In 2025, a new RailStaff Award shone a spotlight on the importance of collaboration, innovation, and strong leadership across the rail industry. Recognising excellence in the delivery of small-scale rail projects, the Project Team or Person Award (under £5 million) celebrates the individuals and teams who successfully deliver them.
Supported in 2025 by BTTC, the award reflects a growing recognition that smaller projects can deliver transformational outcomes when they are managed effectively.
BTTC is a high-performing rail and infrastructure project consultancy founded on the principle that project outcomes are exceeded when asset owners and supply chain partners work well together.
Combining an innovative, collaborative, and pragmatic approach with extensive industry experience and technical expertise, BTTC works across rail and the wider infrastructure sector, helping clients transform how projects are planned and delivered, and focusing on long-term, mutually beneficial relationships. All of this made the company a natural fit as sponsor.
A worthy winner
The inaugural award was won by Alstom’s ‘The Greatest Gathering’ team, recognised for delivering a landmark event at its historic Litchurch Lane Works in Derby to mark 200 years of the modern railway. The celebration attracted more than 40,000 visitors and featured over 140 iconic rail vehicles from across the UK, alongside rides, talks, and a wide range of STEM-focused activities designed to inspire future generations.
Organised entirely in-house and supported by hundreds of volunteers, The Greatest Gathering demonstrated outstanding project management and teamwork. Judges praised the team for successfully balancing heritage and innovation, safety and spectacle, and for delivering a complex, large-scale public event while maintaining the highest safety standards.
The impact of the event extended well beyond the two-day celebration. It brought communities together, showcased the breadth and creativity of the UK rail sector, raised more than £60,000 for charitable causes, and created a platform to recognise the people and skills that underpin the railway.
Ben Goodwin, director of communications at Alstom, said: “Just to be nominated was incredible. We were a small team, but we made it all happen with the help of the wider industry and the railway family.
“Yes, this award is for our team, but none of it would have been possible without everybody’s support. To receive this recognition is just the icing on the cake.”
By supporting the award, BTTC is helping to champion the behaviours and values it believes are essential to successful project delivery.
As the rail industry continues to face challenges around cost, capacity, and skills, the award serves as a reminder that collaboration, strong leadership and empowered teams can deliver exceptional results – regardless of project size.
“At BTTC, we are proud to support an award that recognises the power of small projects to deliver big impact,” said Operations Director Rhiannon Price. “Too often, excellence is measured purely by scale or capital value, when in reality it is leadership, collaboration, and clarity of purpose that define success.”
“Alstom’s ‘The Greatest Gathering’ was a powerful example of what can be achieved when teams are empowered, aligned, and trusted to deliver. These are exactly the behaviours our industry needs as it navigates increasing complexity and constraint. Celebrating them matters, because they set the standard for how projects of all sizes should be delivered.”
