Greater Anglia’s new three-carriage bi-mode train was crowned “most reliable train of its type” in independent industry awards based on reliability statistics. Greater Anglia, along with their maintenance partner Stadler, scooped two industry reliability awards for the train operator’s new bi-mode trains at the annual Golden Spanner Awards The Class 755 trains, which can be powered by either electric or diesel and operate on rural lines in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire, won a golden spanner and a silver spanner at the awards, which are held by Modern Railways magazine. The three-carriage bi-mode trains, made and maintained by Swiss company Stadler, won the golden spanner in the category of new diesel trains. It was crowned the most reliable train of its type in England, Scotland and Wales based on the ‘miles per technical TRUST incident’ (MTIN) statistics. They currently have an average of 14,767 miles between incidents. Greater Anglia’s four-carriage bi-mode trains picked up a silver spanner award, meaning it’s the most improved train of its type in England, Scotland and Wales in terms of its MTIN performance. It currently has an average of 12,164 miles between technical incidents – faults that cause a delay of three minutes or more. Greater Anglia has 24 bi-mode trains made up of four carriages and 12 have three carriages. Martin Beable, Engineering Director, Greater Anglia, said: “Our new bi-mode trains have transformed rail travel in the region, and we’re thrilled they have been recognised with two awards. “I would like to thank the teams at Greater Anglia, Stadler and Rock Rail who all made these awards possible. These awards are testament to the hard work of our colleagues, who work around-the-clock to keep trains running.” Rob Baxter, Managing Director for Stadler Rail Service UK, said: “We are delighted to scoop these prestigious accolades, just 18 months after all the Stadler-built trains were delivered. This success is testament to effective collaborative working with Greater Anglia and Rock Infrastructure and the valiant efforts made by our maintenance teams at Norwich Crown Point, who have squeezed every sinew to secure continuous performance improvement of the fleets we look after there.” The Golden Spanners awards celebrate the best of train maintenance and are handed out to train companies who make the greatest strides in train reliability. 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.
