The IEP – or InterCity Express Programme, to give it its full title – has the potential to bring hundreds of millions of pounds to the North- East and create thousands of jobs.

But what is it... and how has this potentially momentous deal come about? Chris Lloyd and Joe Willis take a closer look.

What is the IEP?

THE InterCity Express Programme (IEP) was launched in 2005 to provide the new generation of trains for Britain’s railways which will replace the fleet of 30-year-old Inter- City 125s and newer 225s.

The new trains would be everything you’d expect: faster, safer, more environmental-friendly, quieter, higher capacity, more comfortable, more reliable, and with better on-board facilities.

Initially, there were to be three types of trains – electric, diesel and bi-mode, which would have an electric transformer at one end and a diesel engine at the other.

However, when the then Labour Government announced the decision to electrify the route from London to Bristol, Cardiff and Swansea, it was decided diesel-only trains were no longer needed.

The bi-mode trains would run on long-distance routes, using electricity when under wires and diesel when not.

The search for a suitable manufacturer began in November 2007 when interested parties were asked to bid for a contract to build about 1,400 new rail vehicles, worth a maximum £7.5bn.

In February last year, the Government announced that Agility Trains was the “preferred bidder”. Agility is a consortium between Hitachi (70 per cent) and rail infrastructure company John Laing (30 per cent), supported by Barclays Private Finance. Agility’s new generation of railway train is called the Hitachi Super Express.

What is the Hitachi Super Express?

ITS top speed remains 125mph but with modern acceleration and braking, its journeys will be seven per cent faster than existing 125s. Therefore, the current two hour 15 minute journey between Darlington and London King’s Cross could come down to just over two hours.

Hitachi say that with “minor modifications” the Super Express will reach a top speed of 140mph.

Each Super Express carriage will be 26 metres long, as opposed to the current 23 metres, so there will be an additional 113 seats on the average ten-carriage train. Greater capacity and quicker journey times mean that a currently over-crowded line, such as the East Coast Main Line, could carry 30 per cent more people without any significant investment in the existing infrastructure.

Hitachi, which is famous for building the Bullet train in Japan, says the Super Express would be lighter than existing trains and so reduce track maintenance and minimise fuel use. It also expects it to be three times more reliable than current trains.

The rolling stock would be used on commuter services in and around London and longer-distance journeys on the East Coast Main Line, Midland Mainline, Great Western Main Line, possibly on the southern section of the West Coast Main Line and possibly also on Crossrail, the London rail project which is also awaiting the go-ahead.

What is the Aycliffe link?

OVER the summer, it emerged that Hitachi had scoured the country looking at potential sites for its factory to build the Super Express. It considered Gateshead, Sheffield and Ashby de la Zouche, in Leicestershire, but it concluded that Amazon Park at Newton Aycliffe was its preferred site.

The first 70 vehicles are to be made in Japan, but the rest will at least be assembled in Aycliffe, creating up to 800 jobs, with a possible 7,000 or more in the supply chain – the number of jobs obviously depends on how many trains the Government orders.

The County Durham Development Company has been quietly working on Amazon Park for many months, alongside Newcastle developers Merchant Place. As previously confidential commercial information has become public, Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson has helped pull together a crossparty, cross-sector campaign, which includes The Northern Echo, to ensure all the arguments are thoroughly aired.

What is happening now to IEP?

THE recession has bit. Passenger numbers have not grown as much as expected.

In February, the then Labour Government put IEP on hold until after the election.

It called in civil servant Sir Andrew Foster to perform a “value-for-money” review in the hope of picking it up having won the election.

Sir Andrew concluded that the deal with Hitachi could be “transformational” because of its potential to increase passenger capacity, but also because of the way it would be funded, with the Government effectively paying on delivery for the trains.

But he also raised serious concerns. He noted that the bimode element of the proposal was untested, with experts predicting problems in the hillier areas of the country with no overhead electricity wires.

His report also questioned whether suitable alternatives had been thoroughly investigated and so, whether it represented good value for money.

Of course, Labour did not win the election. The new coalition Government put all major expenditure on hold until after its Comprehensive Spending Review, which will be announced on October 20.

It has to balance the longterm need to have an efficient rail system with the shortterm order to cut spending drastically – the Department of Transport will probably be facing 40 per cent cuts.

It has been looking at cheaper alternatives, such as modernising the existing Inter- City 125s. This, though, as one rail commentator has said, would leave Britain’s railways using vehicles “from the Austin Allegro era that dump toilet waste straight on to the tracks”, hardly a way to entice travellers out of their cars and onto the trains and so reduce carbon emissions.

Hitachi has revisited its plans in the new economic climate, and last week Rail Minister Theresa Villiers told the House of Commons that a “significant cost saving” had been discovered.

“It strengthens their case,”

she told The Northern Echo.

So it is all to play for, which is why those who want to IEP to go ahead are so vigorously putting their case.