After recently celebrating its first year in operation, Lumo, which is FirstGroup’s 100% electric train operator, has been recognised as ‘Overall Best Operator’ at the World Passenger Awards.

Lumo gained the award ahead of 134 other shortlisted rail operators from across the globe. The award recognises Lumo’s overall positive sentiment from its customers on social media, and its excellence rating across all award categories.

To calculate the winning criteria, the World Passenger Awards teamed up with Gateshead-based software company Wordnerds by using their pioneering text analytics tool to determine the amount of positive sentiment there was in several key areas of each category for which there was an award.

The main resource that the awards team used to determine the awards was Twitter, and they analysed over one million Tweets from 40 different countries.

Lumo also won the ‘At the Station’ award in recognition of its staff being commended for going an extra-mile in its customer service because of its staff’s visibility and helpfulness when assisting customers to board. The company was also a finalist in the ‘Access’ award category.

The brand was launched in October 2021, since when its fleet has travelled over one million miles. Lumo estimates that by travelling in 100% electric trains instead of flying, its passengers could have saved the equivalent CO2 emissions of 21,000 homes’ electricity use for an whole year.

Lumo’s fares between London and Edinburgh for January ranges from the cheapest at £26.90 up to £69.80, whilst the cost of tickets between Newcastle and Edinburgh are just £9.90.

Martijn Gilbert, Managing Director of Lumo, said: “It is vital for the economy to have an affordable and sustainable means to travel long distances. We are thrilled that our customers have not only decided to travel with us for these reasons but have had positive experiences throughout our first year in operation as well.”