London Northwestern Railway has announced that it has won this year's Golden Spanner award for the most reliable First Generation Electric Multiple Unit in the UK.
The award has been given to the train operator for the Siemens 350/3 units, which are part of a fleet that operates more than 80 services a day to and from London Euston.
The trains have been recognised for running on average 138,000 miles between technical incidents over the past year.
London Northwestern Railway also leases Siemens 350/2 and 350/1 units. These came in second and third in the same category respectively.
The train operator uses these trains not only on their services to and from the capital but also to operate services between Birmingham and Liverpool.
London Northwestern Railway will continue to operate the 350/3 units alongside new trains that are currently being built to operate on the route. New AVENTRA Class 730 units, currently on order from Bombardier, will increase capacity on the West Coast mainline from 2021.
What did the officials say?
Neil Bamford, engineering director at London Northwestern Railway said:
“It's been another fantastic year for our Siemens for our Class 350 trains. We will be keeping the fleet to run alongside the new units ordered for our West Coast Mainline services in future. We are very pleased to win this prestigious award; these trains are comfortable and extremely popular with passengers.”
Where Next?
News Homepage
For the Latest Railway News
RailAdvent Online Shop
Framed Prints, DVD's / Blu-Ray's and more
LocoStop – The RailAdvent Community
Come and share your railway pictures
London Northwestern Railway
Visit their website
I have to thoroughly thoroughly disagree with that its the most reliable. Going from Harrow and Wealdstone to London Euston Station is my daily commute and I have had many many instances where they are delays and cancellations. I have had email exchanges to their customer services complaining however they come out with the same excuses. One time around this time last year I was on a train around midnight at Euston Station, it was showing on the board the train details on the main concourse and all of a sudden it was wiped off and nobody from Euston station knew anything about it. A woman also was crying because this happened and when I asked to speak to one representative he simply walked away and ignored me on the platform which is very unprofessional. Week after week there is some form of delays and cancellations and even getting a seat on the train is a challenge. 4 to 5 years a go This service was good now going completely downhill, unhelpful and rude staff and the the impression I get is the rail company don’t want to take responsibility for the stress and inconvenience it causes to the commuters.
If London Northwestern Railway (LNWR) are to replace the Class 350/2 as they are ordering the Class 730 Aventra but to keep the Class 350/1, Class 350/3 and Class 350/4 from Transpennine Express. Maybe perhaps some of the Class 350/2s could go to Transpennine Express to work on Manchester Airport-Liverpool Lime St and possibly some Class 350/2 to ScotRail to replace the Class 318. And the rest for storage.
Or perhaps Porterbrook to inherit and convert the Class 350/2 into Hydrogen-Electric trains or Electric-Battery trains and to operate them across England and Wales including working on both electrified and non-electrified lines.
Or will West Midlands Railway (WMR) keep them but to operate them on the Chase Line that parts of the Chase Line which is to be electrified to be completed that will operate between Rugeley Trent Valley-Birmingham New Street via Walsall and to Bromsgrove via Lickey Incline. And to replace the Class 319s and Class 323s to Northern. With LNWR to operate 1 Class 350 train on the Watford Junction-St. Albans City branch line.
Correction. With LNWR to operate 1 Class 350 train on the Watford Junction-St. Albans Abbey branch line.