London Midland train wins rail industry award for reliability

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London Midland has won the much coveted Modern Railway’s Golden Spanner award for the most reliable new Electric Multiple Unit in the UK.

The distinctive green and black liveried Siemens Class 350/2 fleet operates on London Midland West Coast services between Birmingham, Northampton and Euston.

This outstanding performance included one four week period during which the trains recorded no technical failures, which is equivalent to 382,240 miles between technical failures and sets a new UK record for a passenger train fleet.

London Midland Managing Director Mike Hodson said:

“We are delighted with the reliability levels now being achieved by Siemens for our Class 350 trains.

“It’s great that we can have confidence in this fleet to improve the levels of reliability and punctuality we deliver to our customers.”

He added: “We are very pleased to win this prestigious award; these trains are comfortable and extremely popular with passengers.”

Steve White, Rolling Stock Service Director at Siemens Rail Systems said:

“Excellent train reliability requires a proactive partnership between the maintainer and the operator. This outstanding result is a tribute to the hard work of the Siemens maintenance team and London Midland train crew and operations personnel.”

The 350/2 trains offer increased seating capacity, efficient air-conditioning, full CCTV coverage and automatic passenger counter devices on each exterior door.

97% of London Midland’s trains are in service every day working hard for the customers.

The Class 350/1 and 350/2 have strong environmental features which include smart energy meters that monitor and record the energy used.

The brakes return electricity to the National Grid when braking so energy is not lost into the atmosphere as heat.

The data from the energy meters can then be downloaded and analyzed to help London Midland develop more energy saving practices.

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