CrossCountry recognised for excellence

The award of this top-level accreditation followed an intensive programme of assessment by the BQF, including detailed evaluation of company practices alongside group discussions and one to one interviews with managers and frontline staff to understand the organisation's journey towards excellence. The R4E programme is assessed against the EFQM (formerly the European Foundation for Quality Management) model, Europe's leading recognition programme for high levels of organisational performance. Companies achieving R4E status have demonstrated they are well on the way to achieving sustainable excellence, and 5 stars is the highest award in the R4E categories.

CrossCountry's managing director, Andy Cooper, said: "We are delighted to have achieved five stars at our first try at accreditation. This achievement is testimony to the hard work, commitment and dedication of everyone at CrossCountry over the last five years and reflects our drive to deliver continuous improvement and customer service excellence."

Joe Goasdoué, Chief Executive of the BQF, said: "Being Recognised for Excellence at 5 star level is a tremendous result for any organisation. The CrossCountry team's hard work has paid off and they should all feel very proud of their achievement."

CrossCountry is Britain's geographically-largest passenger rail franchise, providing services from Scotland to Cornwall, the North West to the South Coast, Wales to the East Midlands and the West Midlands to East Anglia. CrossCountry is part of Arriva UK Trains, which is committed to the R4E process of performance improvement and quality benchmarking. Arriva Trains Wales has already achieved R4E recognition and other Arriva rail businesses are currently undergoing accreditation.

Notes to editors

CrossCountry started operating on 11 November 2007. The franchise, which is the most extensive in the UK, will run until 31 March 2016. For further information on CrossCountry services and future franchise plans log on to www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk.

CrossCountry is part of the Arriva group, which is owned by Deutsche Bahn. Arriva is a leading pan-European public transport operators with more than 42,000 employees and operations across 12 European countries. The link to Arriva is www.arriva.co.uk. The link to Deutsche Bahn is www.deutschebahn.com.

Like CrossCountry on Facebook at facebook.com/crosscountrytrains.

Follow CrossCountry on Twitter via twitter.com/crosscountryuk.

CrossCountry bookings - passengers can book any rail journey, with any train operator for anywhere in Britain with no booking fee through CrossCountry's website and also their free Train Tickets app. Visit your app store to download the CrossCountry app.

CrossCountry facts and figures

STATIONS SERVED: 119
ROUTE MILES: 1,490
WEEKDAY SERVICES: 295
PASSENGERS CARRIED: Over 30 million passenger journeys a year anticipated
ANNUAL TRAIN MILEAGE: Approximately 16 million
EMPLOYEES: Approximately 1,600
LONGEST TRAIN SERVICE: 08.20 Aberdeen to Penzance (774 miles)

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Contact Information

CrossCountry Press Office: [email protected]

About CrossCountry

CrossCountry is a long-distance passenger train operator, with a network stretching from Aberdeen to Penzance and from Stansted to Cardiff and calling at over 100 stations. Based in Birmingham, CrossCountry connects seven of Britain’s 10 largest cities and delivers 240 services every weekday, equating to over 42 million passenger journeys each year.

For further information on CrossCountry services, visit crosscountrytrains.co.uk or visit one of our social media platforms via X @crosscountryuk or Facebook at facebook.com/crosscountrytrains