Railway contract 'is not in doubt' (From The Northern Echo)

Railway contract 'is not in doubt'

6:30am Friday 23rd December 2011 in Keep The Region On Track By Joe Willis, Regional chief reporter

RAIL bosses have dismissed suggestions that the future of the Intercity Express Programme (IEP) is in doubt because a contract has not been signed.

The Government and Hitachi- led Agility Trains consortium were expected to sign the train-building contract by the end of the year.

But a delay closing the deal prompted reports yesterday that the £4.5bn scheme was in jeopardy.

In response, Hitachi last night said there was no threat to the programme.

The Japanese company said in a statement that Transport Secretary Philip Hammond announced in March that the Department for Transport (DfT) would go ahead with IEP.

It added: “Since then, preferred bidder Agility Trains and its main shareholder Hitachi have worked together with the DfT on the IEP. Due to the complexity of the programme, we now envisage to come to a close of contract in the first half of 2012.”

Hitachi said this would not affect the timescales for the programme.

“Hitachi is highly committed to IEP and to the North- East as the new home to its future rolling stock manufacturing and assembly plant, and is looking forward to becoming a member of the business community in County Durham.”

A company spokesman added that talks with potential funders for the deal had been held and they had been keen to invest.

Hitachi has already confirmed that a huge plant will be built in Newton Aycliffe to manufacture the trains.

The campaign to bring train building back to the North-East was led by Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson.

He also rejected suggestions IEP was in jeopardy, adding: “Everything is on course.

“It is a hugely complex contract and the delays just mean they will be signing off in the next few months rather than by the end of the year.

“The real deadline is still 2015-16 when production is due to start.”

It is thought the contract to build the next generation of high-speed trains will create 500 jobs directly and thousands more in the supply chain.