GLOBAL insurance provider MetLife Inc. is taking a minority stake in the Hitachi-led consortium that is to produce a new fleet of trains under the Intercity Express Programme at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham.

MetLife Private Capital Investors group announced it is acquiring an interest in Agility Trains West Ltd., a consortium consisting of Hitachi Rail Europe and John Laing Investments.

Explaining its decision, MetLife Inc. said in a statement issued to the London and New York Stock Exchanges: “Agility Trains West represents the first phase of the UK Department for Transport’s Intercity Express Programme, a project worth an estimated £4.5 billion, consisting of the delivery of new trains, maintenance depots, and route upgrades, with Network Rail undertaking the infrastructure upgrades to allow the new trains to operate on the network. The portion of the contract for Agility Trains West is estimated at £2.4 billion.”
 
Scott Inglis, global head of MetLife Private Capital Investors, said:  “This investment in Agility Trains West reflects MetLife Private Capital Investors’ growing interest in expanding our global portfolio of direct investment in global infrastructure equity and private debt placements in well-structured, long-term infrastructure assets and projects.

“Our involvement in the Intercity Express Programme in the UK demonstrates MetLife’s ability to partner with strategic and diverse sponsors and investors in competitive transportation and infrastructure sectors.”

Hitachi says the new factory in County Durham will create 200 jobs in the construction phase and will go into full production in 2016. The facility is planned to be capable of producing up to 35 vehicles per month and employing up to 730 people, including a UK Research and Development facility.

The first Intercity Express trains are destined for the Great Western Main Line and will replace diesel HSTs which are approaching 40-year-old, with subsequent units intended for the East Coast Main Line

According to Hitachi, the new trains “will provide a significant increase in capacity on both routes to adapt to growth in passenger numbers. With a considerable reduction in weight per seat when compared to the trains currently running on the line, the fleet of trains will use less energy to deliver improved journey times.”
 

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