The Department for Transport (DfT) has said it believes IEPs will provide better value for money than an equivalent Pendolino fleet.
The Government announced yesterday that it had signed a £4.6 billion contract with Hitachi-led consortium Agility Trains for 596 new IEP carriages to replace the ageing fleet of Intercity trains.
Under the agreement, Hitachi will provide a 30-year service contract and build a new factory in the north east to assemble the trains.
However, the first IEP train will not enter service until 2017, raising questions about whether Pendolinos, which could be brought into operation within just two years, would have been a cheaper and quicker option.
A source at the DfT said: “The IEP train is 26m, 3m longer than existing conventional Intercity trains. Despite being longer, we think IEPs are cost comparable to Pendolinos.
“A nine-car IEP set, whether bi-mode or electric, will have approximately 188 more seats than a nine-car Pendolino.”
An electric IEP carriage costs £2,431,389, compared to an estimated £2.7 million for the Pendolino equivalent, and a bi-mode IEP costs £2,829,187.
The announcement yesterday also confirmed the creation of 730 British jobs during the construction of the carriages.
The DfT source added: “An 11-car Pendolino only holds as many people as a nine-car IEP, so you need fewer IEPs to transport the same amount of people – and you have room for further expansion with a nine-car IEP – it is only 234m in length, not 254m.”
3m longer per carriage(?) and 188 more seats than a nine-car Pendolino.Â
So that is 20 or 21 more seats on average per carriage. I imagine something rather cramped, as in all airline style seating with my knees jammed against the seat in front.Â
Or are we seeing inter-city 2+3 seating? Any room left for luggage or even the bicycle racks as shown in the promotional video?
3 meters per carriage, with airline seats on a 1 metre pitch, that’s 12 seats per carriage or 108 per train. And with no shop on board, which I suspect there won’t be, that’s another 30 so we are up to 138. So we need 50 extra seats in 9 carriages. The first class kitchen takes up 30, so that leaves 20 between the other 8 carriages. I reckon it’s possible. After all – this is mass transport.
David Cameron and his cohorts regularly praise companies like Nissan and Toyota for their ongoing investment in the UK motor industry. I am therefore getting the impression that the Government have been doing their level best to encourage more Japanese firms to open factories here, in the vain hope that some British companies may be allowed to open factories there, Hence, their preferrence for Hitachi trains over anything that European trainbuilders can provide.
Has there been any comparison with 26m carriage length Pendolino vehicles like those ordered by PKP intercity but with a Shrunken bodyshell.
You can’t really compare a 26m train with a 23m train…. and does that cost include the 390’s tilt system?