A YORK-BASED train firm and its partner have been nominated for a "prestigious" national industry award.

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) and its partner, Atalian Servest, are "proud" to be named as finalists in a hotly contested industry award for their work in keeping customers safe throughout the pandemic.

A team of 360 specialists have been working around-the-clock delivering more than 600,000 hours of enhanced cleaning since March 2020 - as part of LNER’s ‘Covid Secure’ pledge to ensure customers can travel with confidence.

The partnership has been shortlisted in the ‘Partners in Cleaning - Public Sector’ category of the Professional Facilities Management (PFM) Partnership Awards 2021. The awards, which have been running for 28 years, are described as the facility management sector’s premier event and are designed to recognise best practice in collaborative working.

Warrick Dent, safety and operations director at LNER, said: "The safety of our customers and colleagues is always our top priority. We are working closely with our cleaning partners to deliver a world-class regime, with our dedicated teams delivering record levels of cleaning to the highest standards right across our route, in our stations and onboard our trains."

LNER’s cleaning teams are equipped with high-grade equipment and sustainable products. They use a two-stage disinfectant process to clean customer touch points, surfaces and toilets, along with ‘fogging’ devices, which kill viruses on hard surfaces.

Since the start of the pandemic, more than 14,000 hours of intensive, deep cleaning has also taken place across the East Coast route. Regular routine swab tests for traces of Covid-19 on high-frequency touch points have been carried out since July 2020.

The winners of the award will be announced at a ceremony in November.