Hitachi secures £2.2-bn loan for UK rail project
26 Jul 2012
Hitachi UK Ltd, a subsidiary of Japanese multinational conglomerate Hitachi Ltd, has signed a deal with Japan Bank of International Cooperation for a loan of £2.2 billion ($3.4 billion) for the manufacture and maintenance of trains for UK's Great Western Main Line and East Coast Main Line.
Agility Trains, a consortium consisting of Hitachi UK and British infrastructure major John Laing Plc has been awarded a £4.5 billion contract yesterday by UK's department of transport (DoT) to build and maintain trains under the Intercity Express Programme (IEP), DoT said in a statement.
The IEP project envisages replacement of Britain's 125 intercity trains with new higher capacity modern trains.
Hitachi's secured loan facility will have a maturity of 20 to 30 years according to sources.
Tokyo-based Hitachi, which provided high-speed trains for the British side of the channel tunnel, will assemble a fleet of 92 intercity trains at the new purpose-built factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham in north east England.
The project will create 730 skilled jobs with a further 200 during construction of the factory itself and securing thousands more in the country's supply chain.
.jpg "RBI keeps repo rate unchanged as focus remains on inflation")
.jpg "Indian Oil, Panasonic team up for lithium-ion cell production in India")
