network. As well as cake sales and
raffles, Southern donated 10p for every Right Time train, raising a grand total
of £3,800 in just a week.
Southern also teamed up with Rockinghorse to support a London2Brighton
challenge which saw challengers walking the famous route in a 100km crosscountry feat including 15 Southern employees who raised more than £6,000
for the charity. Ria Wilson of Rockinghorse said: “Southern Railway’s support
has been extremely beneficial to our work. Not only has the partnership
been great for raising awareness of the charity locally, it has also provided a
great space to promote our events as well as raising thousands of pounds!”
10
Southern Sustainability Report 2012
Try-the-Train with Southern
Sometimes a friendly face makes all the difference and this was the case in
June 2012, when Southern ran two popular ‘Try-the-Train’ days for people
with learning and mobility impairments. Aiming to make rail travel easier for
everyone, volunteer employees hosted groups at Worthing station as they
learnt about rail travel, from buying a ticket to speaking to staff. The day was
a resounding success with positive comments: ‘everyone came home with
big smiles on their faces, comments as to what a good day it was and a very
positive attitude towards future days out on the train.’
RockIT
RockIT is a new social enterprise in Brighton that aims to help young people,
who aren’t in education, training or work, to gain skills in IT. By donating
old computer equipment, Southern has helped this new enterprise set up
training courses in computer refurbishment giving young people key skills to
help them into work. The refurbished computers will be sold and all profits
reinvested into the enterprise to provide more training.
Our 2012
community highlights
1,034
hours supporting community
groups and charities
181
stakeholder meetings
and events
Apprenticeships, graduates and work experience
Aside from our core business, one key way to support the local economy
is through employment. With a workforce of over 4,000 and a strong
background in employee development, we have a range of resources to
support employability. The benefits to Southern are varied; it promotes the
rail industry as an attractive career, attracts good people into our business and
motivates existing employees as they support candidates.
This year we partnered with Network Rail to offer two graduate placements
as part of their Track & Train scheme where the candidates gain firsthand
experience in customer service management. Our partnership with
Jobcentre Plus to offer work placements has also been a great success. We
have had a wealth of positive feedback from candidates with several securing
paid employment at Southern as a result of successful voluntary placements.
We also continue to offer placements to school children getting their first
experience of work, giving them a behind the scenes look at the rail industry
from offices to engineering depots. We have also recruited candidates for
our popular engineering apprenticeship scheme. Starting in September 2012
the young candidates will undertake engineering qualifications while working
in a busy fleet depot.
www.southernrailway.com
Southern’s ‘Try-the-Train’ day
was a huge success
11
Data table
2011/2012
2010/2011
2009/2010
0.57
99
0.89
100
0.83
100
1.38
1.43
1.41
10,677
28,150
1.70
0.53
16,147
27,981
1.64
0.53
13,670
28,280
1.66
0.52
89.9
64
65
11
36.8
89.4
64
64
9.5
34.9
90.7
68
60
6
24.7
4,053
7
4
8,228
4,043
7
4
20,674
3,985
10
4
16,531
18
82
18
82
18
82
16
84
123
15
85
113
15
85
110
49,570
181
21,703
225
19,339
305
Safety
SPADs (per million train miles)
Fleet with CCTV (%)
Environment
Carbon emissions per passenger journey (kg)
Station/depot energy savings
– Gas consumption (kwh)
– Electricity consumption (kwh)
Diesel Rail fuel efficiency (km per litre)
EC4T Rail fuel efficiency (km per kwh)
Passengers
Number of journeys running to schedule PPM MAA (%)
Certified accessible trains RVAR (%)
Fully accessible stations (%)
Web sales (%)
Smartcard journeys (%)
Employees
Number of employees
Turnover rate (%)
Absence rate (%)
Number of staff training days
Diversity by ethnic group (%)
– Asian, black or other origin
– White
Diversity by gender (%)
– Women
– Men
Average length of service (months)
Community
Charitable giving and investment (£)
Number of stakeholder events
For information on the full Group data please visit our corporate website www.go-ahead.com
12
Southern Sustainability Report 2012
Our awards for 2012
This has been another successful year for Southern. Here are some of our achievements:
Rail Business Awards
• Winner of Rail Business of the Year: Southern
• Winner of Safety and Security Excellence of the Year: Eyewitness and the Safer Travel Team
• Winner of Environmental Innovation of the Year: Environmental Champions and Environmental Strategy
National Rail Awards
• Winner of the Environmental Excellence Award: Southern’s Environment Champions
• Winner of Medium Station of the Year Award: Brighton Station
• Winner of Outstanding Personal Contribution: PC Steve Jarvis, BTP member of Southern’s Safer Travel Team
Cycle Rail Awards
• Winner of Best Station Travel Plan Measure for Cycling: Purley Station Travel Plan
Rail Staff Awards
• Winner of Depot Staff of the Year: Heather Neely, Train Care Supervisor
Global Air Rail Awards
• Winner Best Marketing Campaign: Gatwick Express
Marketing Excellence Awards
• Winner of Automotive/Transport Marketing Excellence Award: Southern Adventure campaign
Croydon Business Awards
• Winner of Best Business for Training & Development: Southern
Loo of the Year
• Winner of Best On Train Toilet: Southern’s Class 377 fleet
• Winner of Best Railway Station Toilet: Lewes Railway Station
www.southernrailway.com
13
We’re a part of the
Group
You can find out more about Southern by visiting our website
www.southernrailway.com and more information on how
Southern manages sustainability can be found by visiting
www.go-ahead.com/sustainability
If you have any comments, views or ideas on how we might improve,
or have any thoughts on other issues that we should address in this
report, please write to:
Sarah Evans
Southern
Go‑Ahead House
26–28 Addiscombe Road
Croydon
Surrey
CR9 5GA
Tel: 020 8929 8600
Email: communications@southernrailway.com
Summary Verification Statement from Bureau Veritas UK Ltd
For the fourth year, Bureau Veritas UK Ltd (Bureau Veritas) has worked with the
Go-Ahead Group plc (‘Go-Ahead’) to verify selected sustainability key performance
indicator (KPI) data contained within the Go-Ahead Group’s Annual Report 2012
and on its website.
The information and data reviewed for this verification process relate to the period
from 3rd July 2011 to the 30th June 2012. Bureau Veritas has verified sustainability KPIs
contained within the Key Data table on the website and for selected Go-Ahead companies.
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