NEW 140mph Class 395 electric trains have now completed more than 31,000 miles of testing on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link – HS1 – and on domestic lines in Kent.

The Hitachi-built trains are due to come into service in December 2009, running on Southeastern’s Kent domestic routes and the high-speed line into St Pancras International station and cutting current journey times by as much as one hour. They will also run ‘Javelin’ services during the London Olympics in 2012.

News that the four trains so far delivered from Japan have notched up the big mileage figure came as Hitachi Rail Group celebrated the first anniversary of the opening of the new Ashford Train Maintenance Centre where the fleet will be maintained and serviced.

During the past year, the maintenance centre has attracted over 3,500 visitors from the UK, Europe and Japan’s rail industry, and has so far created 47 jobs for local employees.

In addition to the high-speed trains, Hitachi also won the traction replacement for Southeastern’s Class 465 trains. This project is going ahead as planned, with the prototype unit currently undergoing testing and full production scheduled to start in early 2009.

Ashford was awarded ISO 9001 quality accreditation in May this year and has an exemplary safety track record, with 41,500 work hours completed without any lost time or accidents to staff.

Alistair Dormer, general manager at Hitachi Rail Group, London, said: “In addition to looking after the Class 395s, for the past 12 months Ashford has also been servicing up to 5,000 Class 375 and 465 vehicles per month for Southeastern.

“Our maintenance operation at Ashford combines best practice from both the UK and Japan, and investment into our workforce is a key issue. Our team leaders have all spent time in our factory and gained first-hand knowledge of the Class 395 trains by working on the production line.”

The company has also taken on four apprentices at the Ashford depot.