A Greater Anglia bi-mode train. Credit: Greater Anglia Greater Anglia’s new four-carriage bi-mode trains have been crowned “most reliable train of their type” in the country in independent industry awards for the second year running. Greater Anglia, along with their maintenance partner Stadler, scooped three industry reliability awards for the train operator’s new trains at the annual Golden Spanner Awards, held by Modern Railways Magazine. The four-carriage Class 755 trains, which operate on rural lines in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, were named the most reliable train of their type in England, Scotland and Wales based on the ‘miles per technical TRUST incident’ (MTIN) statistics – which cover faults that cause a delay of three minutes or more. These bi-mode trains, which are powered by diesel and electricity, recorded an average of 17,676 miles between incidents – the best in the country and improving from 14,767 miles between incidents last year. As a result, the trains, which were built and are maintained by Stadler, won the golden spanner in the category of new diesel trains. There was also recognition for Greater Anglia’s three-carriage bi-mode trains, which won a bronze spanner for the lowest average delay per technical incident. In addition, Greater Anglia’s Class 745 intercity trains which operate between Norwich, Ipswich, Colchester and London picked up a silver spanner award, meaning they are the most improved train of their type, with a 126.9% year-on-year improvement. Martin Beable, Engineering Director, Greater Anglia, said: “Our new trains have transformed rail travel in the region, and we’re thrilled they have been recognised with these awards. “The fact that we have received a gold, silver and bronze award shows we are making good progress in all aspects of fleet performance, from having a low number of technical incidents, to getting trains moving again and recovering quickly from incidents that do occur, to wider improvements in overall fleet performance.” “I would like to thank the teams at Greater Anglia, Stadler and Rock Rail who were all integral to these notable achievements. These awards are testament to the hard work of our colleagues, who work around-the-clock to keep trains running.” Paul Patrick, managing director of Stadler Rail Service UK; said: “Stadler trains are safe, reliable, with a focus on comfort and green technology. The performance of the fleets we built for the East Anglia network and maintain at Crown Point are testament to effective partnership working with Greater Anglia and our shared commitment to continuous improvement for the benefit of passengers.” Greater Anglia is currently in the process of replacing all trains in its fleet with brand new ones, which are all longer, with more seats, USB and plug sockets, fast free Wi-Fi, air conditioning and improved accessibility features as well as dedicated cycle spaces.
