GWML & ECML on Go-Slow

This from Rev E Gunter...

Much excitement over on the twitter-snore, following rumours that Hitachi are fitting speed limiters to all 800 series trains.

Apparently the inhibiter will cap speeds at 200kph, perhaps in response to some lively running?

Any thoughts on the news that the UK's latest @HitachiRailENG train fleet run by @GWRHelp @LNER @TPExpressTrains @LumoTravel is to no longer run at a maximum speed of 125mph. All trains within the Class 800/801/802 fleet are to be fitted with a speed limiter of 200 km/h.

— Railway Performance Society (RPS) (@railperf) July 4, 2022

 

Whilst a pleasingly round number in kilometric terms, in old money this is a mere 124mph (give or take).

So farewell GWR, LNER, TPE and Lumo, your 125 privileges are hereby revoked!

And proof positive that if you give the metric-zealots an inch, they will indeed take a mile.

Hitachi goes on the front-foot!

This, from Hitachi, is impressive...

We're sorry - and we will do better.

Karen Boswell, Hitachi Rail MD, apologises to passengers for problems on the train from Bristol today pic.twitter.com/ocREKpHAFS

— Hitachi Rail Europe (@HitachiRailEU) October 16, 2017

How many other suppliers would have done this and so quickly?

Great Western IEP Launch - the highs and lows...

A day of mixed blessings…

Oh dear...there was a problem with the air con on the new GWR train from #Bristol to #London this morning... pic.twitter.com/s2i8HFdnFF

— BBC Points West (@bbcpointswest) October 16, 2017

First IET zooming out of Paddington Station using electric power #GWRNewTrains pic.twitter.com/rZOUFNsgjx

— Network Rail Western (@networkrailwest) October 16, 2017

Take your son to work today was a great success. pic.twitter.com/X4YnON39kL

— Kevin Schofield (@PolhomeEditor) October 16, 2017

Fault delays launch of new Great Western Railway train https://t.co/JiBMvCYHFg pic.twitter.com/NIz9HYBjvU

— ITV News WestCountry (@itvwestcountry) October 16, 2017

1345 @gwrhelp to Swansea is supposed to be a #GWRNewTrains, but look what's turned up instead! Another Great Western electrification farce. pic.twitter.com/C0lpLqRx8E

— Down Relief (@downrelief) October 16, 2017

This new train is as smooth as butter @HitachiRailEU @GWRHelp #GWRNewTrains pic.twitter.com/iKc1y6YvxE

— Garry Keenor (@25kV) October 16, 2017

Seamless switch from diesel to electric on @GWRHelp IEP at 100mph+. A UK first! pic.twitter.com/keE8YQevIB

— Garry Keenor (@25kV) October 16, 2017

To put the carping to one side, eight years after the contract was originally signed the new trains are finally entering service. 

Therefore, on balance, very good news!

Railway investment strategies explained...

This from Kaizen...

Featured as the Daily Telegraph’s Fund of the Week in last Saturday's investment feature was John Laing Infrastructure.  

Its manager explained: 'The key idea is focusing on assets where we get paid regardless of how much they are used. This means it doesn't matter how many patients are at the hospital or how many people drive on the motorway'.

Listed at Number 8 in the Trust's Top 10 holdings is, a 27.5 year deal that meets all these criteria - our very own Intercity Express Programme.

Inspire the next, indeed!

Currently on the Fact Compiler's sideboard...

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

If there's one left unopened on your sideboard by tomorrow morning, then frankly I'll be amazed! (Good point. But all in the name of research, obviously. Ed)

Hammond Eggs - Crossrail goes to the wire!

This from the Grauniad...

"There is a process we are legally bound to follow and we will follow that process. I'm not saying there won't be [a UK supplier] but we are honour bound by the process. Everybody in the UK would like a UK supplier to win that contract. It would be a huge fillip for UK industry. That decision will be taken by the Crossrail board."

