European Investment Bank backing for UK’s East Coast Main Line trains

Europe’s long-term lending institution, the European Investment Bank has, as part of a consortium of international banks, agreed to finance the deployment of 65 new Hitachi super express trains to be used on the East Coast Main Line between London and Scotland. This new fleet will replace the Intercity 125 and 225 trains currently in use on the line. The new East Coast Main Line trains will be financed under the Department for Transport’s Intercity Express Programme, which includes the financing, desig
April 17, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
Europe’s long-term lending institution, the 4270 European Investment Bank has, as part of a consortium of international banks, agreed to finance the deployment of 65 new 2213 Hitachi super express trains to be used on the East Coast Main Line between London and Scotland. This new fleet will replace the Intercity 125 and 225 trains currently in use on the line.
 
The new East Coast Main Line trains will be financed under the 1837 Department for Transport’s Intercity Express Programme, which includes the financing, design, manufacture and maintenance of trains over a 27.5 year operating period. The order for the East Coast Main Line is for 497 new train carriages and the total contract value is US$4.5 billion, which is the total value of lease payments train operators will make over the life of the contracts.
 
New trains on the line will include both bi-mode trains, electric trains that can also operate at line speed using diesel engines, and electric trains. The programme will also include the construction of a new maintenance deport in Doncaster.
 
The first new trains are expected to enter service in September 2018, with the remainder being delivered progressively until February, 2020. The trains will be manufactured in Britain by 7427 Hitachi Rail Europe at a new purpose-built factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham where 730 new jobs will be created.

The European Investment Bank is financing the new East Coast Main Line trains alongside Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Bank of Tokyo 4962 Mitsubishi UFJ (BTMU), Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), HSBC, Lloyds, Mitsubishi Trust, Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC), Société Générale and Crédit Agricole.

Related Content

  • July 27, 2017
    UK Government Air Quality Plan – call for funding for FCEVs
    Following the release of the UK Government’s final Air Quality Plan, in which it announced that it will ban all petrol and diesel vehicles (including hybrids) from 2040, ITM Power says this represents an historic first step towards cleaner and greener transport in the UK. However, it is calling on the UK Government to provide equivalent financial support for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) infrastructure as it has already provided for plug-in battery electric vehicle (BEV) infrastructure. The company, wh
    Read More
  • November 2, 2012
    Towards pan-European electromobility services
    Europe’s Green eMotion project has announced the test phase of a project that will demonstrate Europe-wide roaming in an interoperable electromobility system and will provide access to new added-value services. Green eMotion will also support the promotion of cross-sector ICT standards for interoperability of electric vehicle (EV) services. Green eMotion is a major EU funded electromobility project; one of its objectives is to develop an IT system that defines the interfaces needed for pan-European electro
    Read More
  • May 8, 2012
    Traffic Tech wins traffic signal maintenance contract in Abu Dhabi
    The Abu Dhabi Department of Transportation has awarded Traffic Tech (Gulf) – Abu Dhabi a traffic signal maintenance contract for the Al Ain City. Valued at over US$ 4.5 million, the contract will run for two years covering maintenance and development of all traffic signals throughout the city. Recently, Middle East Integrated Systems (MEIS), Traffic Tech Group’s Bahraini based company, has also been awarded Bahrain’s traffic signal maintenance contract covering over 280 intersections. Currently, the
    Read More
  • September 8, 2014
    Mitsubishi Electric displays Cube solution
    World-leading manufacturer of high quality and reliable display wall visualisation solutions, Mitsubishi Electric, is here at the ITS World Congress Detroit to highlight important new innovations, including its Mitsubishi Cube and its super narrow bezel LED backlit LCD Monitor ranges. The company, which has over 1,500 installations worldwide, boasting over 45,000 screens installed, was the first manufacturer to introduce DLP technology in applications for critical environments that operate 24/7.
    Read More

Highlighted Content