News and Exhibitions - Financial close on £2·7bn East Coast IEP contract

Financial close on £2·7bn East Coast IEP contract

CABLE CONSTRUCTION

Conductors:
Tinned fine copper strands according to VDE 0295 / IEC 60228 class 5 are generally used for railway cables. For nominal cross section of over 50mmsq, 0.41mm strand wire may be used instead of 0.51mm as stipulated in IEC 60228. The IEC 60228 class 5 enhances flexibility and the ease of handling, thus lengthening the product life of the cable. These class 5
conductors are extremely flexible, and easy-to-install in the compact rolling stock environment.
Insulation and Outer Sheath:
Crosslinked polyolefine copolymer or EPR will generally be used for insulation whereas electron-beam cross-linked elastomer is employed for sheathing. Cross-linked elastomer compounds offer very good durability that can resist heat, oil, vibration, chemical aggression, etc.

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD

As an OEM, Caledonian rolling stock cables provide our railway customers with future headroom by meeting the following European Norms (EN) and international standards :

EN 50264

EN 50306

EN 50382

NF F 63808

NF F 63826

NF F 63827

BS 6853

DIN 5510-2

NF F 16 101

UIC 895

Financial close on £2·7bn East Coast IEP contract

UK: Financial close on the £2·7bn contract for 65 Hitachi Super Express Trains to operate on the East Coast Main Line was announced on April 16.

The trainsets are being procured from the Agility Trains consortium of Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing under the Department for Transport’s Intercity Express Programme, which includes financing, design, manufacture and maintenance over a 27½ year period.

The ECML order covers 497 cars due to enter service between September 2018 and February 2020, to be maintained at a new depot at Doncaster. The deal is being financed by the European Investment Bank which is providing £235m, as well as Japan Bank for International Cooperation, Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ, Development Bank of Japan, HSBC, Lloyds, Mitsubishi Trust, Mizuho, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp, Société Générale and Crédit Agricole. The operators of the new fleet will make leasing payments totalling £2·7bn over the duration of the contract.

An initial batch of 369 coaches is due to begin entering service on the Great Western Main Line from 2017, under a contract signed by DfT and Agility Trains in 2012.

‘We are delighted that the success of the programme to date has attracted interest by world-class financiers and we look forward to building these trains in our new manufacturing plant in County Durham’, said Hitachi Rail Global CEO Alistair Dormer.