Industry News Premier Rail

TransPennine Express wins a Golden Spanner Award

Written by Amy

Intercity train company TransPennine Express (TPE) and manufacturer Siemens are celebrating success after receiving a Golden Spanner Award for Class 185 fleet of trains.

TransPennine Express is an intercity rail provider with a vision to Take the North Further. They aim to deliver an investment of over £500m in the next three and a half years that will transform travel and customer experience across the North and into Scotland. Between 2018 and 2020 they will introduce 220 brand new state of the art carriages, will provide new routes and services and will increase capacity by over 80 per cent on a seven day a week timetable.

The annual award ceremony took place in London on Friday 25 November, and celebrates excellence in train maintenance. TPE’s fleet of Class 185 trains were awarded the Golden Spanner Award for the most reliable modern diesel multiple unit in Great Britain.

The fleet have recently celebrated their 10th birthday, spending their entire working life with the TransPennine Express franchise, coming into service in 2006. Unit 185128 recently became the first of the fleet to complete two million miles in service, the equivalent of travelling from Liverpool to Newcastle by road 11,494 times, around the world 80 times, or from the earth to the moon five times.

Paul Staples, TPE Fleet Director, commented:

“Even as Transpennine Express works on the delivery of its 220 new carriages, the Class 185 fleet remains absolutely at the front and centre of our customers’ journeys with us, and will do so for years to come. Making sure that these trains run reliably is the prime focus of my team and our close colleagues at Siemens and Eversholt Rail. That challenge is relentless and I am really pleased that the longstanding partnership behind the Class 185 fleet has won this recognition for the third time in the fleet’s ten-year life.”

Simon Wildgoose, Siemens Fleet Delivery Manager for the TPE Class 185, said:

“Winning this Golden Spanner is testimony to the hard work of the entire Siemens team working on the fleet – from technicians, supervisors and production managers to the commercial, quality and engineering departments – and of course our counterparts at TPE who work very closely with us. We are all very proud of our joint team effort this year to make the Class 185 the best diesel train in its class.”

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Amy