Department for Transport
 Printable version
|
 E-mail this to a friend
|
Passengers and economy to benefit from biggest investment in trains for a generation
Passengers on some of the country's busiest rail routes will benefit from the single biggest investment in Intercity trains for a generation, Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon announced today.
Agility Trains has been selected as the preferred bidder for a £7.5bn contract to build and maintain a fleet of new Super Express trains for the Great Western and East Coast main lines. These will replace existing high speed trains which are 20-30 years old.
Agility - a British-led consortium comprising of John Laing, Hitachi and Barclays - will make a significant inward investment as part of this contract. They will build a new train manufacturing plant in the UK, as well as depots in Bristol, Reading, Doncaster, Leeds and west London with upgrades to existing depots throughout Great Britain. This will create or safeguard some 12,500 manufacturing jobs in these regions.
Geoff Hoon also announced that the Department is in advanced negotiations with National Express East Anglia to provide 120 new carriages for the Stansted Express service from London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport. The preferred bidder for this order is Bombardier Transportation, who plan to build them in Derby and therefore safeguard jobs there.
Geoff Hoon said: "This announcement demonstrates that this Government is prepared to invest, even in difficult economic times, by improving our national infrastructure. It is good news for the British Economy that over 12,500 jobs will be created and safeguarded; good news for the regions that the Government is supporting significant inward investment; and good news for passengers that we are taking the steps necessary to improve their rail journeys."
The first of the new trains will enter service on the East Coast mainline in 2013. Trains will enter full service from 2015, linking London with Cambridge, Leeds, Hull, York, Newcastle and Edinburgh and linking London with the Thames Valley, Bristol and South Wales.
Government rail experts working alongside the rail industry have created a new specification for these trains that will offer more seats, more reliable services and reduced journey times.
Professor Andrew McNaughton, Network Rail's Chief Engineer, said:
"Network Rail has been delighted to support DfT from the very start on the development of this project. This will be the first train for many years which has been developed as part of a system together with the GB rail infrastructure.
"We have worked with DfT to optimise the design of both train and infrastructure to give the best capacity and passenger experience and the best whole life costs. This is a big train, but it will tread softly and so reduce the amount of maintenance and network down-time needed."
Alec McTavish, Association of Train Operating Companies' (ATOC's) Director of Policy and Operations, said:
"This announcement is good news for the rail industry and passengers. The fleet will provide long distance operators with the trains they need to meet the needs of a growing market and passengers with an attractive, cost effective travel choice, which is essential if rail's potential to reduce the UK's carbon footprint and transport congestion is to be realised.
"ATOC and its members have been working closely on the development of the trains' specification and will now work with the Department and Network Rail to bring them into service."
Notes to Editors
1. The Super Express trains are part of the overall Intercity Express Programme (IEP), which includes a package of other investments to improve the capacity and capability of the routes. This has been led by the Department for Transport, with assistance from across the rail industry, since November 2005.
2. The Programme seeks to replace the distinctive "Intercity 125" High Speed Train (HST) diesel fleet and "Intercity 225" electric fleet procured by British Rail during the 1970s and 1980s with a new, higher capacity, more environmentally friendly train.
3. The new trains will operate on the East Coast and Great Western Main Lines, with options for deployment on London commuter services on the West Coast Main Line and on services between London and the West of England (Penzance and Exeter).
4. The Intercity Express Programme is independent of "High Speed Two", which was recently set up to explore options for a new rail relief line along the Intercity West Coast corridor.
5. The Invitation To Tender, Train Technical Specification and associated procurement documents can be found on the Department for Transport's website, http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/pi/iep/.
6. The secondary bidder was Express Rail Alliance (a consortium comprising Bombardier Transportation, Siemens, Angel Trains and Babcock & Brown). Express Rail Alliance has been asked to maintain their status as reserve bidder in the case of DfT not being able to reach satisfactory terms with the preferred bidder. Both bids were deliverable and substantially compliant, and so comprehensively evaluating and choosing between them was a lengthy process.
7. The contract structure passes the responsibility for constructing depots and maintaining trains to the successful bidder. The Train Operating Company will pay the successful bidder "Set Availability Payments" for each train that reports for duty each day and remains reliable during the operational period.
8. The fleet will comprise an electric, self-powered (diesel), and a bi-mode variant, the latter being able to make use of an electric or a diesel power source at the end of the train. This is the first time in recent history that a bi-mode train has been earmarked for the UK rail network. Bi-mode trains are common on some mainland European national rail systems.
9. The Super Express trains will be cleaner, greener and generate less noise than the trains that they will replace. Despite being larger, the new trains will be up to 17% lighter than their counterparts, meaning that they will be more energy efficient and faster at accelerating.
10. The electric and bi-mode versions of these trains will include regenerative braking, a system whereby electricity is re-cycled back through the overhead wires when the driver applies the brakes. The diesel and bi-mode versions will benefit from the latest hybrid power technology which will reduce fuel consumption by up to 15%.
11. The 125 mph (200kph) Super Express trains will reduce overcrowding as they will be longer, the new carriages will be 26m in length as opposed to the 23m in Intercity vehicles currently in use. This will mean that they will carry up to 21% more passengers per train than current rolling stock. The faster journey times will also allow operators to run more frequent services.
12. A typical journey between London and Leeds will shorten by around 10 mins, between London and Edinburgh by 12 mins, between London and Bristol by 10 mins and between London and Cardiff by 15 mins.
13. This represents the largest ever procurement of rolling stock. Top five rolling stock procurements since privatisation are:
Rank Route Name Order Size Date
1st Intercity Super Express Up to1,400 Current
2nd Various DfT High Level 1,300* Current
Output Specification
3rd South West Desiro 665 Apr 2001
4th West Coast Pendolino 477 Feb 1999
5th South Central Electrostar 460 Mar 2002
* Note that this total reflects several separate orders
14. Key facts: an existing IC225 train compared to a new Super Express train:
British Rail IC225 Super Express
Top speed in service 125mph 125mph
Typical journey time London - 4hrs 23mins 4hrs 11mins
Edinburgh Train length 247m 260m
Train weight 498t 412t
Number of Seats 536 649
Energy consumption per seat km 0.035kwh 0.030kwh
15. A computer simulation of the Agility Trains bid can be found here: http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/passenger/franchises/ieppbsimulation.zip
