23.04.14
Hitachi to take possession of Doncaster Carr depot
Hitachi Rail Europe is to take possession of Doncaster Carr next month, a site that has been a railway depot for over 100 years, to develop its own £70m maintenance depot for the IEP trains.
The construction work, which will be carried out by Volker Fitzpatrick, is expected to start in the summer with the site operational by 2016.
It is expected that the project will create around 160 jobs. The new depot will be located at the end of Ten Pound Walk and, when complete, a minimum of 10 five-car trains will be permanently based at the depot.
Andy Barr, chief operating officer Hitachi Rail Europe, said: “With the financial close of contract for the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) announced last week, we are ready to start work on our Doncaster depot.
“We are looking forward to the start of work and to making Doncaster an important base for our Class 800 series trains on the East Coast Main Line (ECML).”
The Class 800 trains are set to offer 19% more seats on each train, cut journey times between London, Doncaster and Edinburgh by up to 15 minutes and be more reliable.
Toshiaki Higashihara, president & COO of Hitachi, Ltd. said: “I am extremely pleased that a total of 866 Hitachi train cars will be running in the UK, which is the birthplace of railways.”
In Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, construction of Hitachi Rail Europe's train factory is progressing. The £82m train manufacturing facility will be operational in mid-2015, with series production of the Class 800 series trains scheduled to start in 2016.
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