Metro decision not final, insists Nexus
TYNE and Wear Metro owner Nexus insists the race to build a new fleet of Metro trains is ongoing, despite reports that North East train builder Hitachi has been rejected.
Reports have claimed Hitachi, which is based at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, has lost out in the race to take forward the multi-million-pound contract to build its new rolling stock.
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has described the reported move as an “appalling decision”, while Sedgefield MP Phil Wilson said that if true it would be “outrageous”.
Nexus, however, says no decision has yet been made, and insisted the process of selecting the builder of the fleet will not be completed until early next year.
Three rail giants are left in the running for the deal to build and maintain Metro’s new fleet: Spanish firm CAF, Swiss manufacturer Stadler, and County Durham’s Hitachi Rail, which forms part of the Japaneseheadquartered group.
The winning bidder is not expected to be revealed until next January.
Nexus, the public body which owns and manages the Tyne Wear Metro said in a statement: “The procurement of our new train fleet is an ongoing process. We cannot comment on any details of the respective bids from Hitachi Rail, Stadler or CAF at this stage. The successful bidder will be officially announced in January.”
The new fleet, expected to boast features such as air conditioning and Wi-Fi, should start arriving by the end of 2021 – with all of the network’s existing stock of decades-old trains replaced by 2024.
The three shortlisted firms were invited to make best and final offers this summer after Nexus completed its evaluation of initial tender.
Nexus has secured Government grant funding of £337m towards the projected £362m cost of designing and building a new Metro train fleet and a new train maintenance depot.
Procurement rules mean Nexus is not legally able to select Hitachi purely on the grounds of it being local, though it can take environmental matters into account, which could potentially help bidders with factories that are closer to Tyne and Wear. In July, Hitachi won a £400m contract to build trains for East Midlands Railway ahead of rivals Bombardier, which is based in the Midlands.
But the company warned at the time that the long-term future of its workforce would not be secure until the company won at least one more contract.
The company has been shortlisted for the Nexus contract and to build trains for the HS2 line, though the HS2 bid is in doubt as the Government reviews the entire project. In July Hitachi said it had “loads of bids in the pipeline”.
Hitachi has declined to comment.