Five HS2 train bidders revealed

The Department for Transport has shortlisted five companies interested in building high-speed trains for the new HS2 rail network.

The bidders for the £2.75m contract are:

• Alstom Transport
• Bombardier Transportation UK
• Hitachi Rail Europe
• Patentes Talgo
• Siemens

The five bidders will tender next year and the contract will be awarded in 2019.

The winner will design, build and maintain 54 new high-speed trains that will travel at speeds up to 225mph. They are expected to come into service in 2026.

A number of the companies shortlisted have UK production lines. HS2 minister Paul Maynard said on Thursday: “Thousands of skilled British jobs and apprenticeships will be created by HS2, which gets a step closer as we reveal the companies shortlisted to build the high speed trains.”

The government announced the companies would build the first phase of HS2 between London and Birmingham. Preparatory work has begun and major construction work is due to start in 2018-19. UK firms Carillion, Costain and Balfour Beatty are among the consortiums that will build tunnels, bridges and embankments on the first stretch of the new high-speed rail line.

The government has previously been criticised in the past for awarding transport contracts to overseas businesses instead of UK companies. In 2011, it awarded contract to build train carriages for the Thameslink rail route to Siemens, which Bombardier said threatened 1,400 jobs at its Derby plant.

Besides Bombardier, a number of the companies that have been shortlisted for the HS2 contract now have UK production lines – Hitachi has a manufacturing plant in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, and Alstom is developing a new train technology and manufacturing facility in Widnes, Cheshire.

The day before the bidders were revealed transport Secretary Chris Grayling said that the shortlisted bidders for the contract to build new HS2 trains must deliver jobs and skills in Britain.

Grayling told the companies in the race to be awarded the £2.75 billion contract to show how “huge opportunities” for British workers will be provided in their bid to build Britain’s fastest trains.

“I am determined to see the great HS2 train building programme create huge opportunities for British workers and drive economic growth in our country,” said Grayling. “Bidders need to push the boundaries and I want to see innovation and ambition in their plans to build the fastest trains in Britain - which I want to pave the way for a new generation of highly skilled British workers, boosting skills, generating employment and strengthening the manufacturing supply chain.

“Britain’s new railway will carry more than 300,000 people a day, improve connections between our great cities, free up space on our existing rail lines, generate jobs and help us build an economy that works for all. But it is crucial that the benefits of HS2 resonate far beyond the opening of the new railway.”

The successful bidder will maintain the fleet from the dedicated depot planned for Washwood Heath in Birmingham, which will also be home to the HS2 Network Control Centre - together creating hundreds of skilled jobs.

The announcement comes after the opening of the new National College for High Speed Rail in Birmingham and Doncaster and after work began on Phase One of the project to connect London and Birmingham.

Grayling said construction of the full HS2 route to the North West and Yorkshire will create up to 25,000 jobs and 2,000 apprenticeships. Another 3,000 people will operate HS2 and it is estimated that growth around new HS2 stations will create another 100,000 jobs.

Invitations to tender are expected to be issued to shortlisted bidders in spring 2018 with contract award following in late 2019. A further competition will be run to provide trains for the second phase of the project which is due to commence services in 2033.

The new HS2 line HS2 BIDS will also bring benefits including faster journey times to Scotland, said Grayling. Under Phase One of HS2, between London Euston and Birmingham, journeys from London to Glasgow will fall to under 4 hours. By 2027, and the opening of the expansion of the network to Crewe, the journey between Glasgow and London will be reduced by 45 minutes compared to today. It is predicted that HS2 will mean that by 2033 journey times between London and Glasgow and Edinburgh will be reduced to around 3 hours and 40 minutes.