'BULLET TRAIN' ARRIVES IN UK

London - 23rd August 2007 Hitachi Europe Ltd announces the delivery to the UK of the first six-car Class 395 'bullet train' units for Southeastern High Speed Services. This first unit has been manufactured to the latest UK and European safety standards in Hitachi's manufacturing facility in Kasado Japan. A further 3 trains are currently being assembled and will be delivered over the coming months to carry out a comprehensive testing programme on the High Speed 1 line between Ashford and St Pancras and on the Kent network. The remaining 25 Trains will be delivered in 2009.

Alistair Dormer, General Manager at Hitachi Rail Systems London, said: "Hitachi is delighted to deliver the first Class 395 Train to the UK, on time and on budget. Today is a major milestone for Hitachi and for everyone involved in the Class 395 Project. We now look forward to working with our partners to complete testing and delivering the trains ready for service in 2009"

Charles Horton, managing director of Southeastern, said: "The arrival of the first high-speed train into the UK, is great news. When these trains enter service in December 2009 they will slash journey times across the region, encourage more people to travel by train and bring new standards of comfort and reliability. They will also play a key role in providing fast and easy access to the London Olympic Games at Stratford in 2012, with a journey time to and from London St Pancras of just seven minutes. Our ambition to create a growing railway for a growing region has taken an important step forward today"

The train arrived on board Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics' 67,140 GRT RoRo ship. Upon arrival in Southampton the train will be transferred to a state of the art maintenance facility in Ashford (Kent) for commissioning prior to starting dynamic testing on the Network in early October.