A 25-tonne power car has been donated to Birmingham’s new National College for High Speed Rail campus by Eurostar, and it follows ‘hot on the heels’ of the Eurostar power car that was donated to the NCHSR campus in Doncaster earlier this month (Machinery Market 24 August).

The power car — one of the original e300/Class 373 or Trans Manche Super Trains built in Birmingham, France and Belgium — is set for a new lease of life training future rail engineers.

The NCHSR will use it as a virtual/augmented reality classroom. Students will be able to experience an interactive 3-D recreation of the Eurostar cab, and will be able to ‘virtually’ drive the train (www.nchsr.ac.uk).

The college is set to play a key role in producing the next generation of rail engineers, particularly those who will design and build the £50 billion HS2 rail network. It will shortly welcomes its first intake of students, and it has created the UK’s first Certificate of Higher Education (CHE) in High Speed Rail and Infrastructure.

The college, which lies at the heart of the national HS2 network, is key to the success of the Midlands HS2 Growth Strategy — adopted by the West Midlands Combined Authority with support from central Government and HS2 Ltd.