Hitachi Rail Europe Ltd. has welcomed the announcement by the Secretary of State to replace the current train fleet on the East Coast Main Line with Hitachi Class 800 series trains in a £1.2bn deal.
The order will see Hitachi build an additional 30 nine-car electric trains for the East Coast Main Line in the train builder’s state-of-the-art factory in Newton Aycliffe which represents an £82 million investment in manufacturing in the North East of England.
The deal will reinforce UK train manufacturing capability once again making it globally competitive and raising the prospect of the UK being able to compete for export orders in European markets.
The confirmation to use the new Class 800 series trains instead of the Intercity 225s follows last year’s announcement to replace the ageing fleet of Intercity 125 trains on the Great Western Main Line with the Hitachi Super Express Trains.
The new Class 800 series fleet will be eco-friendly with 12% energy and carbon saving per person per journey when compared with the existing electric rolling stock.
Secretary of State for Transport: said: “By signing this deal we have provided further proof of our determination to transform Britain’s railways into a world-class operation through continued investment and state-of-the-art technology.
This new order is part of the Government’s commitment to invest in our nation’s infrastructure. This will not only deliver significant benefits to passengers by further slashing journey times and bolstering capacity, but will also stimulate economic growth through improved connectivity between some of Britain’s biggest cities. This is good news for rail passengers and for British manufacturing.”
Executive Chairman and CEO, Hitachi Rail Europe, Alistair Dormer, said: “This follow-on order marks the successful conclusion of the Intercity Express Programme procurement process. It represents a welcome boost for Hitachi Rail Europe’s train factory in Aycliffe with its 730 future employees and for the British supply chain. We have already signed contracts with a significant number of suppliers in the UK and Hitachi’s procurement team is in negotiations with many more, providing jobs throughout the UK engineering supply chain.”
Alistair Dormer continued:
“This is fantastic news for passengers travelling between London, Edinburgh and beyond. When we designed the new trains, we knew passengers and industry were very satisfied with our Class 395 Javelin™ train which we used as a blueprint and put a lot of thought into how we could step up to challenge of making the Class 800 trains as comfortable as possible for the long-distance passengers travelling on them.
We have increased legroom, included airline-sized overhead luggage storage, high-quality hotel-standard toilets with baby changing facilities, conveniently located bike storage and many more features that will make every journey on the trains a great experience.”
In July 2012, the then Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening announced the close of contract for the core order of 92 Class 800 series trains (596 carriages) for the Intercity Express Programme. The trains will be manufactured by Hitachi Rail Europe in its newly built train factory in Newton Aycliffe.
