Sustainability silverware from the BTN Group
Inter-city operator Avanti West Coast has scooped the Rail Operator Sustainability Partner of the Year trophy at the BTN Group 2025 Business Travel Sustainability Awards. Judges applauded an “ambitious, well-structured sustainability strategy” that actively lures business travellers out of the airport lounge and into the First Class Quiet Coach.
For Railway Prune readers, the accolade is more than just another piece of hardware on the mantelpiece; it signals a growing corporate appetite for modal shift from air to rail on the UK’s busiest business corridor.
Collaboration is the new traction
Avanti’s Corporate Sales and Responsible Business teams partnered with global engineering consultancy Mott MacDonald to design—and actually sell—rail as the go-to option on the London–Glasgow axis. A tailor-made commercial framework, rolled out in August 2023, became the test bed:
- Great Scot fare – three fare tiers, two booking windows, one clear objective: make rail the financially and operationally obvious choice.
- Integrated booking flow – Mott MacDonald’s online travel tool now flags door-to-door journey times and CO₂ deltas against short-haul flights.
- Science-Based Targets in the small print – emissions goals baked into the contract, not left to marketing slogans.
Big numbers behind the green headlines
- 56 % share of trips between London and Glasgow now move by rail—up 49 % since launch.
- 43 % cut in aviation CO₂ across affected routes—around 120 tonnes trimmed, or eight business-class returns from London to Sydney.
- Productivity kicker: city-centre-to-city-centre timings and on-board Wi-Fi trump the trek to Heathrow and 40 minutes in a security queue.
Why rail insiders should care
- Blueprint for other TOCs – Expect rival operators to copy-and-paste Avanti’s fare-framework playbook on routes where rail already wins city-centre advantage (looking at you, ECML and CrossCountry).
- Corporate buyers redefining value – Carbon metrics are edging price alone off the podium in RFPs.
- Infrastructure alignment – HS2 (if and when) plus West Coast Digital signalling will only sweeten the deal for time-pressed execs.
Next signals on the board
Railway Prune understands that Avanti is eyeing similar incentive schemes on its Manchester and Liverpool flows, with an eye to wooing professional services giants clustered around Spinningfields and the Knowledge Quarter.
