Bombardier wins £680m contract to build West Mids trains

How the new West Midlands Railway trains could look

The joint venture awarded the franchise to operate the new West Midlands rail service has announced plans for a £680m investment in new trains – with the carriages being manufactured in the East Midlands Midlands.

Abellio, East Japan Railway Company and Mitsui & Co were awarded the new franchise in August and will begin operations in December.

The partnership had pledged fresh investment as part of its bid to the Department for Transport and it is now delivering on that promise.

It has selected Derby-based Bombardier Trains and Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) to manufacture 107 new trains for the new franchise.

These trains will be made up of 413 carriages and cost £680m; part of the near £1bn investment into the franchise that Abellio, JR East and Mitsui will be overseeing in the coming years.

Bombardier will produce 333 electric carriages made up of 90mph 36 x 3 car trains for metro services and 110mph 45 x 5 car trains for outer suburban and long distance configurations. They will be built at Bombardier’s facility in Derby, helping to secure manufacturing jobs for the region.

CAF will produce 80 diesel carriages made up of 12 x 2 car trains and 14 x 4 car trains which will provide dedicated services for journeys to the towns and cities around Birmingham.

The financing for the investment is being led by Infracapital and Deutsche Asset Management.

Dominic Booth, managing director of Abellio UK, said: “We are delighted to award this work to Bombardier and CAF, which means we are now overseeing £3bn of investment into 1,700 new carriages across all our franchises.

“It is great news that so many of these trains will be produced in the UK. As a company, we are committed to working with the government to strengthen the British economy and deliver thousands of high-quality jobs over the coming years.”

Richard Hunter, UK managing director, Bombardier Transportation said: “Being selected for this important order is another huge endorsement of our workforce and the quality of the products we design, engineer and manufacture here in the UK. Our modern Aventra trains will be built in the Midlands for the Midlands, and provide passengers with greater connectivity, reliability and shorter journey times.”

The new trains will provide space for an extra 85,000 passengers on rush hour services into Birmingham and London, with wi-fi and in-seat power sockets provided as standard.

The new trains will be essential to deliver the increased capacity and improved journey times required on the franchise. By the end of the franchise in 2026 there will be 25% more train carriages available than at the start.

The trains will be leased to the new West Midlands rail franchise, as is standard practice in the rail industry.

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