THE Department for Transport has reached agreement with Alstom for the construction of extra and longer tilting Pendolino trains for West Coast Main Line inter-city services.  And GoVia and Virgin have been short-listed as bidders to manage their introduction.

The agreement with Alstom provides for 106 carriages to be built to create four new eleven-car trains and also lengthen 31 of the existing trains from nine to 11 cars.  The new vehicles will provide over 7,420 additional seats on the West Coast route—linking London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow, Britain’s busiest mainline railway—in addition to the 45 per cent increase in long distance services on the route due from December 2008.

DfT says the 106 carriages will be in full service by December 2012. There is also an option to procure a further 42 carriages by early 2013 to meet further rising passenger demand.

Introduction of the extra trains and new carriages will be overseen by a “Service Provider for the Pendolino Lengthening Project” for which the DfT has announced two short-listed bidders who will receive Invitations to Tender. They are:

- Govia Transportation Projects Limited. Govia Ltd's parents are the Go-Ahead Group plc and Keolis SA.
- Virgin Rail Projects Limited, owned 51% by Virgin Holdings Limited and 49% by Stagecoach Rail Holdings Limited (whose ultimate parent is Stagecoach plc).
DfT said the Service Provider will support the Department throughout the finalisation of design, manufacture, delivery, testing and commissioning of the new Pendolino rolling stock through to the end of the current West Coast franchise—now operated by Virgin Trains—on 31 March 2012.