Latest Rail News

03.10.16

Angel Trains to finance £900m procurement of Abellio’s East Anglia electric fleet

The £900m needed to purchase 665 electric cars for Abellio’s new East Anglia fleet will be provided by financier Angel Trains.

In August, Abellio, the existing East Anglia franchise holder, was named as the preferred bidder to operate services from 2016 to 2025, beating First Group and National Express.

As part of its bid, Abellio promised a new fleet, consisting of 660 Bombardier Aventra electric multiple-unit cars and 383 Stadler Flirt electro-diesel multiple-unit cars.

Dominic Booth, MD of Abellio UK, said: “We are pleased to have finalised the agreement with our financier Angel Trains that is part of the largest-ever privately-procured train order in the UK.

“It will give the people of East Anglia high-quality trains as part of an ambitious transformation of the region’s railway.  We look forward to working with Angel to deliver the 665 air conditioned Bombardier Aventra train carriages that will greatly improve the journey experience of millions of passengers.”

Angel, which has invested £4.7bn in the UK rail industry since privatisation, will partner with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia to finance the £900m procurement.

Malcolm Brown, CEO of Angel Trains, said: “The modernisation of East Anglia’s network is a major boost to the UK rail industry and the economy.

“We are delighted that, through the supply of 665 new Bombardier Aventra vehicles, Angel Trains will be contributing to an improved service and experience for passengers in the region.”

Have you got a story to tell? Would you like to become an RTM columnist? If so, click here.

Comments

Andrew Gwilt   04/10/2016 at 01:48

As Bombardier are to build the Aventra trains and Stadler to build the new Flirt trains. It will really change East of England with new trains to be ordered and hopefully it should be built on time. The Bombardier Aventra is to be built as 10-Car trains for Intercity route but also 5-car for Great Eastern and Stadler Flirt is to be built as 3-car and 4-car and is to be built as electric and bi-mode and to operate on Great Eastern, Regional and West Anglia routes. The classification of these new trains could be numbered as Class 3xx (either as Class 340 (electric only)) and/or numbered as Class 7xx (either as Class 704, Class 712 or Class 715 (electric and bi-mode)).

Jak Jaye   04/10/2016 at 14:24

Its not new trains thats needed,its the dreadful service thats at fault,so give the tracks/signalling to Abellio and lets see how long it is before they hand the keys back

Jerry Alderson   04/10/2016 at 16:08

Given that Bombardier cannot deliver until some time in 2020 because of their committment it presumably means there will need to be a degorgation for some stock from Britain's self-imposed TSI-PRM deadline of 1st January 2020. Also, no mention of the Siemens legal action over the award to Bombardier.

Andrew Gwilt   05/10/2016 at 10:04

I agree with Jerry said.

Roger Capel   05/10/2016 at 10:11

Interesting days at Wabtec too, I'd imagine. With Doncaster working in a brand new building on Renatus 321 & Loughborough developing an AC traction package to go with it, there were high hopes of getting the rest of the Anglia 321 fleet onto the programme after the initial order.

Nonsuchmike   05/10/2016 at 14:46

Shall we be even-handed about this and note that now is the first week in October 2016 and we shall also mark when the first of these units comes into public service? Needless to say, I for one won't be holding my breath. Maybe they won't make it during this parliament, even. However, the longterm effect of this is that a higher standard of service will hopefully accrue and there will be trickle down effects to other areas who currently have to put up with sardine tin funereal speed unreliable units. Whether this is the way to view investment in british rollingstock is of course another matter for debate. My argument is that you put down more track and connections, upgrade others and train more drivers to actually drive the trains at times and to places that the public want and desperately need.

Add your comment

related

Rail industry Focus

View all News

Comment

The challenge of completing Crossrail

05/07/2019The challenge of completing Crossrail

With a new plan now in place to deliver Crossrail, Hedley Ayres, National Audit Office manager, major projects and programmes, takes a look at ho... more >
Preparing the industry to deliver trains for the future

04/07/2019Preparing the industry to deliver trains for the future

The move to decarbonise the rail network involves shifting to cleaner modes of traction by 2050. David Clarke, technical director at the Railway ... more >

'the sleepers' blog

On the right track, Sulzer is awarded RISAS accreditation for Nottingham Service Centre

29/06/2020On the right track, Sulzer is awarded RISAS accreditation for Nottingham Service Centre

Following an independent audit, Sulzer’s Nottingham Service Centre has been accepted as part of the rail industry supplier approval scheme (RISAS). The accreditation reinforces the high-quality standards that are maintained by Sulzer’s... more >
read more blog posts from 'the sleeper' >

Interviews

Andrew Haines, CE of Network Rail, tells BBC News his organisation could issue future rail franchises

24/06/2019Andrew Haines, CE of Network Rail, tells BBC News his organisation could issue future rail franchises

Andrew Haines, the Chief Executive of Network Rail, has told the Today programme on Radio 4's BBC’s flagship news programme that he would not rule out his organisation issuing future r... more >
Advancing the rail industry with management degree apprenticeships

08/05/2019Advancing the rail industry with management degree apprenticeships

In answering the pressing questions of how current and future generations of managers can provide solutions to high-profile infrastructure projects across the UK, Pearson Business School, part of... more >