The largest foreign direct investment in the North East since Nissan’s decision in the 1980s to locate its automotive plant at Sunderland – that’s the claim that’s being made for Hitachi Rail’s latest plans. Last month, some 1,800 representatives from engineering and manufacturing firms came to Newton Aycliffe in County Durham to listen to Hitachi Rail, and find out how they could get involved in the Intercity Express Programme (IEP).
Newton Aycliffe is to be the site of a factory where the IEP trains – destined to replace most of Britain’s high-speed rolling stock – will be built following the government’s decision to go ahead with the project with Hitachi Rail at the helm following a fierce bidding war. For a region that suffered in the recession (think only of the travails of Teesside), the decision by Hitachi Rail to locate its European train manufacturing hub in the area seems to be a boost. It is thought that the decision will create 500 jobs directly and thousands more in the supply chain. At the day of presentations, suppliers who scented an opportunity got the chance to find out how they might work with Hitachi.
Not everyone was convinced, however, that the move constitutes a genuine manufacturing revival for the region. Talking to locals, some were sceptical about Hitachi’s plans when some key components of the trains – for instance their aluminium bodyshells – will be built in Japan and imported into the UK. But, long term, Hitachi has an eye on replacing more than just the intercity trains and wants to win more work both at home and in Europe that could keep Newton Aycliffe busy for many years.
Alistair Dormer, the chief executive of Agility Trains, the Hitachi Rail-backed consortium formed to bid for and deliver the IEP, says the company will look at winning work on London Underground and Crossrail in the coming years, as well as train replacement programmes in Europe. Agility was not put under any pressure by the government to locate manufacturing in England, he adds. Dormer says: “In the original tender there were no requirements at all concerning where to manufacture – so we could have manufactured trains in Japan or China, anywhere.
“We decided that actually the UK is a good place to build. We talked to Japanese carmakers, who all spoke very highly of their operations in the UK. The IEP is a big order. And it’s the kind of order where you can justify investment in a factory.”
The feeling is that the UK could become an exporter of trains again for the first time in years. Dormer says: “I think there’s going to be a need for new trains on the Continent as well. We’re talking to all the potential customers in Europe. There is a view that if the UK imports trains from Germany, Europe could easily import trains from the UK. That would be absolutely fantastic – who knows what the future might hold?”
The design of the IEP replacement trains will be similar to Hitachi’s 395 class, which operates on the Channel Tunnel rail link between Ashford International and London’s St Pancras station. Those trains were entirely manufactured in Japan with services in Britain beginning in December 2009. They reach speeds of 125mph, making them the fastest trains in the UK, Hitachi claims. The trains are permitted to hit 140mph if delays have taken place.
The IEP trains – 20 cars a month will initially be built at Newton Aycliffe – will feature the same electrical architecture as the 395 class although some will be bi-mode, or capable of both electric and diesel operation, to ensure they can be used in areas where there is no electrification.
The IEP trains will also be bigger because the gauge size of the tracks in the parts of the country where they will operate is bigger than on the Channel Tunnel rail link.
The electric and bi-mode trains will feature the same type of car construction but the bi-mode trains have three diesel power packs. The electric trains themselves have one for recovery if there is a loss of overhead power. Running on diesel, in which the diesel engine drives a generator which supplies electricity to the train’s traction motors, instead of the train receiving electricity overhead from a pantograph, offers a maximum speed of 118mph.
The technology of the bi-mode trains is not particularly complex, Dormer points out. “Diesel-electric trains have actually been around for quite a long time. It’s not rocket science by any means and to me the simplicity of it is beautiful.”
The IEP trains will be available in various configurations, with five-car, eight-car and ten-car – “our superjumbo”, says Dormer – variants. All will feature universal access toilets but additional toilets can be removed or added on the decision of the train operator. It’s also possible to play around with space for bicycles, buffet and kitchen facilities, and luggage stacks, depending on how many seats the train operating company requires. For instance on commuter services seats may be preferable to extra toilet facilities.
All these elements are designed to be modular so they can be changed without extra design work. The superjumbo ten-car could carry 700 passengers. The look and feel of each car will be decided by the operating companies but Hitachi is supplying a generic interior initially.
Key aspects of the IET design, which Hitachi calls a “Super Express”, included moving the train’s sliding doors away from the tapered end of the carriage to reduce stepping distance and shorten the amount of time the train spends in the station. The trains will also be lighter per seat than a Pendolino, for example. “We have reversed the trend of trains getting heavier and heavier,” says Dormer. “We are lighter on a kilogram-per-seat basis.” This should help to reduce track wear, which was one of the stipulations of the tender from the government for IEP.
Agility will own and maintain the IEP fleet on behalf of train operators and is planning special depots at various locations for the trains. This will include a new depot at Bristol and new sidings in Swansea. Traction gear will be designed to slide out of the trains for ease of maintenance although pits will be required for bogie repairs. The more reliable the trains are, the less Agility will have to supply, so the cost advantages of them running smoothly are clear. “We have to calculate how many spare trains we need and buy them,” Dormer says. “So the more reliable the trains are, the less trains we will need and the more cost-efficient the operation will be.” Stringent targets have been set for reliability with 60,000 miles between failure for the electric IEP trains and 45,000 miles between failure for the bi-mode. The looser bi-mode targets reflect the reliability of diesel propulsion. Dormer says: “Electric trains are very reliable nowadays; diesel can be less so. But we’re planning to make these trains as reliable as we can, which is why we’ve already selected a diesel engine and we’re shipping it to Japan for testing.”
Dormer, who has been seconded to Agility Trains after running Hitachi Rail’s European operation, favours electrification of the network. “As a railway man, I’d like to see more electrification if possible but I understand there has to be a business case to make it work. From an environmental point of view electrification is very good if your energy is generated from renewables or nuclear power.”
He adds: “The great thing about bi-mode is I think it facilitates further electrification and the trains can be converted to electric-only. Should the economics of electrification work out in the future and train ridership become more popular so the government decides to electrify everything we can simply take the diesel engines off and you have electric trains. You don’t have to approve the design because it’s been through that process. So to me it’s a very sensible way forward.”
He says there has been some confusion over the possibilities of bi-mode trains. “We’ve been having discussions with customers in Europe and a lot of them are really excited about this problem because they haven’t got extensive electric networks but they want to electrify.
“The problem is that when you electrify, buying an electric fleet for 20 miles of wiring doesn’t work, it’s not cost-effective. And if you electrify the whole thing you have to dispense with all your diesel trains and buy electric ones. So from an operational point of view what this gives you is the flexibility to progressively electrify with one train that can cope with both situations.”
Agility is now focusing on obtaining the finance it needs to make its plans come to fruition, with the first trains in the IEP programme due to be manufactured in 2015. Concern has been raised in some quarters about the public-private nature of the deal but Dormer is convinced it will provide the nation with “value for money, and clean, fast, reliable trains”.
“We’ve proved with the 395 that we can build reliable trains and deliver high-quality maintenance at our depot in Ashford.
“We need to finalise the financing of the deal by the end of the year. We start banking due diligence very shortly. They will go through the whole proposition to make themselves comfortable with the robust technical design, and that the maintenance solution works.
“And we are going to compete very aggressively to get the best possible deal.”