Govia Thameslink Railway donates 600 PCs to Turing Trust

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) has announced it is donating 600 redundant computers to IT recycling and education charity, the Turing Trust.

The company, which manages a number of rail connections in the South East including the Gatwick Express airport service, is replacing the desktops as they are unable to run the latest software it uses. The computers are still useful for organisations such as charities and schools which are unable to afford the equipment they need.

Not only will they offer children the chance to learn computing skills, finding a new use for the equipment means saving 160 tonnes of carbon emissions which would have been produced in the manufacture of new computers.

James Turing, Founder of the Trust, said: “We're delighted to receive this fantastic donation from Govia Thameslink Railway which will help us to do so much in the coming months. Thanks to their donation, 10,800 students will be able to learn vital IT skills.

“Beyond this the environmental impact from their donation will offset 168 tonnes of CO2 emissions, which is the equivalent of planting 420 trees, or offsetting the annual carbon footprints of 17 Britons.

“The embodied energy savings created are also enough to power 41 UK homes for a year as well. Thank you so much to the whole team at Govia Thameslink Railway for making all of this possible!”

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The first group of 70 desktops has already been delivered to the charity after the data was deleted and the operating system reinstalled. The Trust will now wipe the donated equipment to UK governmental standards before repairing or refurbishing the computers if necessary.

One this is done, the bulk of the donation is expected to be sent to schools in Malawi, where the Turing Trust has been operating since 2016. Some of the donated equipment will remain in the UK.

In the six years the trust has been operating in the country, the number of schools with a computer in the north of Malawi has risen to 80 per cent. Nationally, it was 3 per cent when the trust started its work.

Aidan Shanahan, GTR’s Head of IT, said: “We’re delighted to be able to work with the Turing Trust to make such a life-changing difference for so many people, by giving equipment a second life.

“The demand for refurbished computers is so high that the 600 units we’re donating is a drop in the ocean, so we encourage other organisations with redundant kit to work with the Trust so it can be re-used securely with such lasting and valuable impact.”

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