Transport engineering specialist, Severn Lamb, has won the ‘New to Market Award’ at the Department for International Trade’s (DIT) Business Awards.
The award recognises the bespoke ‘TUA Express’ steam outline locomotive which was designed and manufactured by Severn Lamb for Duoro Azul Group in Portugal.
Chris Sainty, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to Portugal, presented the award during the ceremony held at the British Embassy in Lisbon, Portugal.
Andrew Mitchell, Her Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Europe, said the objective of the event was ‘to hand out awards to very, very special people’.
The TUA Express was commissioned to run on the 120-year-old Tua Line in Northern Portugal. It hauls four passenger coaches along the highly scenic, 1 metre gauge, 25km Tua Line, reaching a maximum speed of 25kph.
TUA Express combines modern comforts with period style
The four enclosed passenger coaches can accommodate up to 56 passengers each. Although the period style evokes the spirit of a bygone age, the coaches are deceptively high-spec. Heating and air-conditioning ensure passengers enjoy their trip whatever the weather. There are even in-seat USB charge points. Severn Lamb also designed and built a fully featured galley coach with kitchen, bar, toilets and a lounge area.
“Thank you again to all the companies that have trusted us to support their international endeavours,” stated Sainty at the ceremony. “It has been a pleasure to work with innovative and ambitious businesses.”
Severn Lamb is no stranger to awards, having won the prestigious Queen’s Award for Export. The company is busy supplying attractions around the world including three battery-electric Texan rail trains for the new Haichang Polar Ocean World in Shanghai, China. The company had to modify the trains to cope with significant gradients as part of the park’s ‘Alpine Express’ centrepiece.
