South Western Railway (SWR) struck gold at this year’s Golden Spanner awards with wins for its fleet teams in four separate categories.
The prestigious Golden Spanner awards, run by Modern Railways magazine, recognise the country’s best fleet teams at an annual event that celebrates improvements in train maintenance practices and reliability.
The fleet of trains that run out of the Salisbury train depot were winners of one of the gold awards given out on the night. The 158/9 diesel trains that run from Salisbury won for their reliability in the Ex British Rail Diesel Multiple Unit category.
SWR won in four categories and received gold awards for the most reliable trains 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 fleetJames 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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