Two women who have made their mark with First ScotRail have scooped special accolades at the first HR Network Scotland awards.

Fiona Irvine was named HR Director of the Year and Julie McComasky was presented with the Training Manager of the Year award.

Fiona, a graduate in business economics, was appointed HR director at First ScotRail in March 2006 and immediately set about transforming the human resources function for the train company’s 4,100 staff.

Since then, with the assistance of her team, she has delivered a business-aligned human resource strategy which has supported excellent business performance, and implemented a structure that enables line managers to maximise their own and their team’s potential. Other initiatives include a “highly visible staff engagement strategy” and work towards achieving Investors in People status.

Julie McComasky, who has a degree in human resources and an HNC in training and development, first worked on the railways in parcels and later took on a training role focused on customer service and ticketing. Later she worked in research and development of training programmes.

She was appointed head of learning and development at First ScotRail in May 2006 and has overseen the opening of the purpose-built training academy at First ScotRail’s headquarters in Glasgow.

She also developed an ‘Earn as you Learn’ everyday skills programme in partnership with rail unions and increased the number of training days for staff from 500 to 2,000 days a year.

Mary Dickson, First ScotRail managing director, said: “Both Fiona and Julie have contributed greatly to the process of transforming the culture of our organisation.

“To engage First ScotRail staff so that everyone is pulling in the right direction to deliver the best service for Scotland is an achievement to be commended.”

The awards are organised by HR Network Scotland magazine, which reflects the work carried out by human resource professionals working in Scotland.