Tyler Corbishley joined the railway for a six-week summer job at Preston and never looked back. He read environmental science at university and went to work for First Great Western (FGW).
‘Tyler has spent the best part of a year with FGW, now renamed Great Western Railway, and worked around various parts of the business,’ says colleague, Mike Smith. ‘It was obvious very quickly that he is not keen on sitting and observing but wants to be involved in actually completing “real” work.’
‘Throughout his time with us, he has shown continued dedication delivering greater results on a number of projects than many full-time
staff. These have included setting up a digital rostering system for the revenue protection team.’
Until Tyler arrived the team had been completely paper-based. He also delivered training for frontline staff on a project aimed at improving management deployment during the first hour of disruption. Tyler went on to research and write a report on a notoriously poor-performing branch line, examining the causes and main locations of delay. Theories were backed up by appropriate data.
‘This all culminated in him developing his project management skills and being the obvious choice to organise the operational deployment of the region for the longest duration mainline possession on the Western route for 40 years in the Bath area,’ says Mike.
The Boxwood Tunnel project – preparing Bath for electrification – has been hailed as a great organisational and engineering triumph. Amazingly, the Bath helpline only received 26 calls from the public during the works, a tribute to Tyler and the many other staff involved at all levels.
Tyler has shown immense dedication and versatility and has been involved in customer service delivery, management deployment, operational risk assessment and operational delivery.
Says Mike, ‘He has played a key part in all of these areas, and in every piece of work, regardless of how much he enjoyed it, he has shown determination to succeed and has delivered tangible results.’
Says Tyler, ‘I’d like to thank all the people I work with and particularly Mike Smith and Rob Mullen at Central – Great Western’s Bristol-based operation.’
A popular figure at GWR, several team members wrote in supporting his nomination.
‘Tyler is an asset to the rail industry and he deserves to be the Graduate of the Year,’ said one. ‘I just wanted to inform you that I found Tyler a pleasure to work with, very professional and his work was of a high standard,’ said another.
Credit must also go to Virgin Trains staff at Preston station for hiring Tyler that first summer and inspiring him to take up a career on the railways.
Graduate of the Year was sponsored by Telent Technology Services, which provides a range of network and communications services to the rail industry. The award was presented by Jo Gretton, head of legal and commercial at Telent Technology Services.
She said, ‘To recognise people, young people, coming in at the start of their careers is as important as recognising people who have done a lifetime of achievement.
‘Nothing happens in any industry, particularly this industry, without everybody really going above and beyond what they’re asked to deliver, and it’s that extraordinary effort that really makes the projects happen.’
Highly commended
- Oscar Tucker, Furrer+Frey
- Rob Williams, Costain Skanska JV (CSJV)
