Distinction Awards

At the end of 2015, VIA Rail introduced the Distinction Awards, a new employee recognition program with a regional and national component. The regional Distinction Awards are awarded to peer-nominated employees who excel in the fields of customer service, maintenance, innovation, and team building. In addition to recognizing employees who have gone above and beyond, these awards also inspire others to follow their example.The national portion of the Distinction awards, the Client Innovation Challenge, invited all VIA Rail employees to submit their ideas to further improve our customer experience. Many of our employees are customer-facing, and therefore have an insider’s perspective on how to best meet their needs. The Client Innovation Challenge was a concrete way to recognize the value of their ideas and experiences. At our employee recognition events in January 2016, we handed out Distinction Awards to 14 outstanding employees in the categories of Five-Star Service, Maintenance Excellence, Success Story, and Team Spirit. We also celebrated the three winning teams of the Client Innovation Challenge. All three projects were evaluated and went into development in 2016.