Alstom celebrates winning Supplier Excellence Award at 2013 Rail Business Awards

Alstoms Transport team is celebrating after wining for Supplier Excellence at the Rail Business Awards  for the Pendolino H3 Overhaul.

Held on 27 February and attended by senior figures from the rail industry, the awards celebrate the best in rail business throughout the UK.

Alstom maintains 52 Pendolino trains at five West Coast Main Line Traincare Centres for Virgin Trains. At the Manchester Traincare Centre, in Longsight, as well as ongoing maintenance, a major 2.5 million mile overhaul programme on the Pendolino fleet is currently being carried out, known as H3. And it was for this work that the Alstom team scooped the award.

Lee Kinsey, Alstom Transport Commercial and Projects Manager, said: "Complex projects don't exist in isolation; for H3 we were fortunate to have had an understanding customer, a supportive organisation and a truly dedicated and enthusiastic project team. That said, the whole mainline business, key external suppliers, as well as Preston Parts and Modernisation, have made a significant contribution to the Project and without all of them we simply wouldnt have been successful.

The Pendolino fleet went into service in 2002 and on average each train covers 1,000 miles a day, meaning the fleet will clock up around 17 million miles each year!

After 10 years, and an additional 2.5 million miles since the last heavy overhaul, the Alstom team undertook H3 on the fleet, meaning over 28,000 components and parts were replaced on each set. Taking just two weeks to overhaul each train, additional resource, investment and close working relationships with the customer ensured there was no impact on the daily availability of the Pendolinos. To make the feat even more impressive, 31 of the nine-car trains were extended to 11 cars at the same time.

• 11 car Pendolino event
• Manchester Traincare Centre