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An 'exceptional' rail employee from Carmarthen has taken top honours at an awards ceremony to recognise outstanding service provided on trains and at stations across Wales and the border counties of England.

Cynthia Evans, who is based at Carmarthen Traincrew Depot, has received an Arriva Trains Wales Gold Standard Award for customer care, the company's highest accolade.

Cynthia received the award after taking care of passengers and remaining “cool, calm and collected”in the face of extreme adversity when a train carrying eight passengers collided with 21 cows on the outskirts of Carmarthen . The incident, in October last year, happened after the gate to a level crossing was left open close to Bro Myrddin School and the cows wandered on to the line.

Whilst the train was not derailed, passengers remained on board for two and a half hours while emergency services secured the scene and cleared the line for another train to carry them forward. In that time Cynthia kept passengers informed about what was happening, kept spirits high despite it being late into the night and even shared her own sandwiches and flask with those on board!

Commenting on Cynthia's award, Graeme Bunker, Managing Director of Arriva Trains Wales, said:

I am always hugely proud to present awards for exceptional service and Cynthia's actions demonstrate how our employees are willing to go the extra mile for our customers.

He continued:

The incident itself, although extremely rare, was frightening for those customers on board but they have told us that they felt reassured by Cynthia as she kept them up to date on what was happening and when help would arrive. Presenting Cynthia with an Exceptional Contribution Award is our way of saying thank you to her.

Cynthia Evans said:

I was shocked to be nominated for an employee award and am even more so to walk off as overall winner. It's always a team effort to get services back on track when things don't go as planned and I hope that any one of my colleagues would have done the same to make sure the customers on board were well looked after.

In receiving top honours Cynthia was selected from 24 other Arriva Trains Wales employees from all over Wales and the border counties of England .

Last year's winner of the Arriva Trains Wales Gold Standard Award for exceptional customer care is also based in West Wales . Jason Holloway, a member of platform staff at Swansea Station, received the award after he ensured that customers who missed another train operator's service were provided with overnight accommodation – even driving them to the hotel and picking up the bill himself until he could be reimbursed by the other company.

The Awards, held twice a year, are based on nominations received from Arriva Trains Wales employees and include categories such as 'commitment to delivering a better service' and 'exceptional customer care'.

Ends

 Notes to editors

• Arriva Trains Wales employs 2029 people, over 1000 of which of work at stations or as drivers or conductors . The company operates 910 services a day (Monday to Friday) and on average conveys 55,000 customer journeys a day.
• Picture (from left): Jason Holloway, last year's winner of Arriva Trains Wales Gold Standard Exceptional Contribution Award, hands over the crown to Cynthia Evans with Graeme Bunker, managing director, of Arriva Trains Wales.