On the day that another new Swiss-built train arrived at Greater Anglia’s main depot in Norwich, the company’s engineers are celebrating more major awards.

They have been given “Golden Spanners” for their work increasing the reliability of their existing trains on the main line to London and Stansted Express services – which beat other train fleets in their class to clock up the most miles before developing faults that needed fixing.

As a result, Greater Anglia’s Intercity fleet, with 58,323 miles between faults, is the most reliable in the UK.

The awards are given based on independent industry-accredited statistics using the Rail Delivery Group’s moving annual average data for the 12 months ending mid-October 2018.

Roger Ford, from trade magazine Modern Railways which organises the Awards, said: “For Greater Anglia to win Golden Spanners in the categories covering former British Rail trains and the latest electric trains is a tribute to the engineering teams at Crown Point and Ilford maintenance Depots.

“The team at Crown Point Depot has now won the ex-BR Intercity category three years in a row.”

Jamie Burles, Greater Anglia’s Managing Director, said: “I am delighted that the improvement in performance has been recognised at the Golden Spanners Awards and would like to congratulate our depot and fleet teams on their hard work which has had a big impact on train reliability, leading to better service for customers.

“This is even more impressive considering that it has been achieved during the major redevelopment of Norwich Crown Point Depot so that it can accommodate the longer new trains.”

The second of the new rural trains to arrive in East Anglia from Stadler’s factory in the Switzerland passed through the region early on Thursday morning.

It was pulled along the main line from the Channel Tunnel to Norwich – the trains have not yet been cleared to run under their own power on Britain’s rail network.

They are expected to be tested and staff at Crown Point are to be trained in their maintenance before they do their first test runs early next year. They are due to enter service when the new timetable starts in May 2019.