The competition was fierce and the fight for the winning place was tense and well deserved. As the French General Charles De Gaulle said – “Nothing great will ever be achieved without great people, and people are great only if they are determined to be so”.

And there are no greater people than the ones in air-rail - determined to achieve excellence in everything they do.

Entries for the Global AirRail Awards 2011 were collected from February till March 2011 and then six prominent judges scored selected entries individually. The winner was selected summing up all judges scores and the one that achieved highest score in the category, was selected as a winner of that category.

The Global AirRail Awards 2011 Judges:

• Ad Rutten, President, ACI Europe
• Andrew Sharp, Director General, IARO
• Paul Simmons, General Manager UK, easyJet
• Ann Frye, Independent Consultant, Ann Frye
• Richard Brown, Managing Director, Northstar Consultancy
• William W. Millar, President, American Public Transportation Association
• Diane Burke, Head of Sales & Marketing, First Great Western
• Peter Cotton, Former Managing Director of Scotrail and Gatwick Express

The Global AirRail Awards 2011 Winners
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Air Rail Link of the year - Aeroexpress
Aeroexpress is a high-speed train services between all of the Moscow’s major airports (Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo) and the city center.

2010 was a particularly great year since the launch of the company. The number of passengers travelling on Aeroexpress rose 48%, comparing to 2009, Aeroexpress also opened business-class coaches, which proved to be quite popular among travellers – almost 4 per cent of passengers choose to travel in the business-class coaches. Last year Aeroexpress was also recognised as the best public transport company in Russia.

Partnership of the year - MTR Corporation Ltd: Partnership with airlines for the seamless journeys
To attract airport commuters to the Hong Kong Airport Express Line, MTR has provided a supplementary In?town Check?in service to all the Airport.

Express Line passengers – 62 airlines now offer luggage check-in during regular operating hours on the same day. To provide extra flexibility to the passengers, day?before check?in services are also available for 13 airlines at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations.

More than half (54.3%) of the Airport Express Line passengers at Hong Kong and Kowloon stations use In-town Check-In service. The close coordination between airlines and MTR has undoubtedly created an “all?win” situation for all stakeholders, as 92% of passenger airlines in Hong Kong have joined the In-town Check-In service.

Project of the year - A-Train AB/ Arlanda Express - Train of the Future
Arlanda Express is now performing an upgrading of train furnishings to increase the numbers of seats onboard. The main project challenge has been to increase the number of seats onboard by 20%, while at the same time providing even greater comfort using modern Scandianvian design.

The goal of the project was to create an impressive interior that reflects Scandinavian design with new influences and a form of expression that the project design agency Idesign calls “the New Nordic.” It is characterized by bright, clean surfaces with warm materials and wood details around the windows and along the overhead racks.

New Service of the year - Canada Line
The first air-rail link in Canada, automated 19 km long light rail rapid transit system linking downtown Vancouver with both Richmond and Vancouver International Airport Canada Line warmed into the hearts of locals and international travellers.

With the first day of operations, Canada Line exceeded passenger forecasts with over 100,000 passengers a day choosing the link to the airport – a number previously projected to be achieved by 2013.

Canada Line carried over 50 million passengers by end of 2010.

Airport Rail Terminal of the year - Skidmore Owings & Merrill - Washington Dulles International Airport
In 2000, Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority started the Dulles Development Program. The D2 Program represented a ten year, approx. $3.4 billion, capital construction program and the focal point for this Program was the Automated People Mover System known as the AeroTrain.

With the Washington DC travel demand reaching 20 million annual passengers, the Authority’s challenge was to provide the facilities to accommodate the growth in air service and travel demands. The Authority began this challenge by constructing Phase 1 of the AeroTrain, including approximately four miles of underground, U-Shaped guideway with dual alignment to serve all domestic passengers and departing international passengers. The AeroTrain has four stations, maintenance facility and twenty-nine vehicles.

