Awards

The winning project was the fitment of Double Variable Rate Sanding (DVRS) brake systems to our Class 323 fleet operating with Northern.

DVRS brake systems are a huge step in the right direction to creating a safer railway for all, with zero station overrun during the leaf fall season of 2024 attributed to low adhesion.

Porterbrook maintained its track record for fleet excellence at the 2024 Modern Railways Golden Spanner Awards, securing another four Gold Spanners and two Silver Spanners.

The Golden Spanners is an annual awards ceremony for the rail industry, celebrating the UK’s most reliable fleets.

As a result of this year’s wins, Porterbrook now has a total of 68 Golden Spanners.

This year, Porterbrook’s winning fleets are:

Gold Spanners:

• Ex-BR DMU: South-Western Railway Class 159/0
• Ex-BR EMU: South-Western Railway Class 455
• 1^st generation new EMU: Govia Thameslink Railway Class 387/1
• Wild card: Northern Class 150

Silver Spanners:

• Ex-BR EMU: Nothern Class 323
• 1^st generation new DMU: Cross Country Class 170

Awarded Safety Achievement of the Year and Fleet Achievement of the Year.

The Safety Achievement of the Year Award was for the Safer Switches and Crossings Project with Network Rail, DG8, Machines with Vision and One Big Circle. The train-borne monitoring technology developed by this partnership is transformational in addressing one of the highest risk assets in track engineering, with a significant number of inspections now carried out by engineers remotely instead of on-foot.

The Fleet Achievement of the Year Award is for Project Aurora with Govia Thameslink Railway and Alstom. The project to upgrade GTR’s entire Electrostar fleet is significantly improving reliability and passenger experience. At the end of July 2023 the programme reached the mid-way point and the 135th unit, out of 270 units, was delivered on time.