Go-Ahead Group plc : Go-Ahead announces three year charity partnerships with Railway Children and Transaid

The Go-Ahead Group is to partner with charities Transaid and Railway Children for the next three years, aiming to raise over £100,000 to support the work of both organisations.

The bus and rail operator will work with Railway Children which fights for vulnerable children who live alone and at risk on the streets, and Transaid the international development charity that works to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods across the developing world by creating better transport.

David Brown, Group Chief Executive for Go-Ahead said: "This marks a new chapter in our charitable-giving activity. We have supported both charities in the past, but these new longer-term partnerships mean we can provide a deeper level of support to the work of Transaid and Railway Children.  We will also be encouraging our 22000 staff to raise funds and increase awareness of the charities' work at a local level, by supporting Transaid Week for example, and  Railway Children's annual Make a Difference Day."

Railway Children Chief Executive Officer Terina Keene said: "We are very excited that Go-Ahead has selected Railway Children as one of their two charity partners. Such significant corporate partnerships are so important to us and we very much looking forward to working together to make a lasting difference in the lives of children who live alone at risk on the streets."

Gary Forster, Chief Executive of Transaid added: "We are delighted that Go-Ahead has agreed to become a Transaid corporate member and believe the technical expertise and energy to be found within its diverse employee base will make a significant contribution to our international projects.  In the UK we often take the importance of safe, reliable transport for granted; but in Africa, it can mean a matter of life or death.  We look forward to our future collaborations."

Since its inception in 1995, Railway Children has helped thousands of children and young people by working with partner organisations on 117 projects across the UK, India and Africa. Last year the charity  helped 27,756 street children around the world. Go-Ahead will support Railway Children on a range of projects including the charity's initiatives to provide street workers  who make contact with children, and introduce preventative education in schools  to raise awareness of issues that may lead to young people running away.

Go-Ahead will support Transaid's three key areas of work  -  professional driver training and road safety, access to health, and improving livelihoods.  Since 2008 Transaid has been running a professional driver training project in Zambia and Tanzania to 'train the trainer' for passenger and commercial vehicles.  To date over 2500 drivers have been trained and a core group of trainers upskilled to help prevent road fatalities which occur at an alarming rate and are the third biggest premature killer after HIV/AIDS and malaria in sub-Saharan Africa.  Other projects include community managed transport to provide access to alternative forms of transport such as motorcycle ambulances for communities where conventional forms of transport are not available or affordable.

Go-Ahead will continue to support smaller charities.  In addition, Go-Ahead's rail and bus operating companies work with a range of charities and community organisations at a local level. Last year, Go-Ahead donated £250,000 to charities and community groups.

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For further information, please contact:

For further information please contact: Go-Ahead: Samantha Hodder on 020 7821 3928, email samantha.hodder@go-ahead.com

Transaid: Chantelle Cummings on + 44 (0) 20 7387 8136, or by email to marketing@transaid.org

Railway Children: Rob Capener  on 01270 757596  or email  rob.capener@railwaychildren.org.uk

Go-Ahead is a leading UK public transport operator, providing high quality services in the bus and rail sectors. Employing around 22,000 people across the country, over one billion passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. We are committed to operating our companies in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible way and are proud to have been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard after taking action on climate change. In addition to the travelling public, our customers include the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and local authorities.

Go-Ahead is one of the UK's largest bus operators. With a fleet of around 3,900 buses, we carry, on average, around 1.7 million passengers every day. Our operations are focused on high density commuter markets. We have a strong presence in London, with more than 20% market share, where we provide regulated services for TfL. We operate deregulated services in Oxford, East Anglia, the South East, Southern and North East England. We also have a yellow school bus joint venture in North America.

Our rail division operates the Southern (including Gatwick Express), Southeastern and London Midland franchises through our 65% owned subsidiary Govia. It is the busiest rail operation in the UK, responsible for nearly 30% of all UK passenger rail journeys. In December 2009, Southeastern began operating the UK's first high speed domestic rail service between Kent and London, significantly reducing journey times.