Sustainability report Taking our communities places

Transcription

1 Sustainability report 2012 Taking our communities places

2 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 Southampton Central Portsmouth Harbour Sutton Horsham Clapham Junction London Victoria Redhill Gatwick Airport Three Bridges East Croydon London Bridge East Grinstead Haywards Heath Uckfield Lewes Tonbridge Eastborune Hastings To Ashford Littlehampton Brighton About Southern 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. 2

3 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 passenger journeys 4,053 number of employees 313 trains 158 stations Inside this report 2 Message from the Managing Director 5 Safety 6 Environment 7 Passengers 9 Employees We re a part of the 10 Community 12 Data table Group 1

4 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 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

5 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 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. Our 2012 performance highlights 164m passenger journeys 3.1% drop in total CO 2 emissions 6.6% drop in crime 4,053 employees 49,570 invested in the community 33% reduction in SPADs 3

6 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

7 Safety 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 This year saw the extension of Eyewitness, Southern s award winning antisocial behaviour reporting tool, from employee use to passengers. A simple system, Eyewitness supports Southern s Safer Travel Team to tackle crime on the network. 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. Our 2012 safety highlights 6.6% drop in crime 33% fewer category A SPADs 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. 5

8 Our 2012 environment highlights Engineer and Environmental Champion Andrew Bourne showing biodiversity is alive and kicking at Brighton Depot where a pond is teeming with life 3.1% drop in total CO 2 emissions 72% waste recycled 3.51% reduction in CO 2 emissions per passenger journey Environment Driving energy further Energy Southern supports owning group Go-Ahead s target to reduce carbon emissions per passenger journey by 20 per cent by Carbon reduction initiatives, known as Driving Energy Further, are a key component of our environmental approach and combined site energy consumption CO 2 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

9 Passengers Making every journey better Our 2012 passenger highlights 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. 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. Haywards Heath Cycle Hub: more cycle parking is making access to the station easier 164m passenger journeys 1,000 new cycle spaces 7

10 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

11 Employees 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. 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. 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. Our 2012 employees highlights Investors in People Bronze Award 8,228 training days 4,053 employees Southern employees excelled during the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games 9

12 Our 2012 community highlights 30 station partnerships 49,570 invested in charities and community sponsorships Southern has partnered with FotoDocument to display striking imagery at Brighton Station 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 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

13 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 18 1 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. Southern s Try-the-Train day was a huge success 11

14 Data table 2011/ / /2010 Safety SPADs (per million train miles) Fleet with CCTV (%) Environment Carbon emissions per passenger journey (kg) Station/depot energy savings Gas consumption (kwh) 10,677 16,147 13,670 Electricity consumption (kwh) 28,150 27,981 28,280 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 4,053 4,043 3,985 Turnover rate (%) Absence rate (%) Number of staff training days 8,228 20,674 16,531 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 ( ) 49,570 21,703 19,339 Number of stakeholder events For information on the full Group data please visit our corporate website 12 Southern Sustainability Report 2012

15 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 13

16 We re a part of the Group You can find out more about Southern by visiting our website and more information on how Southern manages sustainability can be found by visiting 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 Addiscombe Road Croydon Surrey CR9 5GA Tel: 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 Bureau Veritas has verified sustainability KPIs contained within the Key Data table on the website and for selected Go-Ahead companies. This report was put together by the Go-Ahead Group and designed and produced by Black Sun plc, London This report is printed by Principal Colour Ltd using vegetable based inks. Principal Colour are ISO 18001, ISO 9001 and ISO (environmental standard) Certified as well as FSC Certified. Printed on Arcoprint paper which is FSC Certified