HS2 Ltd confirmed that a HitachiAlstom JV has been awarded the contracts to build Britain’s next generation of high speed trains at their factories in Derby and County Durham in a major deal set to support 2,500 jobs across the UK.
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The landmark contracts worth around £2bn will see the JV design, build and maintain a fleet of 54 state of the art high speed trains that will operate on HS2 the new high speed railway being built between London, the West Midlands and Crewe.
Capable of speeds of up to 225mph (360kmh), the fully electric trains will also run on the existing network to places such as Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and the North West. Building on the latest technology from the Japanese Shinkansen ‘bullet train’ and European high speed network, they will be some of the fastest, quietest and most energy efficient high speed trains operating anywhere in the world.
The design, manufacture, assembly, and testing of the new trains will be shared between Hitachi Rail and Alstom.
• The first stages including vehicle body assembly and initial fit out will be done at Hitachi Rail’s facility at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham; and
• The second stage of fit out and testing will be done at Alstom’s Litchurch Lane factory in Derby.
In another major boost for train building in the UK, all the bogies (which house the wheelsets) will both be assembled and maintained at Alstom’s Crewe facility the first time since 2004 that both jobs have been done in the UK.
The first train is expected to roll off the production line around 2027. Following a rigorous process of testing and commissioning, the first passengers are expected to be carried between 2029 and 2033.
Serving destinations such as Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham, and London, HS2 trains will operate seamlessly between HS2 and the existing rail network halving many journey times across the UK. Each train will be around 200m long, with the option to couple two units together to create a 400m long train with up to 1,100 seats.
It will also be 15% lighter and offer 30% more seats than comparable high speed trains in Europe such as the Italian ETR1000 built by JV between Hitachi Rail and Alstom. ■