travel and has demonstrated its
capacity to operate at speeds
over 360 km/h - combined
with the advantages of proven
reliability, comfort and safety.”Siemens
Siemens’ Velaro family of
high-speed trains is already
in operation in Spain, China,
Russia, Germany and the UK,
where its Eurostar e320 fleet
runs at 320km/h.
William Wilson, CEO of
Siemens Mobility, said: “Our
team has worked tirelessly to
develop an offer that transforms
how passengers experience
high speed trains and set the
standard for other global high-
speed rail systems to follow.”Talgo
Talgo has based its offer for
the supply of trains to HS
on Avril - its latest generation
rolling stock platform. This
represents the latest evolution
of very high-speed vehicles,
which has been developed
over several decades using
experience gained from
supplying trains to Spain, Saudi
Arabia and Central Asia.
Talgo UK’s Jon Veitch
commented: “HS2 will be
crucial as the UK economy
grows. We humbly believe
that Talgo’s combination of
experience and adaptivity is
the best option for both train
operating companies and
taxpayers.”Who will win?
That’s anyone’s guess. All five companies have the pedigree.
Bombardier and Hitachi already have factories in the UK that could
build these trains tomorrow, so they must be strong contenders as
splitting the volumes between the two locations would make the
quantities more manageable and keep the work in the UK.
Siemens is building a factory in Goole to build London Underground’s
deep-tube trains - but would it get two major contracts or would the
DfT want to spread orders around?
CAF’s new factory in Wales is now in operation, as is Alstom’s
technical centre in Widnes, and Talgo has said it would like to build a
factory here.
So let’s see, in one year’s time we should know...CAF.Siemens.
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