Fourteen new Hitachi trains for open access growth in UK

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer visited on 6 December 2024 Newton Aycliffe to celebrate a significant agreement for the Hitachi Rail factory which has secured an order of around 500 million GBP to manufacture 14 new five-car class 80X trains for FirstGroup, including maintenance over a ten year lease period. The trains will be electric, battery electric or bi-mode (70 cars in total) and will be financed and leased by Angel Trains, adding to their portfolio of Hitachi assets.

The new units based on Hitachi Super Express (HSE) family will not only give FirstGroup a homogenous fleet across its open access operations and provides flexibility and reliability for customers, but also facilitates FirstGroup’s strategic objective of materially increasing its open access capacity. Delivery is expected to commence in late 2027, the trains will be maintained by Hitachi at their facilities around the country. The HSEs will be used on FirstGroup’s open access rail services, including the Carmarthen - London route announced on 5 December, and the existing Hull Trains and Lumo services on the East Coast Mainline.

In addition, the agreement provides FirstGroup the option to invest another 460 million GBP, with options on a further 13 five-car units, should their recently submitted open access applications be successful. These include for a new Lumo service between London and Rochdale via Newton-le-Willows, Eccles and Manchester Victoria, the extension of the Lumo service between Glasgow and Edinburgh, the expansion of the new London - Carmarthen Lumo service to introduce a new Lumo service between London and Paignton, and a new Hull Trains service between London and Sheffield via Retford and Worksop.