Foreign Minister’s Commendation - Mr Adrian Shooter

On 23 November 2022, Ambassador HAYASHI Hajime awarded the Foreign Minister’s Commendation to Mr Adrian Shooter, Chairman of Vivarail Ltd.

For 50 years since joining British Railways in 1970, Mr Shooter has been responsible for railway safety and environmental technology in the UK and has contributed to the promotion of UK-Japan railway technical cooperation. In particular, he established the UK-Japan Railways Exchange Programme with Japanese railway companies in 1993 and, as UK training representative, has been instrumental in the training of a cumulative total of more than 200 people to date. He has also contributed to the development of railway safety and environmental technology and deepened cooperation between the two countries through the cooperation between Japanese and British engineers that he established, which led to the adoption of Japanese automatic train stopping systems in the UK and their widespread use throughout the UK.

At the ceremony, Ambassador Hayashi paid tribute to Mr Shooter’s great accomplishments and expressed his wish to continue contributing to the development of railway personnel and the improvement of railway safety and environmental technology in the two countries. In response, Mr Shooter recalled his memories and experiences on cooperation between the UK and Japan in the rail sector and said that he was very honoured to receive this commendation and thanked all those who had supported him.