THE first Class 800 Intercity Express Programme (IEP) train for Great Western services has begun its journey from Japan.
The IEP will enter passenger service with First Great Western from 2017 on services between London, Bristol and South Wales via Didcot and on services between the Cotswold Line and London via Oxford.
The five-coach electro-diesel train was loaded on to a barge on Wednesday at trainbuilder Hitachi’s works near Hiroshima, on its way to Kobe, where it will be put on board a ship for the voyage to Britain.
After it arrives in March, it will undergo trials at a test track in the East Midlands and on the East Coast Main Line before moving to Hitachi’s depot in West London for high-speed tests between Didcot and Reading, once installation of overhead electric power cables is completed.
Another 11 of the 122 trains on order for the Great Western and East Coast main lines will be assembled at Kasado before work switches to a factory now under construction at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham.
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