Who is supplying trains for HS2?

The contract for the first batch was awarded to a 50/50 joint venture between Hitachi Rail and Alstom, for 54 conventional compatible trains, which will be constructed in the United Kingdom. The trains will be based on an evolution of the Zefiro V300 platform.



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A joint bid from Hitachi and Alstom has won the contract for a long-awaited, $2.6 billion order for the fleet of trains to operate on Britain's new HS2 high speed line. The 54 eight-car electric trainsets, designed to routinely operate at 225 mph, are being described as the “fastest trains in Europe.”

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HS2 trains will be powered by zero carbon energy from day one of operation, offering a cleaner alternative to long distance car journeys and domestic flights.

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As there are currently five per hour, off-peak, that will mean 20 trains per hour – or one every three minutes.

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On HS2, there will be 18 trains an hour. Each train will be 400m long, carrying 1,100 people. That's roughly equivalent to three jumbo jets' worth of people. Compare that to the Nozomi line within Japan's famous Sinkansen high speed rail network.

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To maximise its benefit, HS2 phase one has been designed to ultimately support a train service to Birmingham and cities on its Western and Eastern legs. This requires a capacity of 18 trains per hour. This is to be achieved by the use of ETCS signalling and Automatic Train Operation.

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How much will tickets cost? There is likely to be a premium of between 20 and 33 per cent for using the fast service. That would in theory push the cost of a London-Manchester Anytime ticket from £180 to £240 at 2020 prices, which works out at 6p per second.

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Even before Britain's run of double-digit inflation from late 2022 to early 2023, the HS2 budget had ballooned. Its 2015 cost of 55.7 billion pounds ($68 billion) reached 98 billion pounds by 2019, and a 2020 review showed that could rise to 106 billion pounds.

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HS2's new British-built, bullet style trains will travel at up to 225mph on both high-speed and existing railway lines. We are building HS2 in phases. Our first phase of operation will link Birmingham Curzon Street and Old Oak Common in West London in 42 minutes.

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The high-speed rail will provide the greenest, safest and most efficient form of transport. Although the cost was said to be over 100bn the investment will provide a major boost to business and the economy; the faster rail inks will help reduce the north-south divide and overcome the externalities of car use.

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Despite an absence of official numbers, the chairwoman of the Stop HS2 group, Lizzy Williams, estimates at 50m from the track, the noise from the trains will be between 95 and 97 decibels every two minutes if the line runs at capacity. But speed isn't the only determinant of train noise.

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The maximum speed currently possible in the UK is 186mph, achieved by Eurostar trains on the HS1 line between London and the Channel Tunnel. The HS1 line is used by Eurostar services and Javelin commuter services from Kent, although the latter have a max speed of 140mph.

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HS2 was originally envisaged to operate more trains an hour and higher speeds than any comparable high-speed line elsewhere in the world. It has been estimated that this pushed up costs by about 10 per cent.

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Political parties The UK Independence Party (UKIP) is opposed nationally and locally to the proposed HS2 plans. UKIP has been campaigning against HS2 as it is also part of the EU's Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) Policy.

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Journeys between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston will take just one hour and 11 minutes on HS2, 54 minutes quicker than today's fastest time by rail.

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