Hammond said that though the Thameslink network's 1,140 new carriages would be built in Germany there was a big benefit from the project for Britain's wider supply chain.

Quite so.

Let's hope it's not a maiden over on the 5th February...

UPDATE: This from Boadicea...

According to Global Rail News:

Deutsche Bahn (DB) and the German Railway Industry Association (VDB) have agreed to work more closely together to encourage greater collaboration with the domestic supply chain.

The partnership will strengthen ties between DB and the rail industry and involve German suppliers earlier in the development of new vehicles for the network.

A formal agreement was signed between DB chief executive Rüdiger Grube, DB’s rail technology lead Heike Hanagarth and the president and vice president of VDB Michael Claus Ecker and Jürgen Wilder in Berlin earlier this week.
 
No shit Sherlock!

No doubt RIA and the DfT are already on the case?
 

Global capitalism explained - why new trains may cape Euro referendum

It will come as no surprise to regular readers of Eye that Hitachi have been lobbying HMG over relations with the EU.

In July Eye noted that the Hitachi website offered the following reflections on Britain's membership of the European Union:

"The Government of Japan expects the UK to maintain this favourable role."

According to Saturday's Daily Telegraph the president of Hitachi also bent iDave's ear: 

David Cameron has been warned by one of Japan's biggest UK investors that pulling out of the European Union could put at risk £1bn of funding for Britain's railways and nuclear energy programme.

The president of Hitachi, Hiroaki Nakanishi, has revealed that he met the Prime Minister in May and raised his concerns. Speaking in Tokyo yesterday, he said that any exit from the EU could lead to less investment by the industrial giant.

In November last year, Hitachi signed a £696m deal to buy Horizon Nuclear Power, a joint venture with GE to build as many as six new nuclear reactors at two sites, Wylfa in North Wales and Oldbury in south Gloucestershire.

Last summer, a Hitachi-led consortium also won a £1.2bn government contract to build new trains under the Intercity Express Programme. The deal will provide new rolling stock for routes to the south-west and on the East Coast mainline. 

Of course there is no suggestion of any connection between Hitachi rescuing the government's moribund nuclear power programme and DfT awarding Hitachi contracts to replace both HST and IC225 fleets on the ECML.

Even so the decision to replace the 225 fleet raised one or two eyebrows. As Eversholt Rail said when the DfT announced that it would proceed with IEP Phase 2:

“We continue to believe that the best option would have been to let the market decide...", a view shared by many in the industry. 

No matter.

What is perhaps more surprising is this section of the interview where Hitachi's President said: 

"One of the requests [from the DfT] was to set up the current Intercity Express Programme," Mr Nakanishi said.

"The Government requested me to set up the whole supply chain in the UK and try to sell UK-made train systems to the continent."

Eye can only presume that this was after Hitachi was declared preferred bidder in a procurement competition with the Bombardier/Siemens consortium! 

With Her Majesty's Government and Hitachi evidently hand in glove, what price now for Cameron's much vaunted 2015 In/Out EU referendum?

Situation has developed not necessarily to iDave's advantge!

Oh the irony!

Just days BEFORE Her Majesty's Britannic Government expended more taxpayer cash on additional Ninky Nonk trains, Japan stuck the Imperial boot into British politics:

"The UK, as a champion of free trade, is a reliable partner for Japan. More than 1,300 Japanese companies have invested in the UK, as part of the Single Market of the EU, and have created 130,000 jobs, more than anywhere else in Europe. This fact demonstrates that the advantage of the UK as a gateway to the European market has attracted Japanese investment. The Government of Japan expects the UK to maintain this favourable role."

Hmmm...

So. "The Government of Japan expects the UK to maintain this favourable role."

Is Britain perhaps now known as 'Little Manchuria' in the Chancelleries of Asia?

No matter.

Eye suspects this is a very clever move by Tokyo.

Allowing Hitachi to prepare a swift evacuation from Newton Aycliffe, as Europe stubbornly fails to order Japanese trains (whether the UK is in, or out, of the EU)...

