An initiative aimed at raising awareness of the dangers of obstructing the Metro doors has won an industry accolade at the Light Rail Awards 2014.
DB Regio Tyne and Wear, which operates the Metro on behalf of Nexus, won the Significant Safety Initiative category at the awards for its Door Safety Campaign.
The Metro Doors Safety Campaign includes a specially commissioned animation titled ‘Use Your Brain Near a Train’, featuring cartoon characters who receive a range of injuries as a result of obstructing train doors.
The film, which promotes a serious safety message in an innovative manner, has been viewed almost 60,000 times on YouTube. It was used on Metro’s social media channels and publicised across a number of popular news sites in a bid to educate passengers about the dangers and reduce the number of incidents of people obstructing train doors.
DB Regio Tyne and Wear also won the category of ‘Technical Innovation of the Year’. This was for recognition of the improvements made by the introduction of Kindles to Metro traincrew, which are then updated automatically with key operational messages and documentation. The Kindles enable the job of the traincrew to be carried out even more efficiently and reduces the use of print and paper, which has a positive impact on the environment.
Richard McClean, Managing Director of DB Regio Tyne and Wear, said: “I am delighted that our efforts to improve Metro has been recognised with these awards. These two initiatives demonstrate innovation and creativity in our approach to tackling issues, which have a positive impact on our services for customers.
“Obstruction of the doors is a significant issue for us - it’s dangerous and causes damage which can lead to trains being taken out of service which has a knock on effect on reliability. But many passengers were previously unaware just how serious obstructing the doors is.
“In particular, scooping the Significant Safety Initiative award for our efforts on the Doors Campaign is something we are extremely proud of. To be recognised for the positive impact that our campaign has had so far in raising awareness is a real achievement.”