Best Customer Service - Express Rail Link - KLIA Ekspres
In 2004, Express Rail Link (ERL) in Malaysia recognised the need for a pre-arranged “last mile” connectivity from KL Sentral station to passengers’ hotels in Kuala Lumpur. ERL then engaged an established limousine fleet operator who serviced many 5-star hotels in the city centre. A dedicated service counter was set up inside KLIA’s Baggage Reclaim Hall in International Arrival, manned by VIP Service Representatives. An assigned porter helps passengers with their luggage and escorts them to the KLIA Ekspres train. It is a seamless service that takes the passenger door-to-door from the airport to the hotel or offices in the city centre.

Best Marketing Campaign - Gautrain - Gautrain Launch
The first part of Gautrain’s route, the link between OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton in Johannesburg, was opened just in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted in South Africa for the first time. It provided an opportunity to celebrate the milestone through a launch that proved to be the highlight of Gautrain’s history. A true African celebration for a true African project.

This was a unique situation, due to the political and socio-economic landscape of Gauteng and the larger South Africa. It meant that a social behavioural change was required, to change people’s behaviour by leaving their vehicles and using the public transport system for the first time.

Gautrain tapped into social media, organising tweet-ups (twitter user meetings), facebook campaigns and engaging future travellers on their website.

A total of 1 401 media reports were received in relation to Gautrain during the launch of the service. The value of articles for June was positive (56%) and very positive (23%). Most reports were about the commencement of operations (481 reports) and operations (296).

Innovation: Ground breaking technologies - Appear Networks - Context Aware Mobile Workforce Communication Technologies – serving Air and Rail
Appear Networks build software infrastructure and applications designed to support mobile field workers that are in use of the Stockholm Metro and Dutch Railways to name but two. It integrates context information such as location, job role, task in hand and real-time events into the mobile experience. This enables a highly efficient use of valuable worker time - saving organisations money and improving service quality.

What really makes the Appear IQ solution special is the innovative use of context information ensuring that employees receive relevant travel disruption prompts in real time regarding their area and allows employees to report faults, including precise location and picture.

Innovation: Implementation - GuestLogix Inc - Technology and Implementation for on-board retail purchase for tickets to Heathrow Express
The promotion and ultimate sale of Heathrow Express train service prior to arrival to a captive audience was a clear opportunity to fuse the relationship between air and rail travel while generating revenues for both parties and increased service to travellers.

Initial implementation was at the departure gate of John F Kennedy Airport and Dallas/Ft.Worth International Airport on all outbound flights to LHR.

The sales were handled by designated Sales Agents with GuestLogix' POS handheld devices and the sales agents were trained to educate passengers of the benefits of the air/rail connection once they arrived at LHR.

Supplier of the year - RE:Systems - Ticketing for Heathrow Express
Business Application Developers and Online Ticketing Specialists, RE:Systems over the past 18 months have been defining and developing the next generation of online ticketing platform.

The new internet based ticketing platform can be deployed to support multiple sites, has public facing and corporate capabilities, will allow mobile and web kiosk sales to be managed through its back office and will provide much more flexible method of supporting ongoing promotional activity for individuals, groups or corporate travellers.

Personality of the year - Noormah Mohd Noor, CEO of Express Rail Link
This award goes to a person who through his or her work contributed greatly to promoting and growing the air-rail business in the world.

Ms. Noormah Mohd Noor has shown an incredible passion and determination to promote the airport express concept throughout the world and at home. Sharing the knowledge and expertise with many in various international events and meetings, constantly innovating to improving passenger experience and never forgetting to seek new knowledge and ways to prove that airport expresses are the best railways in the world.

Global AirRail Awards is the first ever international awards ceremony dedicated to the air-rail market.

To stay ahead in the competition with other transport modes, airport rail links have to constantly improve their service via new technologies, customer service and marketing. Strong brand values mean that a railway can attract air travellers who normally would travel with cars or taxis.

Co-operation is a vital feature of delivering the seamless journey experience between train and plane. Vision, creativity and determination are the ingredients of mature relationships that often span transport modes, companies and countries.

The Awards are part of the airrail NEWS programme to promote rail connections with airports and recognise the best practices.

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