UPDATE: This from Hagrid's Brother... 

I wonder if ‘someone’ might speculate as to the effect of say a 25%-lower non-compliant future ECML bid using a sensible fleet. 

Apart from predictable embarrassment and the ire of Ms Hodge, of course. 

One for m’learned chums no doubt.

Tories destined to repeat mistakes of the past?

Telegrammed by Mons Star
As Captain Deltic's counter of days, since the placing of the last new train order, ticks ominously away the question on everyone's lips is 'will it be over by Christmas?'.

Three current deals could, in theory, stop the clock before it reaches 1,000 days on the 28th December.

The London Midland/TPE order for Siemens' Desiros is still being haggled over by DafT. LM's press release announcing preferred status for the only credible bidder already hinted that commercial close might slip into the new year...

Meanwhile the southern thrust of Siemens' drive, Thameslink, is in big financial trouble, with a respected finance journal reporting that the current liquidity situation has funders calling for higher returns. To add to the woe there are also reports that the money men have finally woken up to the risk involved in total train service provision PFI deals. The darkening shadows of London Underground's PPP draw ever nearer...

Finally , the IEP is reported to be neck and neck with Thameslink. Make of that what you will, but East Coast and Great Western are already devoting time and effort to looking at 'credible' alternatives. Could there be a link between Rail Barbie's departure and her insistence that the 'something must be done' with the lacklustre IC225 fleet?

So, all over by Christmas? More likely DfT is planning its usual costly and misguided war of attrition.

If so, 1st March will be a dark day - marking the second occasion when a Tory Transport Secretary has presided over a 1064 day hiatus in ordering new trains.

UKTI launches pre-emptive strike?

This from Ithuriel...

I spotted this in the Derby Evening Telegraph:

DERBYSHIRE rail companies are to be given a helping hand to break into overseas markets thanks to a new rail export partnership.

Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum, which represents about 100 rail firms across the county, has linked up with UK Trade and Investment, a government-backed organisation which helps British firms export.

The two organisations have agreed to establish a dedicated rail-export partnership.

UKTI international trade director Peter Hogarth said: "By working closely with the forum, we can help local rail supply chain companies develop their export business.

Presumably the aim is to keep Derby factories busy with exports when Hitachi's hostage plant in Geordieland sweeps up all the UK train orders.

An excellent example of joined up government, allowing UKTI to give with one hand whilst DafT takes away with the other.

Cameron backs IEP as part of trade deal?

This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

During my regular lunch at Rules with a former departmental colleague I was told, between mouthfuls of steak and oyster pie, that our very own Prime Minister has 'done an amazing trade deal with the Japanese PM which sees IEP going ahead in return for a fantastic quid pro quo which, sadly, I am unable to divulge even to you old boy.'

'But aren't you supposed to be evaluating that banker fella's so called credible alternatives to IEP?' I asked him.

'Oh that', he replied after a thoughtful sip of St Emillion, 'that's just to keep Sir Andrew sweet in case we need his services again. And anyway we all enjoy seeing our very own train-spotter-in-chief getting het-up over perceived threats to his pet project!'.

'Appropos of which', he added, 'did you enjoy Hammond's little tease when he said that civil servants shouldn't buy trains the other day?'.

We both agreed that young Hammond is quite the wag and will do well when he moves to the Treasury, before we were distracted by the arrival of the port and cheese.

UPDATE: This from Our Man at 222 Marylebone Road...

As one of the Railway Eye pioneer posters, I have always assumed that Sir Humphrey Beeching was not the pseudonym of a former DfT senior mandarin, but a figment of the Fact Compilers imagination.

It seems I was wrong.

I had booked a table for a late lunch at Rules yesterday and they sat me down next to two distinguished looking gentlemen who had obviously enjoyed an extremely good lunch and were now on the Port.

Keeping an ear open on their conversation, as one does, I picked up the elder one asking about 'McNulty'.

