The first completed pre-series Class 800 train for the UK’s Intercity Express Programme (IEP) was unveiled in November and is now being shipped from Kasado Works in Yamaguchi, Japan; it is expected to arrive in the UK in March.
Hitachi Rail Europe will start running tests in April, prior to acceptance by Agility Trains, the company that will own the trains and will provide the fleet for the operating companies (First Great Western and Inter City Railways).
Alistair Dormer, Global CEO of Hitachi Rail, said: “After unveiling this train in November last year, I am immensely proud that we today see the first shipment leave our factory in Kasado. Our engineering teams in the UK and Japan have been working exceptionally hard with all stakeholders to ensure that this train will be ready for testing in the UK from April this year.”
Hitachi is building a train factory in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham. The £82 million plant will be completed this summer, with train production due to start in 2016. The plant is expected to employ about 730 people eventually, including R&D staff.