TPE wins top award for most reliable trains in the UK

TPE and its maintenance partners, Siemens Mobility, secured on of the top prizes for the Class 185 fleet at this year’s Golden Spanner Awards organised by Modern Railways Magazine, which recognise excellence in train maintenance.

Judges awarded a Golden Spanner to the trains for being the most reliable modern diesel multiple units in the UK. 

This is the sixth time the Class 185 trains, which are maintained by Siemens in Ardwick, Manchester, have received an award in this category.

Two of the company’s other fleets were also recognised in the second generation new intercity trains category, with the Hitachi Nova 1s (Class 802s) winning silver for most improved reliability and the CAF Nova 2s (Class 397s) receiving bronze for fastest incident recovery.

Paul Staples, Fleet Director for TransPennine Express said: “We are all committed to running a railway that our customers can depend on and I am so pleased that the reliability of our Class 185 trains has again been recognised by industry experts at this year’s Golden Spanner Awards, not to mention our Class 397 and Class 802 fleets making their first appearance in the honours list.

“A huge amount of time and effort goes into maintaining all of our trains and my thanks and congratulations go to everyone in the teams involved for a fabulous achievement.”

 Sambit Banerjee, Managing Director of Rolling Stock and Customer Services for Siemens Mobility in the UK, said: “We are absolutely delighted to see our TransPennine Express Class 185’s win a Golden Spanner again. It is great to see this dependable and reliable fleet recognised time and time again – especially with the ongoing digital project to further enhance the fleet. A huge thank you to the Siemens Mobility and TransPennine teams at Ardwick for all their collaboration and hard work in making sure this fleet has industry leading reliability to ensure a great passenger experience!” 

More information on the annual Golden Spanner Awards can be found here: modernrailways.com/events/golden-spanner-awards-4th-friday-club