Transport Secretary hailed the start of a new
era in rail passenger services when he travelled on the first of
the new fleet of £5.7 billion Intercity Express trains from
Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington today (16 October
2017), joined by Great Western Railway (GWR) bosses and commuters.
The fleet, which is being built at Hitachi Rail Europe’s
manufacturing facility at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham, will
be rolled out across the Great Western and East Coast lines over
the next 3 years. The manufacturing facility at Newton Aycliffe
has created more than 700 new direct jobs and more at depots
across the routes, as well as supporting the UK supply chain. And more than 70%
of the parts sourced for building the trains at the facility come
from UK suppliers.
Today’s launch is the beginning of a huge change for passengers
that will deliver more than 4,000 extra seats into London
Paddington in the morning peak from 2018, and more than 12,000
extra seats into London Kings Cross by the end of 2020.
Transport Secretary said:
This government is investing record amounts to modernise
Britain’s rail network and give passengers the faster, more
comfortable trains and the better journeys that they expect.
These new state-of-the-art trains show our commitment to put
passengers at the heart of everything that we do and will carry
people across Britain, from Swansea to Aberdeen and London to
Inverness.
Our railways are a huge success but passengers rightly expect
improved services and better trains – and only last week I
announced another £48 billion for the
network from 2019 that will focus on better
maintenance to dramatically improve reliability.
I’m pleased to be on the very first of these brand new trains
to welcome them into action.
GWR Managing
Director Mark Hopwood said:
Today, we at GWR are once again making
history, as we launch the first new Intercity Express Train in
almost 40 years – and continue our journey to revalue rail in
the hearts and minds of the travelling public.
I am delighted to have this first train in passenger service.
Over the next year we will continue to expand the operation of
these new trains, including the introduction of another fleet
specific to Devon and Cornwall.
The new trains, alongside our new Electrostar fleet for London
and the Thames Valley, will bring about a step change in
passenger transport – delivering more seats, and enabling us to
operate more frequent and faster services.
The new trains are a renewal of the ageing Intercity 125 fleet,
which was first introduced in 1976, and they will go on to
replace fleets across the country. The government-led Intercity
Express Programme (IEP), funded by Agility
Trains, has brought together Hitachi Rail, GWR, Virgin Trains East Coast and
Network Rail to design, develop and build the new class of
state-of-the-art, modern trains and supporting depot
infrastructure for the Great Western and East Coast routes.
Karen Boswell, Managing Director, Hitachi Rail Europe, said:
We, at Hitachi Rail, are really proud to have built trains in
the UK, designed using
Japanese bullet train technology, that are improving
passengers’ journeys on the Great Western route.
Nine years of hard work has gone into making today happen, from
creating a brand new factory and workforce, to establishing
modern maintenance facilities from Swansea to London. We’ve
delivered pioneering 21st century trains for passengers to
enjoy and sparked a manufacturing renaissance in the
north-east.
The first services of the 57 new Class 800 Hitachi trains are
being introduced from now into 2018 and will mark the start of
the biggest fleet upgrade in a generation for GWR as the InterCity 125 fleet
is replaced. Once completed in 2018, trains will then be
introduced on the East Coast Mainline.
Agility Trains is working in partnership with the Department
for Transport to develop the IEP. Agility Trains West,
which is funding the fleet entering service
with GWR, is made
up of Hitachi Rail Europe, John Laing Group and John Laing
Infrastructure Fund.
