One of the RailStaff Awards’ most prestigious prizes is the Lifetime Achievement Award which honours those who’ve dedicated their lives to the railway. It reflects the passion and dedication of those who’ve sacrificed countless hours manning trains, selling tickets, operating signals, or building trains and track, and celebrates the accomplishments of some outstanding individuals.
This year, the Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Julie Garn, head of Intermodal at GB Railfreight.
For over 20 years, Julie has dedicated herself to growing the company’s intermodal offering, from next to nothing in 2002, to running a high performing team which operates 52 daily intermodal services. Across the industry, many look up to Julie for her relentless work ethic, passion for delivering for customers, her desire to see GBRf grow as a business, and as a leading female in a male-dominated sector.
“I’m completely shellshocked,” said Julie. “When you enjoy the work that you do it becomes easy to take it for granted, but being nominated for an award like this, and then being judged to be the best in the category, is an absolutely wonderful feeling.”
Top communications technology company Telent backed the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022 and returned to sponsor the prize again this year. The firm provides its services to many of the UK’s largest and most mission-critical operational systems and has delivered intelligent transport solutions and network maintenance for over 30 years.
“Many people put their whole lives into the rail industry, and to reward that is brilliant,” said Telent CEO, Jo Gretton.
“Telent is honoured to sponsor the award because we have a very long heritage in the rail market, and we’re really proud of that. To be able to recognise people like Julie who have also dedicated their working lives to the industry is fantastic. It should also be said that being a woman in this industry can be very tough, and to see Julie take this award home is absolutely amazing.”
Highly commended
Richard Godwin, Network Rail
Stewart Cumming, CrossCountry
