Most reliable stock

GM228 · 4 Aug 2015

Most likely this will be very debatable but I'm curious as to what the most reliable fleets are for loco, DMU and EMU category?

Also is there such a thing as a 100% reliable (or close to) fleet with no failures - a bold claim by any manufacturer/operator so I would find it hard to believe there is?

RailUK Forums

Domh245 · 4 Aug 2015

Every year there are spanner awards to do with the fleet reliability in various categories. Here are the awards from 2014 - http://www.modern-railways.com/view_article.asp?id=8528

Minilad · 4 Aug 2015

The results of last years (2014) Golden Spanner awards were

New generation EMU

Gold: SWT Class 458/1 (and also most reliable train overall)
Silver: ScotRail Class 380
Bronze: Heathrow Connect Class 360/2 and ScotRail Class 334 (dead heat)

Ex-BR EMU

Gold: SWT Class 455
Silver: ThamesLink Class 321
Bronze: ScotRail Class 314

New generation DMU

Gold: CrossCountry Class 170
Silver: London Midland Class 170
Bronze: Southern Rail Class 171

Ex-BR DMU

Gold: SWT Class 159/1
Silver: London Midland Class 153
Bronze: ScotRail Class 156

Most Reliable Pacer: Northern Class 144

Intercity

Gold: CrossCountry Class 220
Silver: First Great Western Class 180
Bronze: First Great Western Class 180

GrimsbyPacer · 4 Aug 2015

I think that class 139 (Parry People Movers) are the most reliable. They always seam to run.

GM228 · 4 Aug 2015

GrimsbyPacer said:
I think that class 139 (Parry People Movers) are the most reliable. They always seam to run.

No doubt their low weight, speed and mileage help the reliability!

fgwrich · 4 Aug 2015

Minilad said:
The results of last years (2014) Golden Spanner awards were

New generation EMU

Gold: SWT Class 458/1 (and also most reliable train overall)
Silver: ScotRail Class 380
Bronze: Heathrow Connect Class 360/2 and ScotRail Class 334 (dead heat)

Ex-BR EMU

Gold: SWT Class 455
Silver: ThamesLink Class 321
Bronze: ScotRail Class 314

New generation DMU

Gold: CrossCountry Class 170
Silver: London Midland Class 170
Bronze: Southern Rail Class 171

Ex-BR DMU

Gold: SWT Class 159/1
Silver: London Midland Class 153
Bronze: ScotRail Class 156

Most Reliable Pacer: Northern Class 144

Intercity

Gold: CrossCountry Class 220
Silver: First Great Western Class 180
Bronze: First Great Western Class 180

So, Bombardier. Good at DMUs it seems but not so at EMUs, with Siemens - Expected - and Alstom sitting pretty at the top. I wonder how differently the 458 fleets will compare when all the 458/5s are in traffic?

sprinterguy · 4 Aug 2015

GrimsbyPacer said:
I think that class 139 (Parry People Movers) are the most reliable. They always seam to run.

You missed the debacle that London Midland had with them in 2013, then? There were several days where Stourbridge town trains failed to run for the greater part due to both units being out of service.

Fortunately, a better managed maintenance regime and failure response was agreed upon shortly after, and their performance seems much improved since then.

Domh245 · 4 Aug 2015

It is worth noting that different colours of spanner are to do with different criteria, not ranking:

Gold Spanner – most reliable train based on Miles per Technical Incident (MTIN)
Silver Spanner – most improved fleet (percentage improvement in MTIN)
Bronze Spanner – fastest incident recovery (based on primary delay per incident)

It will be much like the 458s originally (and has been panning out like that as well!) - Absolutely awful to start with, but once Wimbledon start to work their magic touch into them, they should in theory pick up again. We could likely see the 458/5s winning silver spanner this year.

It does show that Wimbledon EMUD has got a magic touch, with their fleets topping their respective tables

Michael.Y · 5 Aug 2015

Class 150. They just....go.

Strathclyder · 5 Aug 2015

Minilad said:
Ex-BR EMU
Bronze: ScotRail Class 314

You have to give Shields Road T.M.D credit for being able to keep the 314s going as well as they have for the last 28 years (their first home was Hyndland Depot from 1979 until it's closure in 1987), considering their age (36 years old this November) and the amount of mileage they continue to clock up every week on the Cathcart Circle, Paisley Canal Line and the Inverclyde Line.

Granted, there is relatively little that can go wrong with them (compared to other ASR EMUs anyway), but it's still an achievement, as far as I'm concerned.

The total mileage of all 16 members of the class must be astronomical, to say the least...

krus_aragon · 5 Aug 2015

Domh245 said:
It is worth noting that different colours of spanner are to do with different criteria, not ranking:

Gold Spanner most reliable train based on Miles per Technical Incident (MTIN)
Silver Spanner most improved fleet (percentage improvement in MTIN)
Bronze Spanner fastest incident recovery (based on primary delay per incident)

Thanks. That explains how FGW's 180s managed to win silver and bronze last year!

Juniper Driver · 5 Aug 2015

It was 458/0 not 458/1.

458/5 are a long way off but im sure Wimbledon will get it right like they did with the originals,being such a good (maintenance) depot.

Wimbledon again have done a magic job on the 455's.

....and Salisbury 159/1s of which I nicknamed affectionately as Scrapheap Challenge.Done a great job on all their diesel units IMHO.

Darren R · 5 Aug 2015

Minilad said:
The results of last years (2014) Golden Spanner awards were....

...Ex-BR DMU

Gold: SWT Class 159/1
Silver: London Midland Class 153
Bronze: ScotRail Class 156

Most Reliable Pacer: Northern Class 144

That's hysterical - Pacers are so rubbish they have their own category! :lol:

Bob Ames · 5 Aug 2015

Darren R said:
That's hysterical - Pacers are so rubbish they have their own category!

Heh, but I wouldn't exactly call Northern's refurbed 144s 'rubbish' (they are pretty decent units and I would say 144004 is the best DMU I have had this side of a 175 - certainly way better than Northern's 158s which are well overdue for a refurb).

66Yorks · 6 Aug 2015

Indeed they do!

Michael.Y said:
Class 150. They just....go.

Tom Quayle · 6 Aug 2015

As far as I'm aware the 68s have been impressive in passenger service, faults with stock etc caused most train failures with one loco fault that I know of causing a cancelation of 2L69. One failure in 6 months is rather good I'd say.

Kentish Paul · 9 Aug 2015

How does the class 395 fare? In 2 years of commuting on them I cannot recall any problems.

321over360 · 10 Aug 2015

I am surprised that the 357s weren't at the top for most reliable Modern Gen EMU as never really hear of any faults with them these days and they do run on what is one of the most reliable Rail routes in the South East of England

And yeah the 395s don't seem to have issues either

gazthomas · 10 Aug 2015

For Stourbridge Town to Junction is it too far to build a travelator?

Most reliable stock

GM228

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