Posted 2nd December 2008 | 8 Comments
Darling fast tracks new carriages order
Train builders Alstom, Bombardier, Hitachi and Siemens have now been invited to tender for the new Thameslink fleet – but the final design is yet to be decided.
TWO key announcements by the Government have started to turn the promise of hundreds of new rail carriages into reality.
In the first, Chancellor Alistair Darling said he was accelerating £300 million of investment for up to 200 new carriages as part of the 1,300 that were pledged last year. More than 400 carriages are already under the procurement process.
In the second, transport minister Andrew Adonis announced a milestone in the separate plans to build a 1,200 carriage fleet to coincide with the expanded Thameslink services.
He said four companies were now being invited to tender to build the Thameslink fleet, with bids formally submitted next April and the contract awarded in March 2010.
The four firms invited to tender are Alstom, Bombardier – the only company to build trains in Britain – Hitachi and Siemens.
It will be 2015 before the whole Thameslink fleet – which includes 650 additional carriages to take account of the expanding Thameslink network – is completed.
The carriage building boost comes at a time when the rail network desperately needs more passenger capacity on routes which have seen huge growth.
Chancellor Alistair Darling outlined the first injection of funding in a Pre-Budget Report designed to prevent the economy sliding further into recession.
He told MPs he was bringing forward £700 million of transport spending to stimulate the economy, including £300 million for 200 new carriages.
Transport secretary Geoff Hoon gave more details later, saying the Government was committed to increasing rail capacity by 2014, backed by investment of £10 billion.
“This includes the procurement of an additional 1,300 carriages for operation right across the network: 423 vehicles have already been ordered and we announced proposals to procure a further 200, which will benefit passengers in the Thames Valley, around Bristol and on longer distance regional services.”
As well as the move to relieve congestion on the Great Western, there would be £300 million of new government funding to speed up delivery of other key schemes, he said.
This will include an extra £54 million to enhance the North London line and increase the long-term freight capacity of the vital cross-London route.
Mr Hoon said: “I remain committed to tackling the problems of congestion and crowding while at the same time reducing transport-related greenhouse gas emissions.
“That is why I am today accelerating plans to make better use of Britain’s motorways and why I am also earmarking a further £300 million to remove bottlenecks and increase capacity on road links to key airports and ports.”
On the North London line the full package of improvements will restore four tracks from Dalston Junction to west of Camden Road, alleviate current bottlenecks and improve signalling and other infrastructure in order to provide new capacity for freight and rail trains.
A DfT spokesman said they were limited in what they could say about the 200 carriages because of the competitive tendering process, but they will be available within the next two or three years.
“These are brand spanking new carriages and this is good news for passengers,” he added.
But critics attacked the Government for spending more heavily on the roads, saying it would have been better for the environment to direct it at the rail network.
Environment campaigners noted the total £1 billion transport improvement package was heavily weighted towards roads, which gain more than twice as much cash, including £300 to introduce more hard-shoulder running on motorways.
Liberal Democrat transport spokes-man Norman Baker said: “For Geoff Hoon to claim these proposals are environmentally friendly is a joke – it is clear that the Government’s priority is roads, roads and more roads.
“Ministers are clearly more interested in making space for more cars than they are in helping rail passengers stuck in cattle-truck Britain.
“If ministers really cared about reducing emissions, they would freeze rail fares, reopen rail lines, electrify existing ones and build a high-speed network, not drive more and more people off trains and into their cars.”
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Chris, Blackpool, UK
Oh Malcolm, since when did Bombardier suddenly become a German company? Sure their rail tranportation division is headquartered in Berlin, but they are still a Canadian conglomerate.
Dr Dave Marks, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Wales
I fullly support what M Cansick says in his recent comment regarding the virtual non existant rail vehicle manufacturing industry in Britain. I understand that Geoff Hoon is considering electrifying London-Bristol-Swansea and also the Midland main line. This would be an amazing turn round for a government that has pursued thatcherite polices for most of its term in government (providing of course that it was prepared to put substantial sums of money up front!!) It would be exactly what is needed in times of recession. However, not only would the civil enginering/infrastruture work need to be undertaken in house, but also the rolling stock would have to be built in here for an economic boost. Difficult, with the present state of UK manufacturing!! But what an oportunity for some sensible interventionist policies. The costs in comparison with the recent government assistance to banks etc would be relatively insignificant, but would be a huge ideological step in the right direction.
Ian Mc Donald, Clacton Essex, England
The Governmental bias toward roads first showed when the first stretch of building the M1 was awarded to Marples Ridgeway (Ernest Marples was Transport Minister) I know his wife held his shares at the time but the basis toward road construction has continued to this day.
Isaac, London, England
Connecting with other countries in my opinion is one of the best things we can do as a country. I believe that it is irelivent who build the trains, its the way they are maintained that is important. The designs and technolgy may come from another country but the maintenance will take place in england. britain has a rail network to be proud of and adopting new ideas from other places i think will make things more interesting and give the railways even more character.
leslie burge, leicester, england
We'll never be able to build anything in this country as long as the government is so biased towards roads.We have already lost the bulk of manufacturing ability for railway related locomotves and rolling stock.The infrastructure of this country has long cried out for new investment in high speed lines and electrification but all the government can do is add to more pollution and more road congestion.
These new carriages are good but its nowhere near enough.
Once again the government is spending all our money on the roads instead of the railways'
Hubert Pollak, Warszawa, Poland
Les Windeler what you say is not true. Road sector generate more external costs thath goverment gets from taxes. So generally there is no extra benefits for budget because you have spend money on buying co2 limits for your country, cure victims of accidents, pollution and noise...
Les Windeler, Reading, UK
Surely the Government can raise more tax income from the purchase and running of road vehicles, so it's no surprise to me that Rail takes second place.
It's just lip service.
malcolm cansick, strathaven, Scotland
its great to hear that cash will be allocated to the building of more rolling stock.
What alarms me is that only one company actually produces coaches in britain-bombadier, a german company. If the objective of bringing forward this expenditure is to stimulate the economy and I assume to create jobs for Brits why on earth would non british producers be considered. Why dont we nationalise Brush and the Derby works set up a state run and financed British manufacturer of Locomotives and rolling stock. Lets re-establish a tradition of building quality trains in this country. lets support British industry and workers, and not the industries and workers of other countries. The Germans, japanese and Americans must love us they clearly think we are a soft touch.