Rail company Northern comes on board as sponsor of Best of Wearside Awards

Rail firm Northern has joined our fantastic list of backers for this year’s Best of Wearside Awards.

Anna Weeks, Regional Director for Northern, said: “We are delighted to be sponsoring the Best of Wearside Awards and are really looking forward to being part of a celebration that recognises the individuals that make us proud to be from the North East.”

The company plays a vital role in the North of England by connecting tens of thousands of people to work, leisure, education and more every day.

Arriva Rail North Limited became the new rail operator for Northern on April 1, 2016, marking the start of a nine-year franchise that will transform travel through a £1billion investment in the largest rail network outside London.

Bosses said there were many exciting benefits to come as a result of the investment during the next 9 years. These include brand new state-of-the-art trains with a top speed of 100mph, services becoming faster and more frequent, improved customer facilities and more security on stations.

Many stations will also have extended opening hours. Northern officials said that, in the North East, this will mean that by 2020 the local rail service would be unrecognisable to the one today.

Meanwhile, the Best of Wearside Awards are moving towards their finale.

We have passed the deadline for competition entries and the judges have now met to decide who proceeds to the shortlist in each category. Watch out for more details of that shortlist in the next few days.

The glittering grand finale of this year’s awards will be held on Thursday, March 28.

We will have a media team at the event to follow all the latest developments.

And once it is all over, we will be bringing you a colour supplement with photographs and interviews from the night.

This year’s competition has backing from headline sponsor BGL Group, partner sponsor Gentoo and category sponsors Stagecoach, Calsonic Kansei, Audi, and Northern.