Hitachi Ltd.’s first new Class 800 intercity train has arrived at the Port of Southampton, England, Global Rail News reported on 12 March.
The train is the first of 12 pre-series models made in Japan; the rest will be built in the UK.
The £5.7bn InterCity Express Programme, an initiative to procure new trains, will begin service on the Great Western Main Line in 2017, and on the East Coast Mainline in 2018.
Rail Minister Claire Perry MP, who attended a special ceremony at the port, said the programme is creating hundreds of jobs and apprenticeships at Hitachi’s new factory in County Durham, as well as thousands more jobs across the UK supply chain (see page 46).