Posted 24th July 2012 | 3 Comments
IEP order may be confirmed within days
SPECULATION is growing that the Department for Transport is poised to announce a contract for the first tranche of Intercity Express trains this week.
The order, if it is confirmed, will have come only after well over three years of debate and reassessments by the Department, after it named Hitachi as preferred bidder for the Intercity Express Programme in February 2009.
The earlier vision for IEP included a fleet of up to 1,500 vehicles, which would become the new standard for intercity trains in Britain. Now, it is thought that the order will be for 500 vehicles intended for the Great Western Main Line, replacing most of the route's existing InterCity 125 HSTs by 2017.
The shells will be built in Japan and fitted out at a new plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, creating some 500 jobs. It is said that the order will be worth about £1 billion.
There has been an almost continuous discussion about how the IEP trains would be powered. When Hitachi was named preferred bidder in early 2009 electrification of the Great Western Main Line had not been announced, and its IEP trains would have been diesel.
A bi-modal version has also been considered, so that IEP trains on the East Coast Main Line could continue north of Edinburgh and those on the GWML west of Bristol.
Even if IEP is ordered for the Great Western, uncertainty will remain about other lines. There are no trains in the DfT's current rolling stock procurement programme which would be suitable for the Midland Main Line after it has been electrified, although a conversion of the MML's Meridian diesel units is still a possibility.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Chris Reynell, Longstock, Hampshire.
The previous comment mentioned dual powered Voyagers.
Is there any reason why the ability to tilt cannot be used on the well curved Devon and Cornwall mainlines? A shorter Exeter - Plymouth - Penzance journey time is beneficial to the South West economy.
MikeB, Liverpool
Have Hitachi now changed their minds about the intended use of Newton Aycliffe? Six months or so ago it was accepted that, initially, the first tranche of bodyshells would be imported from Japan but then, they would be manufactured here with the majority of components coming from UK suppliers. The latest statement intimates that Newton Aycliffe will now be a mere "screwdriver" plant - assembling ALL bodyshells and components imported from Hitachi's own factories in Japan.
Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex
Bullet trains for the GWR would no doubt bring a smile to the Brunels faces given that they built their railways for bullet trains. If only Brunel had built more of our rail network instead of slow Stephenson!!!
With electrification now extended to Swansea the need for hybrid trains carrying diesel deadweights must surely be dead?
While the announcement of MML electrification came with talk of its existing trains being cascaded to none electrified parts of the network which suggests MML will get new electric trains and places like Cornwall the Midland Meridians!! But surely the plan to make Voyagers dual powered should still apply to Meridians given the increasing network of wiring GWR will bring.