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You're stuck with old trains
PASSENGERS may be forced to put up with the ageing fleet of intercity trains which run between South Yorkshire and London for many more years, a cabinet minister has admitted.
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis said a 7.5bn project to replace the 35-year-old trains could be ditched in favour of simply extending the life of the existing fleet.
His comments will dismay passengers, and lead to fears of worse overcrowding on the East Coast Mainline.
The so-called Intercity Express Programme was last week thrown into doubt after Lord Adonis announced he has ordered an independent assessment of the value for money of the scheme.
The announcement was a major jobs blow for South Yorkshire - Japanese firm Hitachi, which leads the Agility Trains consortium, had shortlisted Sheffield, along with two other cities, as the location for a factory to build 1,400 carriages for the new Super Express Trains.
The scheme would create 500 engineering jobs in the city and hundreds more in Doncaster, which would house one of five depots being created around the UK to maintain the new trains.
The new trains would have started replacing the British Rail-built fleet of Intercity 125s from 2015.
However, Lord Adonis told MPs there had been "a reduction in the capacity of the debt market" to support the deal and that passenger growth has also slowed.
The Transport Secretary said the trains would need a major and costly refit by 2020 to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act.
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 13 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 11 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
