Hitachi Rail fleets have won three separate awards at the 2023 Golden Spanner Awards.
For the first time, judges used Miles per 701D (the rail industry fault code) to measure reliability. The Rail Delivery Group collects the fleet reliability data as part of the Fleet Challenge initiative.
Judges chose the fleets for their excellent performance and reliability over the last year, which Hitachi attributes to collaboration with clients, hard graft by maintenance workers, and investment in new digital solutions.
Hull Trains Paragon fleet (Class 802) won Gold (the top award) in the 2ndGeneration new inter-city category for the second year in a row, while another Hitachi fleet, Lumo (Class 803), won Silver. Both operators run trains on the East Coast Mainline, so Hitachi Rail believes that this is a recognition of the contribution that its fleets and maintenance have made to improving reliability.
ScotRail's Express (Class 385) fleet won Gold in the 2ndGeneration new Electrical Multiple Units (EMU) category.
Modern Railways magazine runs the Golden Spanner Awards, which are considered to be the rail industry's most prestigious awards for fleet reliability, and which celebrate the best of the UK.'s rolling stock maintenance and practices.
Hitachi argues that digital maintenance is playing a major role in high levels of train availability across the network. Hitachi Rail's digital maintenance includes on-board data and monitoring systems. These capture real-time information about the train, and help to reduce the time that trains spend out of service in depots.
Jim Brewin, Chief Director U.K. & Ireland at Hitachi Rail, said: “We share these awards and success with our customers because their day-to-day collaboration is essential to ensuring that we break new records in reliability together.
“A huge congratulations to our maintenance teams, whose ‘always improve' mindset puts them at the forefront of our digital maintenance transformation, which is setting the industry benchmark in reliability.
“Our digital solutions are part of Hitachi Rail's wider investment in the U.K. which is delivering over £640 million benefit to the British economy in 2023.”
Martijn Gilbert, Managing Director of Hull Trains, said: “Our £60m Hitachi fleet continues to go from strength to strength. It has been a challenging year for many rail operators, yet Hull Trains has consistently delivered for our customers. Prior to last year's success at the Golden Spanners, we had not been recognised since 2016. So, to win a Gold Award two years running is testament to the dependable service people have come to expect from Hull Trains. We are currently England's most reliable train operator.”
David Lister, ScotRail Safety, Engineering & Sustainability Director, said: “It's great to see our Class 385 fleet recognised at the Golden Spanner Awards. It's a win not just for Scotland's Railway, but more importantly for our customers.
“Since their introduction, the Class 385s have proven to be a reliable and dependable fleet of trains, which is exactly what our customers want and is testament to the collaborative work of the ScotRail and Hitachi teams.”