The younger of the two grimaced and said 'The man's running amok and wants to close all the rural lines as uneconomic. If our LibDem minister manages to get as far as page 26 of McNulty's interim submission the coalition is doomed'.

But he didn't seem overly concerned when he said it...

Hitachiballs - the lobbying continues

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
This from the Newcastle Journal...

BUILDING a fleet of new Intercity trains in the North East will save the country more than £100m rather than buying them from abroad, a new report argued yesterday.

Analysis by the Northern TUC shows that taxpayers would save substantial sums if ministers finally give the go-ahead for a train assembly plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

The report comes as Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond prepares to announce in the New Year whether the proposals, put forward by Hitachi, will get the go-ahead.

There are also fears among some campaigners that ministers may decide to buy trains from overseas, despite that option not creating a single British job.

The research by the Northern TUC shows that more than £106m a year would be generated through the creation of 800 direct jobs at the County Durham plant along with 7,500 supply chain jobs.

And for every £27,000 salaried job created, the taxpayer gains by £13,000 as a result of reduced benefit payments and the increased taxes paid by people in work.

The Northern TUC is now urging the Government to take into account the full benefits of creating new manufacturing jobs in the North East when making its final decision about the Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

Where to start in demolishing this farrago of nonsense.

Well, first, the trains would be 'bought from abroad' and simply assembled in the UK.

So the 800 direct jobs is out by at least a factor of four.

And, if the factory was to have a future beyond IEP Hitachi would have to win Crossrail, so the creation of flat pack assembly jobs in the North East might have to be offset against the loss of skilled engineering and train building jobs at Derby.

And if the alternative to IEP is a conventional EMU the suppliers would be, in alphabetical order Alstom - up to 30% UK content including traction equipment, Bombardier - trains built at Derby
or Siemens.

Odd, while this sort of lobbying is going on that the European train builders keep schtumm.

Perhaps they see the UK market as Hitachi's tar baby?

Or perhaps they are more concerned about the Chinese and Korean threats to their heartland markets?

Hitachi resorts to type in IEP negotiations

This from the Northern Echo...

TRAIN builder Hitachi yesterday hinted it could walk away from plans to create thousands of jobs in the North East amid Government delays to a key contract.

Good to see that the spirit of 'Manchurian diplomacy' is alive and well in Tokyo.

Mr Kipling and co may also wish to watch their backs on the 7th December...

Hitachi's IEP PR onslaught continues...

This exciting news from SouthEastern...

To celebrate the first anniversary of the launch of High Speed, Southeastern, Hitachi Rail Europe and Eversholt Rail will be available for interviews at St Pancras International between 08.00 and 10.00 on Monday 13 December.

Good news indeed!

Presumably Hitachi will be there in force to field the difficult questions on the trains' performance.

Which should leave SouthEastern free to explain why ridership is err... 'below expectations'?

IEP undoomed?

This from Guido...

When Philip Hammond tried to sell the cuts package to the people of the north-east on Question Time last night he mentioned a deal with Hitachi to build high speed trains in the area. Jobs were promised...

No doubt Bombardier and Siemens are already consulting M'learned Friends.

UPDATE: This via the WNXX forum...

But not by Hammond !

I just watched Question Time again on BBC iPlayer and Guido is giving the wrong impression.

Hammond was claiming foreign investors liked the North East because of the availability of land and labour.

He said Hitachi promised to build a train factory for the next generation of trains IF they won the contract.

No promises were made by him.

Hitachi climbs into bed with the Brothers

Hitachi continues to pull out all the stops in a desperate attempt to save the doomed IEP.

Regular readers will recollect that last month the Japanese PM gave Cameron an ear bashing over threats to cancel the white elephant project.

Now Hitachi appears to have climbed into bed with Unite!

This from Politics.co.uk...

A petition, signed by 10000 people, mainly from County Durham will be handed in at 10 Downing Street today (1.00pm, 14 October). The petition calls on the government to endorse Hitachi's bid for the £7.5bn Intercity Express Programme.

