NEWS
Bombardier has won the order to supply 130 Electrostar EMUs to Southern, valued at £188.8m. They will be built at the Derby works, much in need of some good news following job losses and disappointment over the Thameslink rolling stock contract.
Outgoing Bombardier chairman Colin Walton has previously said the deal was “critical” to the fu- ture of the company’s UK opera- tions, alongside the pantograph- equipped Voyager units it hopes to supply to CrossCountry.
The Government is providing £80m funding towards the new Southern fleet, which will be in service by December 2013, al- though the DfT has pointed out that the money would be available under the franchise agreement with Southern, regardless of who won the contract.
The order was necessitated by delays to the Thameslink pro-
formance which will now ben- efit many additional passengers in London and the South East. The new trains will be manufactured in the UK with initial production commencing in the latter half of 2012.”
curement process, which meant that First Capital Connect was no longer able to return Southern’s class 377s on time, and indeed in December another three units were transferred to FCC.
The new Electrostars – class
377/6 – will be similar enough to the rest of Southern’s passenger fleet so as not to need bespoke new maintenance facilities.
Chris Burchell, Southern’s man- aging director, said: “Following a competitive tender process, we
found that the Bombardier solu- tion could meet our challenging delivery timetable, was affordable and also offered compatibility with our existing fleet.”
Paul Roberts, chief country rep- resentative and president of Bombardier Transportation
said:
“This is a significant project which emphasises the performance of Bombardier’s products in the UK.
“These vehicles have a proven track record for their excellent reliability and environmental per-
Transport Secretary Justine Greening said: “This deal for more than 100 new carriages is great news for rail passengers and bril- liant news for Bombardier and Derby. It lands Bombardier with a crucial train order and I look for- ward to Bombardier workers in Derby being among the winners of this important deal.”
Bob Crow, general secretary of rail union RMT, agreed that the order is welcome, yet suggested that Bombardier would still need to win the Crossrail contract to survive.
The production of carriages will begin in the second half of this year.
4 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 12
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