This year’s rendition of the Golden Spanner awards culminated with a triumphant showing for South Western Railway, seeing four classes of the operators rolling stock win gold, recognising them as having an elite fleet in the UK rail sector.
This prestigious awards ceremony is in place to recognise the country’s best fleet teams at the annual event, celebrating the continuous improvements in train maintenance practices and reliability.
The event saw a collation of representatives across the industry from the winning depots, accompanied by colleagues from Fleet Engineering and Fleet Performance, totalling more than 350 industry professionals at the gala in London.
The four gold awards for the most reliable trains were won in the following categories:
- Ex BR DMU - Salisbury Depot for the Class 158/9 diesel fleets
- Ex-BR EMU - Wimbledon Depot for the Class 455 electric fleet
- Second generation new EMU - Wimbledon Depot for the Class 707 electric fleet
- Wild Card, repurposed traction - Ryde St. Johns Road Depot for the Class 484 fleet
The triumphant showing for SWR was especially notable for the staff on the Ise of Wight, who were awarded their first Golden Spanner for the work in the repurposed rolling stock category, coming just one year after work started on the Island Line’s Class 484 fleet.
James Wale, SWR’s Head of Fleet Delivery said:
“Reliable trains are a key part of delivering the consistent service our customers want and expect from us, so I’d like to congratulate all of those colleagues that have worked so hard to achieve this recognition.”
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