Unite regional secretary, Davey Hall who will deliver the petition to Downing street said:

"The people of County Durham know how important this bid is for jobs and the local economy and they're urging the government to support Hitachi's bid. If the government gives the green light to this contract the investment would put the North East back on the map as a significant train manufacturer for the European market. The contract would be a huge boost to the region's economy, generating jobs and supporting Britain's manufacturing base."

Eye wonders if any particular union will be officially recognised at the proposed new facility?

Hitachi - not waving but drowning

Telegrammed by Ithuriel
Hitachi is offering a masterclass in political lobbying as it fights to keep the IEP alive

It can only help that Bombardier and Siemens have their hands tied since they are DfT's reserve bidder.

But the County Durham Development Company seems to have let a small cat out of the bag.

A study it has sponsored says that the proposed £40million Newton Aycliffe factory would bring £660m benefit to the region, or £48 for every £1 spent by government.

So, with Britain's remaining train factory facing an empty order book if it fails to win Thameslink, the Government is being asked to cough up £13.75 million towards the start-up cost of yet another train factory?

Talk about contributing to the cost of the hangman's rope!

Hitachi smooths over rough ride problems

This from Pooh Bah...

In Hitachi's latest advertisement, Charles Horton Southeastern MD describes the Class 395 as the smoothest new train launch in his 25 years in the railways.

His customers, being shaken and stirred, might question the use of that particular adjective.

Hitachi continues to fight for the IEP

Whilst Tony Mercado (the new Stuart Baker?) and team are busy playing The Fat Controller with Pendolini what news of the IEP?

Clearly DfT Rail's sudden enthusiasm for Alstom's finest has nothing to do with the near universal view that the IEP is dead in the water. Although Captain Deltic's waggish suggestion that the acronym now stands for 'Intercity Eastcoast Pendolino' may yet be officially adopted by Marsham Street, allowing some small degree of face saving in the Minster House bunker.

No matter

With DfT washing its hands of the IEP, now known as the Super Express, it now falls to Hitachi to keep the embers of the doomed project glowing.

Over the last few days there has been a flurry of desperate stories appearing in regional media promising jam tomorrow to local economies should an order for the trains ever be placed.

This from the Daily Post today...

NORTH Wales is on the short list for the site of a manufacturing plant for a new generation of ‘super express’ trains.

About 1,000 jobs could be created if Japanese firm Hitachi finally decides to build carriages for the trains on Deeside...

A spokesperson for Hitachi Europe confirmed that up to 200 people could be involved in the construction of the new plant and Deeside was among sites under consideration.

Whilst this appeared on the BBC Wear website on Monday...

County Durham 'first choice' for super trains

About 1,000 jobs could be created in County Durham if Japanese firm Hitachi decides to build carriages for "super express" trains in the area.

The firm said Newton Aycliffe was the "first choice". Another site in North Wales has also been short-listed.

A spokesperson for Hitachi said up to 200 people would be involved in the construction of the new plant.

A further 800 would be employed in manufacturing the trains - which could begin in 2013.

Presumably Hitachi is working on the basis that if you repeat something often enough it might actually happen?

You can't blame them for trying.

UPDATE: This from Kendo Nagasaki...

Hitachi have failed to explain a key change to their Red Castle project which aims to set up a UK manufacturing unit.

Emulating Chairman Mao's policy of a steel furnace in every village Hitachi will now have lots of factories.

Clearly this policy is simplified if the new locations can offer a pool of management with existing railway experience.

Priority sites include Iainland in Scotland and Adrian Shooter's country estate, which has the added advantage of a rail test track already in place (subject to re-gauging)...

IEP future assured - Official

Exciting news from Hitachi!

Obviously despairing of ever signing a UK contract for the Frankenstein Train the inscrutable manufacturer has apparently sold the concept overseas.


Eye wonders if the Haramain High Speed Rail Project is being advised by the genii in our very own DfT?