New train set

Train lessor

has signed contracts worth a total of £1.5bn with

for the supply and maintenance of new Pendolino rolling stock.

Angel Trains already owns 52 Pendolino tilting train sets on the West Coast Main Line, which are all in service with Virgin Trains.

The new rolling stock contract includes four new 11-car Pendolino trains and adds two cars to each of the 31 existing trains. The additional rolling stock (106 vehicles) will put a total of 7,420 extra seats on the fleet.

There is an option to extend the remaining 21 existing trains at a future date.

The four new Pendolino trains and the cars required to lengthen the existing trains will be manufactured at an Alstom site in Savigliano, Italy, where work on the new trains will start in January 2009.

Commissioning of the 10th and 11th cars into the existing nine-car trains will take place at Alstom's Traincare Centre at Edge Hill in Liverpool. The site will now undergo significant rebuilding work in order to accommodate a new depot to integrate the extra cars and the trainsets. Investment will also be made at the four other Alstom Traincare Centres on the West Coast route, enhancing the facilities in order to accommodate the longer train sets.

The contract, which has been approved by the Department for Transport, includes a full service provision for the Pendolino fleet and will extend Alstom’s current contract by 10 years.

The trains and lengthened train sets will have entered service by December 2012. The introduction of the vehicles will be overseen by Angel Trains with support from Virgin Rail Projects Limited.