27.10.15
Third pre-series IEP Class 800 arrives at Hitachi’s London depot from Japan
The third pre-series InterCity Express Programme (IEP) train, T2, was moved to Hitachi’s North Pole Train Maintenance Centre in West London over the weekend.
The train is one of 12 pre-series units being shipped to the UK from the company’s Kasado Works in Japan, where they were built. It will now take part in the commissioning of the depot over the next six weeks.
It originally arrived in August just before the opening ceremony of Hitachi's new £82m manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe, attended by RTM. It is the third pre-series train to arrive in the UK and to undergo a suite of tests – including incremental speed tests, locomotive haul tests, running characteristics, brake and pantograph tests.
Manufacturing responsibilities for the remaining 110 trains have now been transferred to the UK and will boast a localised supply chain, wherein 95% of the facility’s spend will come from within a 50-mile radius.
The new Class 800 bi-mode trains form part of the massive £5.7bn IEP set to revolutionise travel on the Great Western Main Line (GWML) from 2017 and on the East Coast Main Line from 2018. The order cost includes manufacturing and delivering the carriages, building new maintenance depots and upgrading infrastructure, as well as accounting for ongoing maintenance and servicing.
The electro-diesel fleet will be equipped with an underfloor diesel engine generator designed to run on both electrified and non-electrified routes. This will be particularly beneficial for the GWML as RTM learned last week that the Department for Transport and Network Rail were still in discussions as to whether timescales for the region’s electrification should be delayed.
But the diesel engine generator can also be removed, facilitating a smooth transition to electric operations as the electrification programme expands.
The Class 801 trains, of which 63 will be built, will be entirely electric.
