Britain gets first of new bullet train fleet
LONDON (Kyodo) The first of a brand new fleet of Hitachi Ltd.-built high-speed bullet trains arrived Thursday at Britain's south coast port of Southampton following a 10,000-km, two-week journey by sea from the company's manufacturing facility in Japan.
The six-car Hitachi Class 395 train will be tested, tuned and modified in its new surroundings, alongside a further three trains that will be delivered over the coming months, before the remainder of the 29-strong convoy — costing a total of £260 million (about $517 million) — is delivered in 2009.
"Hitachi is delighted to deliver the first Class 395 train to the U.K. on time and on budget," said Alistair Dormer, general manager at Hitachi Rail Systems London.
"Today is a major milestone for Hitachi and for everyone involved in the Class 395 project. We now look forward to working with our partners to complete testing and delivering the trains ready for service in 2009," Dormer added.
With the ability to accelerate rapidly to 225 kph, the trains will provide a 109-km high-speed link between St. Pancras in central London and the Channel Tunnel in Kent, southeast England, which connects to the European mainland.
The new service, which is set to commence in December 2009, will be named Javelin and will be the first commuter train in Britain to travel at such speeds, knocking a valuable 47 minutes off the 83-minute Southeastern Railways route.
The trains will also play a key role in providing fast and easy access to the London Olympic Games in 2012, as well as encouraging more people to travel into the already-congested capital by train rather than car, while bringing new standards of comfort and reliability to the rail network.
"We're very excited about the introduction of the new high-speed domestic rail services over the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and hope that passengers will reap the benefits of these faster services into the heart of the capital," said David Miller, Southeastern's high-speed services program director.
Already a household name in Japan as the maker of the shinkansen, Hitachi's European subsidiary, Hitachi Europe Ltd., looks set to gain recognition in Britain for providing long-overdue train solutions for the country's much-maligned rail network.
As well as the valuable Southeastern contract, Hitachi was also shortlisted by the government earlier in the month to compete to build a new generation of intercity express trains for Britain's rail network that will come into full operation in 2015.
Hitachi Europe — competing against Alstom-Barclays Rail Group and the Express Rail Alliance — will be invited to submit its proposal next summer, with the award of the contract scheduled for winter 2008-09
