Liberal Democrat Danny Alexander Announces Government Help for New Trains

The Coalition Government has signalled that it intends to make the acquisition of new rolling stock easier, by offering official guarantees.

Danny Alexander, the Liberal Democrat Treasury Chief Secretary, announced at the Liberal Democrat Conference in Brighton last week that the first project to benefit from government help is set to be the new fleet for Crossrail. The Treasury is to guarantee funding for 60 new trains as part of the Coalition's industrial reflation strategy, to ensure there will be no problems with timescales on construction or delivery.

The Coalition Government will contribute £240 million of the cost - about 30 per cent of the total. The remaining funding must still come from the private sector.

Danny Alexander said: "Difficulties raising the necessary private funding in the market could delay their delivery. The contract for Crossrail will be the very first project to be offered a new Government guarantee.

"It is the biggest infrastructure project in Europe right now. But we need to ensure the rolling stock is delivered on time."

The Crossrail contract is being pursued by four firms, one of whom is Bombardier. The other contenders are Siemens, CAF and Hitachi.
Based on a RailNews article of 27th September