Financial close for Intercity Express PPP
The project to deliver a new fleet of trains, alongside maintenance depots and route upgrades, has been signed by the Agility Trains consortium, which comprises Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing Investments.
Lenders are the development banks JBIC (the Japanese Bank of International Co-operation) and EIB (the European Investment Bank), and the following commercial financial institutions: BTMU, Mizuho, Lloyds, HSBC, SMBC, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust, NEXI (Nippon Export and Investment Insurance) and DBJ (Development Bank of Japan).
Worth £4.5bn over 27.5 years, the contract will see Hitachi Rail Europe engaged as a subcontractor to supply a fleet of 92 trains, incorporating a total of 596 carriages, and maintain them for the duration of the deal.
New depots will be built in Swansea, Bristol, west London and Doncaster to service the new trains.
"It is among the biggest contracts ever closed in the UK rail industry and will mean a step change in reliability, capacity and comfort to British passengers," said Agility Trains chief executive, Alistair Dormer.
The project has signed after several delays caused by the government, which first reviewed the scheme and then decided some of the fleet needed to be hybrid models, capable of running on both diesel and electricity.
For more details on the project, click here.
