Contract changes to deal for IEP trains

There have been two contract changes since Agility Trains was awarded the Intercity Express Programme contract in July 2012.

Rail Minister Jo Johnson told Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald in a Commons Written Reply on February 23 that the first was in April 2014, when an option was exercised to buy 30 nine-car Class 801/2s for the East Coast franchise.

The second was in June 2015, for a number of Department for Transport-led changes to the base specification of the IEP trains.

Johnson said these came from the detailed design process, and included “the addition of Pantograph Cameras, Speed Limiters and a Driver Advisory System”.

He didn’t include the decision by former Rail Minister Claire Perry in May 2016, to agree to the conversion of 21 nine-car Class 801/3 electric multiple units to bi-mode trains as a result of delays to the Great Western electrification ( RAIL 802).