£4.5bn deal signed for new trains

A MUCH-DELAYED deal for new intercity express trains was finally announced by the UK government yesterday, with the £4.5 billion contract helping to create some 900 jobs.

Under the deal, Agility Trains, a consortium led by Hitachi, will build 596 rail carriages at a new factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

The first trains will enter service on the Greater Western Main Line in 2017 and on the East Coast Main Line by 2018.

Agility had originally been announced as preferred bidder for the Intercity Express Programme in early 2009, but after a series of delays it has taken more than three years for the deal to be finalised.

The project, to replace Intercity 125 trains, will not only create hundreds of jobs but safeguard thousands more.