The speed and efficiency of training by the York-based train operators is held up as an example by Business Link York and North Yorkshire and the Learning and Skills Council North Yorkshire of how Investors in People (IIP) is being put to best effect.

This week marks the 11th anniversary of IIP - a standard designed to help improve business performance and competitiveness through good practice in human resource development. In that time there has been a total of 400 IIP recipients in York and North Yorkshire and of these almost half have received accreditation over the past three years.

York-based GNER this year became the first of 26 UK train operators to achieve the Investors in People standard.

The company has 3,100 staff nationwide responsible for around 16 million passenger journeys per year, with 400 management and administrative staff at its York headquarters.

Its main route stretches from Kings Cross in London up Britain's east coast to Inverness in the north of Scotland, via major cities such as Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen. In all, the company has staff at 20 train stations, as well as at its three maintenance depots in London, Edinburgh and Aberdeen.

The IIP panel's final assessment reported that the company had "a remarkable culture of teamwork, considering the size of the organisation".

Updated: 10:02 Tuesday, October 29, 2002