The winners in the annual Modern Railways Golden Spanners awards were announced at the Fourth Friday Club meeting on Friday 27 November. The awards, based on statistical data in the National Fleet Reliability Improvement Programme, reward excellence in rolling stock maintenance. The Gold award goes to the best in category, silver to most improved. c2c’s Class 357 was shown to be the most reliable train in the country. The results for 2009 were as follows:

Category Award Class MPC* Operator Depot Maker Owner

Ex BR EMU Gold 321 36,033 First Capital Connect, Hornsey, Bombardier (BREL), HSBC Rail
Silver 322 41.75 First ScotRail, Shields Road, Bombardier (BREL), HSBC Rail

Ex BR DMU Gold 159/0 31,422 SWT, Salisbury, BREL (Bombardier), Porterbrook
Silver 158/0 67.93 SWT, Salisbury, BREL (Bombardier), Porterbrook

Intercity Gold IC225 23,890 NatEx East Coast ,Bounds Green, Alstom (GEC/Met Cam), HSBC Rail
Silver loco hauled 35.5 NXEA Crown Point, BREL / Alstom, Porterbrook

New generation DMU Gold 221 25,982 Cross Country, Central Rivers, Bombardier (Alstom/Cummins), Halifax
Silver 221 117.9 Cross Country, Central River, Bombardier (Alstom/Cummins), Halifax

New generation EMU Gold 357 69,521 c2c, West Ham, Bombardier, Porterbrook
Silver 458 32.16 SWT, Wimbledon, Alstom, Porterbrook

Most improved Pacer Silver 143 65 FGW, Cardiff Canton, Defunct, Porterbrook

Champagne Challenge IC125 13,337 NatEx East Coast, Bounds Green, BREL/Brush/MTU, Porterbrook

* Miles per casualty for Golden Spanner, percentage improvement for Silver Spanner.

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